INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVALS, like the Sundance Film Festival, are widely recognized in the film industry as a major place to discover new talent and acquire independently made films on topics that might otherwise be too controversial, too niche specific, or too original for a major studio-backed picture. One of the breakout hits of Sundance 2015, the comedy-drama Me and Earl and the Dying Girl adapted a young-adult novel by Jesse Andrews and was picked up by Fox Searchlight for release that summer.