2023-24 Academic Catalog

This course examines the history and theory of avant-garde and experimental cinema practices from the 1920s to the present, focusing upon radical innovations in style and technique. The course places particular emphasis on the social and historical contexts that have shaped alternative and underground film movements. Attention will be paid not only to the influence of parallel modern art movements, but the ways in which filmmakers have challenged conventional means of production, exhibition, and distribution. Topics include city symphonies, abstraction, found footage, seriality, Surrealism, psychedelia, experimental documentaries, video art, essay films, feminist critiques, and the transition from analogue to digital. Requirements include class attendance and participation, readings, evening film screenings, and various written assignments.