The following list showcases 50 of the most groundbreaking and influential experimental films of all time, spanning various eras and styles.
There is so set order, just a bunch of ones I think everyone should check out.
- Un Chien Andalou (1929) - Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí
- Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) - Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid
- Entr’acte (1924) - René Clair
- Man with a Movie Camera (1929) - Dziga Vertov
- L’Age d’Or (1930) - Luis Buñuel
- A Movie (1958) - Bruce Conner
- Wavelength (1967) - Michael Snow
- Dog Star Man (1964) - Stan Brakhage
- The Blood of a Poet (1930) - Jean Cocteau
- Scorpio Rising (1963) - Kenneth Anger
- Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) - Kenneth Anger
- Flaming Creatures (1963) - Jack Smith
- Rose Hobart (1936) - Joseph Cornell
- Mothlight (1963) - Stan Brakhage
- La Jetée (1962) - Chris Marker
- Fuses (1964) - Carolee Schneemann
- The Dante Quartet (1987) - Stan Brakhage
- Line Describing a Cone (1973) - Anthony McCall
- Light Is Waiting (2007) - Michael Snow
- The Flicker (1966) - Tony Conrad
- Ballet Mécanique (1924) - Fernand Léger
- The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928) - Germaine Dulac
- Anemic Cinema (1926) - Marcel Duchamp
- Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) - Walter Ruttmann
- Emak Bakia (1926) - Man Ray
- Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946) - Maya Deren
- At Land (1944) - Maya Deren
- A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945) - Maya Deren
- The Very Eye of Night (1958) - Maya Deren
- Window Water Baby Moving (1959) - Stan Brakhage
- Bridges-Go-Round (1958) - Shirley Clarke
- Serene Velocity (1970) - Ernie Gehr
- Zorns Lemma (1970) - Hollis Frampton
- The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes (1971) - Stan Brakhage
- The Girl Chewing Gum (1976) - John Smith
- Report (1967) - Bruce Conner
- Reassemblage (1982) - Trinh T. Minh-ha
- Tongues Untied (1989) - Marlon Riggs
- Handsworth Songs (1986) - Black Audio Film Collective
- Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) - William Greaves
- The Clock (2010) - Christian Marclay
- The Grand Bizarre (2018) - Jodie Mack
- Leviathan (2012) - Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
- Sans Soleil (1983) - Chris Marker
- Decasia (2002) - Bill Morrison
- Blue (1993) - Derek Jarman
- Last Year at Marienbad (1961) - Alain Resnais
- Persona (1966) - Ingmar Bergman
- Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) - Shinya Tsukamoto
- Eraserhead (1977) - David Lynch
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If you write an article on experimental films and the only mention of Jodorowsky is in an image caption, then you have gone wrong.
My thoughts exactly! I just watched El Topo and The Holy Mountain and was expecting both on this list. Both are incredible films
What qualifies as experimental?
The rest of the article answers that question.
Nobody is watching them except a handful of critics.
Not true, I watched a lot of these…
… in film studies because my instructor put them on
Ah, yes, just like the books we have to read in school. Which probably would be long out of print if schools didn’t force them down childrens throats to make them hate books.
@Emperor Quite a few favourites in that list. Good to see the recognition for Kenneth Anger, but also more contemporary fare… Decasia is a real joy. But would have been nice to see Mark Jenkin make the list for Enys Men or Bait, of Kotting for Lek and the Dogs. Also, one that certainly would make the grade is The Color of Pomegranates. That film is incredible.
I’m just happy Tetsuo sneaked in on the end - it’s one of very few pictures that I’ve had a visceral reaction to. I had palpitations and was worried I might have medical problems, but no, just the film.
