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'.
Compared to the work of Lynch and Cronenberg, telling the strange tale of a man's gradual metamorphosis into a synergy of flesh and metal. Tomoroh Tag... Read more
This sequel to the notorious original finds the hippie feline in the '70s. Now on welfare with a nagging wife, he smokes dope for escape, and fantasiz... Read more
This loose adaptation of Jean 'Mobius' Giraud's comic series 'Blueberry' stars Vincent Cassel as the lawman whose past comes back to haunt him when th... Read more
Director Shane Carruth ("Primer") returns with this strange, unconventional and abstract sci-fi mystery. Amy Seimetz stars as a woman whose life is sh... Read more
Anthony Hopkins directed, wrote and stars in this Lynch-ian, stream-of-consciousness drama about a screenwriter whose reality and imagination are abou... Read more
Apocalypse - ker-pow! Lori Petty is the British comic book-inspired heroine who enjoys cigarettes, beer, her half-man, half-kangaroo boyfriend and her... Read more
Visionary Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin pays tribute to his beloved hometown with this goodbye letter and self-described 'docu-fantasia' that is equal... Read more
A bizarre apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland from Louis Malle. When Lily has a road accident, she finds she has landed up in some kind of civil war and... Read more
33 renowned directors from around the world (many of them Palme d'Or winners) contributed to this anthology of short films to commemmorate the 60th an... 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