Frequently threatened by the conflicting sentiments of art and commerce, independent movies and their audiences are always mutually exclusive. Large-scale film festivals feature plenty of adventurous anti-populist fare that scares off potential buyers from seeking distribution rights. This can turn festival screenings into precious, at times even historical, occasions; there’s something cosmically involving about encountering art before it dovetails into obscurity.

A few months ago, the impressive slate of titles screening from May 31 through June 10 for the second annual Sundance Institute at BAM series looked like a graveyard shuffle—one last hurrah from a few recent independent accomplishments before they got relegated to shelf life. Instead, the event is primarily a cause for celebration, since many of the movies are now slated for theatrical release. David Gordon Green’s Snow Angels (June 1 and June 2, both with the director in attendance), a tragic and unforgettable portrait of small town catastrophe from the unofficial leader of independent cinema’s latest renaissance, landed a comfortable deal with Warner Independent that seems poised to launch the director on a pathway to larger mainstream recognition. During the festival, at least one buyer admitted that the bleak aura hanging over Snow Angels leads to a difficult marketing scheme, but the depressing storyline actually gives it immense appeal. Snow Angels is American Beauty for smart people, a keen and wholly honest exploration of interlocking relationships that rise and fall with the tides of daily life.

The obvious connection between Snow Angels and Craig Zobel’s marvelous debut feature, The Great World of Sound (June 2 and June 5), originates from the relationship between the creators; Zobel, a pioneer of the popular online toon “Homestar Runner,” attended film school with Green and worked on his projects before launching a directorial career of his own. It’s quite the ambitious start: Zobel integrates documentary footage of band auditions into a scripted bittersweet drama about music business scams. Incapable of accepting pure ingenuity, reviews compared Sound to everything from Borat to “American Idol” and the Maysels Brothers’ Salesman. The plot definitely suggests details from those existing works, but Zobel’s story relies on the authenticity of working-class characters, rather than clichéd narrative shortcuts, to explore career-driven desperation.

Strong themes of societal discontent also dictate the plot of Padre Nuestro (June 9), the Grand Jury Prize winner at Sundance from first-timer Christopher Zalla. Unlike its aforementioned thematic brethren, Padre remains without distribution, possibly the result of negative press. It begs mentioning that New York Times critic Manhola Dargis’ condescending characterization of the film as  “a bit too much like a Spanish-language Goofus and Gallant lesson” completely ignores the immersive quality of Zalla’s direction. A fable of sorts, Padre focuses on a Mexican teen who sneaks into the U.S. and assumes the identity of a Latino chef’s missing son; at turns amusing and sad, what Padre lacks in shiny packaging it smoothes over with genuine pathos.

It’s no great surprise that indie cinema often focuses on the plight of the little man, but the form best suited for that concentration is documentary. Veteran filmmaker Marco Williams’ Banished (June 9) investigates the distressing and awkward situation that arises when African-American families return to land where their ancestors were forced to retreat in the face of domineering racism. Rather than following an activist agenda, Williams’ intelligent personal narrative raises monumental questions surrounding ownership and retribution, leaving the final verdict to his audience.

Thinking caps can be loosened for the equally well-made Chasing Ghosts (June 9), a nostalgic look at 1980s videogame champs. Peering into the personal lives with a then-and-now structure, the movie shows how gaming obsession dictates the behavior and career paths of its wonderfully weird subjects. Chasing Ghosts garnered some solid reviews at Sundance, but it was dwarfed by the single largest purchase, at neighboring fest Slamdance, of a tighter project focused on the same basic group of individuals called King of Kong. Given its distribution deal, Kong will likely continue to marginalize its subject matter sibling, but Chasing Ghosts is the superior accomplishment, as it simultaneously tells a fascinating story on par with the best kind of sports drama and unveils the subjectivity involved in obsessing over the virtual realm. So many of the entries in BAM’s screening schedule deal with the struggles of the little man, making the title of cult favorite Don Hertzfeldt’s animated short (screening with other cartoon shorts from the festival on June 3) particularly illustrative: “Everything Will Be OK.”