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What are the Best Experimental Films of All Time?

It's time to check out the other side of filmmaking..

Endless Poetry by Jodorowsky

Sometimes I get so caught up in narrative cinema that I forget there's a whole realm of artists out there doing beautiful and interesting work on the experimental side of things.

Experimental film is so much fun. It's a place where all artistic representation matters, and it's somewhere I go when I want to be challenged.

If you've never fully indulged in the weirder, artsier side of cinema—or are already a fan and want to celebrate it—I want to take you through the world of experimental movies, with some history and characteristics, and dig into some of the greatest to ever grace our screens.

Sound good?

Let's dive in.

What is Experimental Film?

The experimental genre in film and TV refers to productions that deviate from the traditional narrative structure and style of mainstream entertainment.

These productions often challenge viewers to think outside the box and explore unconventional ideas and perspectives.

It's sort of an anything goes genre.

The Characteristics of Experimental Film

Experimental films sort of feelsl ike you can do anything, and that's mostly true. So what are some things I've seen over and over again that may make up some characteristics?

Key Characteristics:

Non-linear Narrative: Experimental films often lack a traditional plot or linear narrative structure. They may be abstract, fragmented, or entirely devoid of a storyline.
Visual and Sound Experimentation: These films often experiment with visual and sound elements, using techniques like collage, montage, superimposition, slow motion, and distorted or manipulated sounds.
Exploration of Themes: Experimental cinema can explore a wide range of themes, including the subconscious, dreams, memory, perception, identity, and social and political issues.
Personal Expression: Many experimental films are deeply personal works, reflecting the filmmaker's unique vision and artistic expression.
Found Footage: Using pre-existing film or video footage in a new context.
Direct Animation: Scratching or painting directly onto film strips.
Structural Film: Focusing on the material properties of film, such as light, movement, and time.

A Brief History of Experimental Film

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The roots of experimental cinema can be traced back to the early days of filmmaking, with people like Georges Méliès experimenting with visual effects and trick photography in the late 19th century.

However, it was during the early 20th century, with the rise of Dadaism and Surrealism, that experimental cinema truly began to flourish. These art movements, with their emphasis on challenging conventions and exploring the subconscious, found a natural expression in the medium of film.

In the 1920s and 1930s, filmmakers like Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí created surrealist films that shocked and bewildered audiences with their dreamlike imagery and unconventional narratives.

These early experiments paved the way for a wave of avant-garde filmmakers in the postwar era, who pushed the boundaries of cinema even further.

The 1960s and 1970s saw a surge in experimental filmmaking, with filmmakers like Stan Brakhage, Maya Deren, and Kenneth Anger exploring new techniques and pushing the limits of what was considered possible in film.

These filmmakers often worked outside of the mainstream film industry, creating films that were personal, challenging, and often deeply political.

The Impact of Experimental Film Across the Globe

Experimental cinema challenges viewers to rethink their expectations of what a film can be. It encourages critical thinking, provokes emotional responses, and opens up new possibilities for artistic expression.

They have influenced mainstream filmmakers, inspired new artistic movements, and sparked important conversations about the nature of reality, perception, and human experience.

Global Impact of Experimental Film:

Latin America: The Third Cinema movement in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s was heavily influenced by experimental film. Filmmakers used cinema as a tool to challenge political oppression and social injustice.
Japan: The Japanese avant-garde film movement in the 1960s and 1970s produced a wealth of experimental films that challenged traditional Japanese aesthetics and explored new forms of expression.
Europe: European experimental film has a long and rich history, with filmmakers pushing boundaries and experimenting with new technologies. The European avant-garde has inspired filmmakers around the world.
Africa: African experimental filmmakers have used film to document social and political struggles, challenge stereotypes, and express unique cultural identities.

The Best Experimental Films

I wanted to make a list of experimental films I thought were great, that everyone should check out.

So, here you go:

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

This list barely scratches the surface of the vast and diverse world of experimental cinema.

But maybe I left off your favorite. If so, I want to hear about it.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

How Can You Get Narrative Ideas From Watching Non-Narrative Films? ›
Charlie Cole's Experimental Short 'Waterfall' Reminds Us of The Importance of Form ›
Experimental Filmmaking for Dummies (Part 1): Why You Should Be Making Experimental Films ›
Where is a good online place for new experimental film/video? - Quora ›
50 Avant Garde and Experimental Cinema Gallery ›
What are some good experimental films? : r/flicks ›

Get The 'Wicked' Ending Explained

We returned to oz to sort out what's going on..

The first time I saw Wicked was in Boston with my roommate after her boyfriend dumped her, and I got to take his ticket. So, I will forever be grateful to that dummy because I had an amazing time.

The Wicked movie seems like it has been delayed forever, but when John Chu stepped in to direct, dates were set, the cast was announced, and we had full steam ahead.

Now, the movie is here, and I was so excited to be in a packed theater watching.

The movie is split into two parts, with the second coming out next year.

So today, I want to go over the ending for part one and explain it to you.

Sound good? Let's defy gravity together.

