experimental film on criterion

• Film Theory

What is Experimental Film — History, Examples & Movements

W hat is an experimental film? This elusive and niche genre can be difficult to define, and there are many common misconceptions about experimental filmmaking, but we’ll be sorting through the fact and the fiction to provide a comprehensive overview of what it means for a film to be “experimental”. We’ll get started with a definition, then dig deeper into experimental filmmaking as a genre, and finally close things out by taking a look at some notable examples.

Avant garde film definition

First, let’s define experimental film.

There are many film terms and phrases that could use simple definitions, and we’ve compiled them all in our ultimate guide to filmmaking terminology . You can also look up definitions for every genre of film in our ultimate guide to movie genres .

EXPERIMENTAL FILM DEFINITION

What is an experimental film.

An experimental film is a project bucks the trends of conventional cinema and pushes the medium of film in unexplored ways. The spectrum of experimental films is extremely broad; this genre encompasses a great many types of projects of varying lengths, styles, and goals.

There are experimental feature films, though more experimental projects have shorter runtimes. This is due in part to many experimental films being made for low budgets and/or the fact that the majority of experimental films are never intended for mainstream appeal or traditional distribution.

AVANT GARDE FILM CHARACTERISTICS

• Can be any length
• Niche and often artsy
• Pushes boundaries and tries new things

Experimental filmmakers

Digging deeper into experimental film.

Let’s dig a little deeper into what it means for a project to be classified as an experimental film. There is a modicum of debate over what exactly constitutes an experimental film, and some projects blur the line between traditional cinema and experimental filmmaking by including elements of each. Experimentation can be found in the editing, in the filming, in the subject matter, or in the manipulation of the camera and celluloid’s chemical and mechanical processes.

A beginner’s guide to experimental cinema

There are many misconceptions about what experimental filmmaking is, so let’s dispel a couple. One common belief is that experimental films have no story. While some experimental films certainly lack anything that could be considered a traditional narrative, that does not hold true for all experimental films.

Another commonly held notion is that experimental films are weird for the sake of being weird or that they are simply filmed nonsense. This is quite a reductive stance to take on the entire genre, but it is an opinion shared by many. The audience for experimental films can be extremely niche, and experimental filmmakers are aware of this. They are not made for everyone.

Surreal = experimental is another common misconception. Containing an element of surrealism does not automatically make a project experimental in nature. However, there is an intrinsic linkage between surrealism and experimental cinema, so the misconception is understandable. Let’s clarify this point with an example.

Sexy Beast  •  dream sequence

This dream sequence from the gangster flick Sexy Beast is undoubtedly surreal yet there is nothing experimental at play. The surrealism is conjured through traditional filmmaking means only. So, while surrealism and experimental cinema often go hand-in-hand, surrealism alone is not enough to constitute a film being labeled as experimental; the filmmaking methods and the pushing or warping of boundaries play important roles as well.

Related Posts

• Read More: What is Surrealism →
• Read More: How to Design a Surreal Film Score →
• FREE: Break Down Scripts Using StudioBinder Software →

The history of experimental cinema

Experimental filmmaking over the years.

Since the first camera was invented , artists have been experimenting with the tool. At the dawn of cinema, everything was an experiment. It was only through the intervention of time that certain techniques and methods became standard.

While many of the techniques used in Voyage dans la Lune seem antiquated by modern filmmaking standards, they were absolutely boundary shattering way back in 1902. Radical experimentation was necessary to pull off so many things that had never before been seen or created in the medium of film.

A Trip to the Moon

As cinematic techniques improved and became seen as standards, there were still filmmakers willing to experiment and push the envelope. 1929’s Un Chien Andalou was an early masterpiece of both surrealism and experimental filmmaking. Many of the techniques used in Un Chien Andalou were experimental at the time but have since been integrated into more standard filmmaking techniques as the decades have passed. Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel were two master surrealists and played an important role in the common linkage between surrealism and experimentation through their boundary pushing methods.

Un Chien Andalou

By the 1940s, surrealism and experimental filmmaking were further linked through the work of Maya Deren. Over time, she has proven to be one of the most influential experimental filmmakers of all time. She created a number of experimental short films, the first of which, Meshes of the Afternoon , is often credited as a turning point for experimental and avant garde cinema. The short remains a highlight of the genre more than 70 years after it was first released.

If you are interested in making your own short films, check out our how to make a short film guide first.

