Avant-garde is a word from the French, meaning 'ahead of the crowd'. In contemporary English, we'd say it's on the 'cutting edge'. Avant-garde filmmakers want to experiment with new ideas, forms, techniques, and expressions - and are often said to be 'ahead of their time'. Avant-garde films are characterized by a high degree of experimentation - whether it be in manipulation of narrative materials, highly stylized visual representation, or radical departures from the norms and conventions current at the time, avant-garde film is always a vehicle for the filmmaker's expression. Surrealism, abstract studies of light and form, Dadaism, and impressionistic studies of people and things figure heavily in early works of the genre. Below is a Alice's extensive collection in this genre. Right: The famous eyeball scene from Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali's 'Un Chien Andalou'.
Filmed off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts - at one time the whaling capital of the world as well as Melville's inspiration for Moby Dick; it... Read more
An absorbing, revealing account detailing the effects of Aids on the American gay community in the 80's as seen through the eyes of two friends. Campb... Read more
Mike Figgis pushes the boundaries of cinema with this experimental digital feature about a chance encounter in Turkey. Originally approached to make a... Read more
In a story depicted in oil painted animation, a young man comes to the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's fina... Read more
In a story depicted in oil painted animation, a young man comes to the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's fina... Read more
One of the most extraodinary films in the history of cinema. An exhilarating and often hilarious montage showing Moscow people at work and play and th... Read more
The second in Lars von Trier's 'American' trilogy, after 'Dogville' is shot in the same theatrical style, and features Bryce Dallas Howard in the Nico... Read more
('The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sa... Read more
The highly personal, innovatively told works of this seminal American avant-garde filmmaker have never failed to fascinate, and are now collected on o... Read more
In Paris, a sweet, shy Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) is befriended by a Marilyn Monroe lookalike (Samantha Morton), who quickly convinces... Read more