'Wicked' Movie Synopsis

The movie begins in the wonderful land of Oz, right after Dorothy has kileld the Wicked Witch of the West. All of Oz celebrates her defeat.

But then, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, begins to tell us a much different story, the story of Elphaba Thropp, known to us as the Wicked Witch.

Elphaba was born with emerald-green skin, faces prejudice and misunderstanding due to her pigmentation. As she grows up, she has no friends and is cat out, but her father loves her and supports her. Eventually, Elphaba goes to Shiz University to study sorcery.

Shiz is run by run by Madame Morrible, who is a bit of a mystery to us.

At Shiz, Elphaba forms an unlikely friendship with the popular and bubbly Glinda, who is her roommate (and out narrator at the top).

Despite their differences, they navigate the challenges of school, social pressures, and even find themselves drawn to the same charming man, Fiyero. He's handsome and seems perfect.

Morrible sees a lot of potential in Elphaba, and begins to tutor her in order to help her release her magical powers.

But as Elphaba and Glinda get deeper into school, they discover all is not well in Oz. Elphaba learns the the Wonderful Wizard of Oz is not the kind leader he appears to be.

Elphaba learns from Dr. Dillamond, a talking Goat professor, that Animals across Oz are being stripped of their rights and voices.

Hoping her idol, the Wizard, will intervene, Elphaba attends a lively night at the Ozdust Ballroom with Glinda and Fiyero, where their friendship deepens and so does their trust in one another.

However, the next day brings grim news as Dr. Dillamond is forced to retire, replaced by a professor who cruelly experiments on animals.

Elphaba and Fiyero, disgusted, free a lion cub from the professor's clutches. Summoned to the Emerald City by the Wizard, Elphaba is tricked into casting a spell that gives the Wizard's monkey guards wings, revealing his true tyrannical nature.

Horrified, Elphaba flees, branded a Wicked Witch by the manipulative Madame Morrible, who was tricking her the whole time.

Glinda tries to convince Elphaba to surrender, but Elphaba chooses to fight for the oppressed. Bidding a tearful farewell to her friend, Elphaba uses her magic to escape the city, soaring into the unknown on a broomstick.

As Elphaba embraces her newfound identity and her extraordinary powers, she sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the fate of Oz.

'Wicked' Ending Explained

That was a pretty crazy turn for part one of the story, but it was also such an emotional and entertaining journey.

At the end of Wicked Part One, Elphaba is tricked into casting a spell that gives the Wizard's monkey guards wings. This proves ot her that the people in power are wrong and trying to use her.

It sets the story up for Part II, as Elphaba rejects the Wizard's offer and vow to fight against him, solidifying her position as an enemy of the state and showing the audience why she was called the "Wicked Witch."

Elphaba has to embrace her new identity and become a symbol of the resistance against the Wizard.

In choosing to do what's right, Elphaba has also created a rift between herself and her best friend Glinda. In a tearful goodbye, they acknowledge their diverging paths.

There is no certain future of friendship, as it appears they're going into battle.

This was a crazy ending that set us up for so much to come in the next part.

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Ten Masterpieces of Experimental Cinema

The following list by Justin Remes, author of Motion(less) Pictures: The Cinema of Stasis and the forthcoming Absence in Cinema: The Art of Showing Nothing , considers ten canonical experimental films. You can also watch the films below.

• • • • • •

“I don’t like experimental films.”

“What experimental films have you seen?”

“Well, I’m not sure I’ve ever really seen one, but…”

I’ve had this conversation more times than I can count.

While almost everyone has seen avant-garde paintings by Picasso and Pollock, few have ever had the opportunity to see an avant-garde film by Buñuel or Brakhage. Those who are interested in exploring this cinematic terrain might want to check out one or more of the following films, listed in chronological order. Since experimental films are often difficult to find, I have only included works that can currently be seen in high-quality versions online.

Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, Un Chien Andalou ( An Andalusian Dog ) (1929) (16 minutes) (NSFW)

In his autobiography, My Last Sigh , the great Surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel wrote, “I’ve tried my whole life to simply accept the images that present themselves to me without trying to analyze them.” This is precisely how one should approach the bizarre and irrational images of Un Chien Andalou : an eyeball being sliced open by a razor, ants swarming out of a hole in a man’s hand, two corpses buried in sand on a beach. Buñuel and Dalí pair these bewildering images with a soundtrack that includes a couple of sensual tangos, as well as the magisterial “Liebestod” (or “love death”) from Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde . Un Chien Andalou is disturbing, disorienting, and startlingly original. Those who see it never forget it.

Walter Ruttmann, Wochenende ( Weekend ) (1930) (11 minutes)

To create this odd intermedia experiment, the German filmmaker Walter Ruttmann wandered through the streets of Berlin and recorded his surroundings with a camera without ever removing the lens cap. In other words, Wochenende features a complex sound collage of voices, marching bands, and sirens, but it is completely devoid of images. Instead, spectators are free to imagine whatever content they like on the blank cinema screen before them. In the words of the Dada artist Hans Richter, Wochenende is “a symphony of sound, speech-fragments, and silence woven into a poem.”