Meshes of the Afternoon  •  Maya Deren

Andy Warhol is a name well known in the pop art world, but he made numerous contributions to the experimental film world as well. Warhol made nearly 150 experimental short films throughout his lifetime, and a number of them made throughout the 1960s were considered important contributions to the form. Below is a compilation of six of Warhol’s shorts made between 1964 and 1966.

Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests

David Lynch is perhaps the most well-known filmmaker to consistently experiment in his films. He earned a spot on our list of the best directors of all time . Some Lynch projects explore a blend between experimental cinema and traditional filmmaking, while other Lynch projects comfortably fall into the “wholly experimental” category. Since his debut feature in 1977 with Eraserhead , Lynch has continued to employ experimental techniques in his feature films to this day. A significant degree of Eraserhead’s experimentation can be found in the atmospheric sound design . Listen closely to the trailer below.

Eraserhead  •  trailer

Now that we’ve explored a brief history of experimental filmmaking, let’s see if we can sort experimental films into a few distinct categories.

Experimental film examples

Types of experimental films.

Though experimental films in general can be a bit difficult to categorize as they defy convention by their very nature, there are a few common types we can examine from a bird’s eye view . The first type is: experimental films that challenge the form of filmmaking . This includes projects that defy the expectation of what a film is and manipulate the creation process, like Stan Brakhage’s Dog Star Man .

Dog Star Man  •  complete

This piece of experimental filmmaking was originally produced as four shorts before being compiled as a singular project. Dog Star Man is often hailed as an experimental masterpiece and was made through various manipulations to the film stock, experimenting with different exposure types, and radical editing techniques.

Another film that lands in the “challenges the form” category is Derek Jarman’s Blue . This one-hour-19-minute experimental film features just a single, unchanging visual for the entire duration: a solid blue screen. An intricately orchestrated audio track underscores the static visual, and the two combine to form a highly emotional experience.

Blue  •  Derek Jarman

Our next type of experimental film is the experimental documentary . Check out our list of the best documentaries to set a baseline for traditional documentary filmmaking before we jump into the experimental side of the genre. This experimental category encompasses projects like the nearly century old Soviet-produced Man With a Movie Camera . The full documentary is available to watch below.

Man With a Movie Camera

Another experimental documentary found in this category comes from none other than Orson Welles with For for Fake . This documentary, essay-film hybrid blurs the lines between fact and fiction in a fascinating way.

F for Fake Video Essay

Experimental Animation is a tried and true category of experimental filmmaking with many worthwhile and envelope pushing entries. Again, you can set a baseline for the non-experimental side of this genre by checking out our list of the best animated films ever made . As for the experimental side of the medium, first, we can return to David Lynch for his contribution to the category.

Six Men Getting Sick

The above short film, Six Men Getting Sick , was David Lynch’s very first foray into filmmaking. He began his journey into the arts as a painter, and you can see him bridging the gap with this painted filmmaking experiment.

For further examples of experimental animation, we can look to the Quay Brothers. Their shorts utilize a dreamy blend of stop-motion animation and puppetry. A number of their shorts are in the criterion collection; here is a highlight reel for four of their shorts.

Criterion teaser for the Quay Brothers

And for one last example of experimental animation found in a recent film, we can look to 2018’s German-Chilean production La Casa Lobo . Sculpture, stop-motion, traditional animation, and other artistic techniques were blended together in jaw dropping fashion that utilized life-size sets and dizzying camerawork. This experimental production pushes the boundaries of animation and accomplishes things never before seen in the medium. It gives the absolute best stop-motion films a run for their money.

The Wolf House  •  trailer

Experimental filmmaking remains alive and well in the modern filmmaking age. As long as there are boundaries left to push, filmmakers will continue to experiment.

What Was Dogme 95?

If you’re interested in experimental filmmaking, the Dogme 95 cinematic vow of chastity makes a fascinating case study into a radical filmmaking experiment. Learn about the movement, why and how it was created, the films that comprise it, and more, up next.

Up Next: What was Dogme 95? →

Showcase your vision with elegant shot lists and storyboards..

Create robust and customizable shot lists. Upload images to make storyboards and slideshows.

Learn More ➜

• Pricing & Plans
• Featured On
• StudioBinder Partners
• Ultimate Guide to Call Sheets
• How to Break Down a Script (with FREE Script Breakdown Sheet)
• The Only Shot List Template You Need — with Free Download
• Managing Your Film Budget Cashflow & PO Log (Free Template)
• A Better Film Crew List Template Booking Sheet
• Best Storyboard Softwares (with free Storyboard Templates)
• Movie Magic Scheduling
• Gorilla Software
• Storyboard That

A visual medium requires visual methods. Master the art of visual storytelling with our FREE video series on directing and filmmaking techniques.

