The diverse, quality films were chosen from more than 250 submitted to the festival committee from independent filmmakers across the nation.

“Shorts” are shown before the features and have running times of less than 60 minutes but typically run from five to 20 minutes, while the feature films are usually more than an hour in length.

The independent films ranged from the experimental, underground, offbeat and avant-garde to films that would be right at home in your neighborhood theater.

Most of the approximately 150,000 independent films produced annually are a labor of love and will never gain national popularity.

Most independent films are self-financed and the artists, as opposed to studio producers, call their own shots. Budgets usually range from as low as $20,000 to just less than $1 million, which pale in comparison to the recent blockbuster “Pearl Harbor,” which cost more than $100 million to make.

Independent filmmakers have limited opportunities to have their work screened before audiences, and the estimated 2,000 independent film festivals worldwide provide that venue.

Many of the writers, directors, actors and producers of the independent films shown at Waterfront were in attendance to take questions from the audience before or after their film was shown.

You never know who could break through and become tomorrow’s big Hollywood name, like independent filmmakers Kevin Smith (“Clerks,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma”) or Ed Burns (“The Brothers McMullen”) did.

Here are three candidates from the Waterfront festival:

“A Million Miles”
5 out of 5 reels
Director/Writer: Bryan Sipe
Running time: 88 minutes

“A Million Miles” is a gritty, blue-color drama about a group of New Jersey friends in their early 20s who must decide between following their dreams or remaining in the predictable safety of the place they’ve always known.

The dialogue is well-written and the talented ensemble cast captures the fear of moving forward with the regrets of what’s left behind in this emotional story reminiscent of “Good Will Hunting.”

Director Bryan Sipe co-wrote the script with friend Ben Carney, who also stars in the movie as one of the main characters, Jimmy Gordon. Judging from this low-budget movie, shot for $50,000, Sipe and Carney could be the next Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

“The Next Big Thing”
4 out of 5 reels
Director/Writer: PJ Posner
Running time: 87 minutes

“The Next Big Thing” provides plenty of laughs throughout a satire of the art world at its most ridiculous.

Gus Bishop (Chris Eigeman) was a starving artist until he becomes a reluctant accomplice to a con artist. The con artist uses Bishop’s work to create an imaginary artist whom the art world can’t get enough of.

Eigeman (“Last Days of Disco”) plays the unlucky artist who must choose between his passion and his ego in this lighthearted romance.

“A Better Way To Die”
3 out of 5 reels
Director/Writer/Star: Scott Wiper
Running Time: 101 minutes

Scott Wiper is the director, writer and star of “A Better Way To Die,” which was purchased by HBO for exclusive showing rights and aired in September 2000.

Boomer (Wiper) is an ex-cop on his way to marriage and a simpler life when a series of events puts him in conflict with the Chicago Mafia and the FBI.

Wiper is credible as an action hero, but the dialogue in the movie suffers from overly wordy and dramatic lines and too many slow-motion scenes that create an erratic feel. Sometimes less can be more.

Shot in Wiper’s Ohio hometown, the movie appears to be a high-budget Hollywood action movie with explosions, car chases and shoot-outs, even though it was made for an impressively low $2 million.

Action film fans will enjoy this movie.