Experimental Film

This article is on the variety of film. For information on the They Might Be Giants song, see "Experimental Film".
  experimental filmmaker 
An experimental film is a film nominally but not necessarily made to test an audience's reaction to certain performances or types of presentation not normally found in mainstream cinema. Such films are usually avant-garde and may shock or surprise their viewers, intentionally or otherwise. Among the European pioneers of experimental film are Hans Richter, Jean Cocteau, Germaine Dulac and Victor Eggeling. The most famous experimental film is generally considered to be Luis Buuel and Salvador Dal's Un Chien Andalou. Meshes of the Afternoon by Maya Deren is considered to be the first important American experimental film. Notable North American experimental film makers include Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Shirley Clarke,Ernie Gehr, Bruce Conner, Michael Snow, Richard Kern, Hollis Frampton, Joseph Cornell, Nick Zedd, and Joyce Wieland.

Distribution

Finding an audience for experimental films can be just as difficult as making them. From 1947 to 1963, the New York-based Cinema 16 functioned as the primary exhibitor and distributor of experimental film in the United States. Under the leadership of Amos Vogel and Marcia Vogel, Cinema 16 flourished as a nonprofit membership society committed to the exhibition of documentary, avant-garde, scientific, educational, and performance films to ever-increasing audiences. Vogel's selection did not please everybody. In 1962 Jonas Mekas and about 20 other film makers founded The Film-Maker's Cooperative in New York City. Soon similar were formed in other cities, also on the co-operative model: Canyon Cinema in San Francisco, the London Film-Maker's Co-op, and others.

Exhibition

Following the model of Cinema 16, experimental films have been exhibited mainly outside of commercial theaters in small film societies, microcinemas, museums, art galleries and film festivals. One of the more popular experimental film festivals is the Ann Arbor Film Festival, held every year in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the oldest continually operated experimental film festival in North America.

 

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