Which 2013 independent film directed by Shane Carruth was made for $50,000?

Upstream Color is the 2013 independent film directed by Shane Carruth that was made for about $50,000. Carruth wrote, directed, produced, edited, photographed, and scored the film, while also starring as Jeff. Its reported budget is often given as $50,000, although some references list a broader estimate of $50,000–$100,000.

The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on January 21 and received the festival’s Special Jury Award for Sound Design. Carruth later self-distributed it in the United States, an unusual approach that gave him control over how audiences encountered its deliberately mysterious story.

Viewers often confuse Upstream Color with Carruth’s earlier film, Primer. Primer was his 2004 feature debut and was made for an even smaller budget of about $7,000. Upstream Color is not a conventional sequel: it is an experimental science-fiction drama about two people whose lives are linked through a parasite’s three-stage life cycle involving humans, pigs, and orchids.