We’re in a golden age of TV writing and development. More and more people are flocking to the small screen to find daily entertainment. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? We’re here to help.

• Making It: From Pre-Production to Screen
• 24 Best Storyboarding Software of 2024
• The Complete Guide to Mastering Script Breakdown Elements
• What is Tone? — A Guide for Storytellers
• What is Symbolism? Definition & Examples
• A Beginner's Guide to Film Coverage
• 3 Pinterest

Criterion Review: MIRROR (1975)

Andrei tarkovsky’s enigmatic, experimental autobiography comes to criterion in a stellar new restoration.

While each of Andrei Tarkovsky’s films are singular experiences in their own right, Mirror is by far the most experimental movie and, almost paradoxically, the most personal in the legendary Russian auteur’s body of work. Essentially a loose autobiography of its creator, Mirror flows effortlessly between the scattered memories of its protagonist Alexei, spanning his childhood in the countryside, his war-torn adolescence, and his troubled relationships between Alexei’s spouse, child, and mother in the present. Each memory is connected by surreal hallucinatory interludes, dreams by Alexei that then feed into his mother’s own dreams and memories, in addition to newsreel footage that span the length of modern Russian and World history as a whole. While the film is rooted in the memories of Alexei, writer-director Tarkovsky ties his main character’s emotional experience into his own, as well as a more collective national and global identity that is just as fractured and in need of recollection. To cap this off, the modern-day Alexei goes unseen throughout Mirror ’s runtime, reframing Mirror as a first-person experience, one that Tarkovsky encourages us to take in as our own. Mirror boldly erases the formal and metaphysical boundaries between director, subject, and audience, creating a film about memory that feels as much lived by its viewers as it was by its creators.

I first watched Mirror for my Catching Up with the Classics series three years ago and found myself blindsided by how much of an emotional response Tarkovsky could bring out of each cut between shots in this film. Mirror is an intricate mosaic of memories, whose laborious edit nearly drove Tarkovsky and crew mad as they worked through a reported 33 permutations of the film’s edit. That precision is evident throughout in how each cut brings out a new, visceral reaction in its audience, and the subsequent urge is to reflect on how each bookending shot works against each other, as well as the film at large. Some cuts are normal reactions within conversations; others are more elusive, such as a divorce in the present juxtaposed against an encounter with a possible ghost, or newsreel footage of the Russian Military trudging through mud to defend a border dispute with China. There comes a point where one can do nothing but give in to Tarkovsky’s stream-of-consciousness journey through Alexei’s life and reflect on how our search for meaning between memories may reflect Alexei’s own.

One cannot help but be enthralled by how Tarkovsky captures these visions, from the stark black-and-white imagery of Alexei’s mother rising from a washbasin in reverse, her hair slung over like a future J-Horror specter, to the disappearance of a woman who may not have been there to begin with, the only evidence being a close-up on slowly-vanishing seat print on wood, to a log cabin falling victim to a raging fire in the middle of a rainy forest day. There’s always something fantastical to be found in the coexistence of humans within the natural world often giving rise to the existence of greater forces beyond what we can see. Sure, these may be the notions of a dying man refusing to remember the world as it really was, but who’s to say our perspective outside of the film isn’t just as flawed? Or, more likely, is the world actually as fantastic as the film suggests?

Each piece of cinematic trickery is never repeated, from the subtle reverse shots to a still unfathomable bit of levitation; and the same can be said as to what kind of film Mirror actually is from moment to moment. It’s constantly moving between genres, from pastoral coming-of-age to horror film to wartime epic in the same breath. It’s an overwhelming experience to get used to, but Tarkovsky manages to wrest a primally satisfying emotional through-line from these disparate sequences. There’s overarching themes of grief, guilt, self-admonishment, all against a national backdrop of war, sacrifice, and regret. Like the film’s form or genre, nothing ever feels fully tangible or anything other than fleeting, like the best parts of a dream fading from your memory after you wake up and greet the real world.

