art-house film

Art-house films are films noted for having artistic merit, aesthetic pretensions, and are shown in an art-house theatre. It usually includes foreign-language films, independent films, low-budget films, non-mainstream (sometimes anti-Hollywood) films, shorts, documentaries, explicitly erotic films, and other under-appreciated cinema of low mass appeal. Art-house films began appearing in the 1950s and provided a distinct contrast to commercial films.