While films like Solaris and Stalker may have provided me a much more accessible approach to Tarkovsky’s films, they serve as an excellent primer for Mirror . The same poetic approach to philosophy is here; Arseny Tarkovsky, the filmmaker’s father, also has his poems featured throughout, but unlike those films there is a further poetic rhythm to the construction of the film itself. While the logic of the film is further unmoored than his other works, it’s a welcome invitation to surrender to that sense of formal freedom, and to explore what ambitious dreams such a medium can be capable of fulfilling.

VIDEO/AUDIO

Criterion presents Mirror in a 1080p HD transfer in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio, sourced from a 2K restoration of the original 35mm negative conducted by Mosfilm. Accompanying the film is a 1.0 Russian mono track restored from the film’s original 35mm magnetic track. English subtitles are provided for non-English-language sections of the film and supplementary features.

Like much of the other Tarkovsky films in the Collection, Criterion has outdone themselves in presenting Mirror in top-notch technical quality. There are stark contrasts in the film’s black and white sequences, with a potent level of darkness and shadow that never blurs into obscurity. The film’s color sequences are richly defined by varying textures, regardless of setting. Forests and fields lit by sunset are just as well-rendered as the grimness of a cold and graying urban apartment with undulating fields of grass just as clear as rivulets of cracking plaster and wood.

While other transfers have included artificially-mixed 5.1 audio transfers, the film’s original monaural track is just as complexly rendered here. At times a dizzying cacophony of foley work that gives way to breathtaking silence or elegiac, booming Bach compositions, there’s a wide sonic spectrum at play here, well-realized by Tarkovsky and composer Eduard Artemyev.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Andrei Tarkovsky — A Cinema Prayer: A real treasure of a supplement for this release, this award-winning documentary by Tarkovsky’s son Andrei A. Tarkovsky uses a kaleidoscope of his father’s films, behind-the-scenes material, and a wealth of personal archival set to Director Tarkovsky’s audio recordings and interviews to paint an insightful portrait of the director as a deeply humanistic and curious artist and poet.
• The Dream in the Mirror: A new 51-minute documentary created by Louise Milne and Seán Martin for The Criterion Collection, this film assembles Tarkovsky’s living professional collaborators and family members to recollect the inspirations behind and lengthy production process of Mirror . From this doc, it’s clear that Mirror is a film that drew upon all of them for its creation and has had a lasting impact upon all of them in return.
• Eduard Artemyev: A new interview with the composer of Mirror, Stalker, and Solaris , charting the evolution of his collaboration with Tarkovsky from one that had its origins in the sound design of natural elements vs. classical compositions and further into original compositions that still allowed for experimentation with new synthesizer inventions.
• Islands — Georgy Rerberg: A 2007 documentary for Russian TV focusing on the lifelong career of Mirror ’s cinematographer, hailed as “the Genius” during his period at Mosfilm in the 1970s.
• Andrei Tarkovsky: Two interviews given by Tarkovsky for the French TV upon Mirror ’s long-delayed release in 1978, by which the writer/director was into production on Stalker .
• Alexander Misharin: A 2004 interview with Mirror ’s co-screenwriter discussing his personal relationship with Tarkovsky as neighbors and colleagues into their storied informal and formal collaborations on Andrei Rublev , Mirror , and on.
• Book: Includes an essay by critic Carmen Gray. On the Blu-ray, also included are the translated original film proposal and literary script for Mirror as written by Tarkovsky and Misharin.

Mirror is now available on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of The Criterion Collection.

More Stories

Criterion review: the long good friday [4k-uhd].

Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren come under fire in this 80s British gangster classic Hoskins plays Harold Shand. A mob...

Criterion: GUMMO: Korine’s Surreal Debut Finally Gets its Due on 4K UHD

After decades of bare bones Standard Def releases, this week sees Harmony Korine’s writing/directorial debut Gummo finally getting the 4K...

TWISTERS 4K UHD: If you Feel It, Buy It!

The closest I’ve witnessed any recent film get to the sheer decadence and relentless entertainment of the 90’s blockbuster was...

PARAMOUNT SCARES Vol. 2 Delivers Another Eclectic Collection of Thrills and Chills

A collectable set with 4K Editions of Friday the Thirteenth Part II, Orphan: First Kill, World War Z, and Breakdown...

LAND OF THE DEAD 4K UHD, Romero Tackles the Haves and the Have Nots

This week saw the release of Scream Factory’s 4K UHD release of Land of the Dead, the film that had...

Criterion Review: I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE & THE SEVENTH VICTIM 4K/Blu

This week The Criterion Collection offers an atmospheric double feature of two 1943 films produced by Val Lewton for R.K.O.,...