Joseph Cornell, Jack’s Dream (c. 1938) (4 minutes)

American artist Joseph Cornell was a pioneer of found footage filmmaking (that is, creating films by reworking content from preexisting films), and Jack’s Dream is one of his most compelling cinematic remixes. As one listens to the gorgeous strains of Debussy’s Clair de Lune , one sees a number of apparently disconnected images: a puppet show, seahorses, a sinking ship. Like many actual dreams, Jack’s Dream is ephemeral and enigmatic.

Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) (13 minutes)

Albert Einstein once wrote, “The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” It is hard to think of a more mysterious film than Meshes of the Afternoon , a dreamscape that is replete with haunting and cryptic images: a flower that transforms into a knife, a woman who pulls a key out of her mouth, a hooded figure with a mirror for a face. Deren influenced just about every American experimental filmmaker who came after her, prompting Stan Brakhage to call her “the mother of us all.”

Note: When Meshes of the Afternoon was originally released, it was completely silent, but in 1959 a musical score by Deren’s third husband, Teiji Ito, was added. The silent version of the film is more compelling than the sound version, however, so if the version you are watching has sound, I would encourage you to mute it.

Stan Brakhage, Window Water Baby Moving (1959) (12 minutes) (NSFW)

The filmmaker Marjorie Keller once mused, “I don’t know that there could be an avant-garde filmmaker in America that is not in some way indebted to Stan Brakhage, has not studied his films, has not thought about them and taken them seriously.” While Brakhage made over 350 films, one of his most memorable and influential is Window Water Baby Moving , a work that documents the birth of Stan and Jane Brakhage’s first child, Myrrena. Brakhage uses rapid nonlinear editing, out-of-focus shots, reverse motion, and jump cuts to capture just how frenetic and disorienting childbirth can be.

Kenneth Anger, Scorpio Rising (1963) (28 minutes) (NSFW)

In the early 1960s, pop artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol were revolutionizing the art world by appropriating images from popular culture: comic book characters, Hollywood celebrities, cans of Campbell’s soup. Kenneth Anger brought a similar sensibility to his film Scorpio Rising , a heady brew of religion, drugs, motorcycles, Nazis, and homoerotic sadomasochism. At a time when most filmmakers used classical music for their soundtracks, Anger used only contemporary pop songs, like Elvis Presley’s “You’re the Devil in Disguise” and Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet.” Scorpio Rising is also populated with images drawn for popular culture: comic strip panels, gay pornography, and appropriated images of James Dean, Marlon Brando, Jesus, Dracula, and Hitler. One of Anger’s many acolytes, Martin Scorsese, confessed that when he first saw Scorpio Rising , he was “astonished”: “Every cut, every camera movement, every color, and every texture seemed, somehow, inevitable.”

Joyce Wieland, Cat Food (1967) (14 minutes)

Spectators of Cat Food hear crashing waves while watching Wieland’s insatiable cat, Dwight, voraciously eat fish. Whenever one fish starts to be consumed, another seems to miraculously appear. The film has a mythic quality, bringing to mind the New Testament story of Jesus feeding a crowd with only five loaves of bread and two fish, as well as the ancient Greek story of Prometheus, whose liver was eaten out by an eagle every day, only to regenerate and be eaten again. Films like Cat Food prompted Hollis Frampton to opine, “The thought of some Purgatory wherein I might be deprived of seeing Joyce Wieland’s films makes me regret my every sin and dereliction.”

Hollis Frampton, Carrots and Peas (1969) (5 minutes)

Carrots and Peas is a cinematic still life in which images of the titular vegetables are paired with the voice from an exercise film played in reverse. Early in the film, Frampton manipulates the imagery by flipping it upside down, adding a color filter, and painting the filmstrip itself. As the film continues, however, the interventions cease, and the viewer ends up staring at a single static image of carrots and peas for a prolonged period of time. Once this happens, one begins to notice details of the shot had originally escaped one’s attention: the indentations on individual peas, for example—or the way one carrot slice seems to be hiding from the others. Carrots and Peas is so odd and inexplicable, it makes me giggle with glee.

Norman McLaren, Synchromy (1971) (7 minutes)

To create this exuberant abstract film, McLaren photographed striated cards with colorful lines on them and placed them onto the film’s soundtrack to produce a series of specific pitches. McLaren then placed these same cards onto the film’s visual track, thus creating a precise synchronization of sound and image. The result is an orgy of color and sound, an exhilarating experiment in cinematic synesthesia.

Naomi Uman, removed (1999) (7 minutes) (NSFW)

Uman erases the women from an old pornographic film using nail polish and bleach, and the result is a provocative and playful deconstruction of cinema’s representational codes. Uman invites viewers to do whatever they want with these “holes.” One can attempt to “peek” at the women who are being erased (since they occasionally become visible, in whole or in part, for a split second). One can enjoy the absences as absences, taking pleasure in the film’s shimmering voids. Or one can fill in the blanks with one’s own desiderata. In the words of Claire Stewart, “The hole in the film becomes an erotic zone, a blank on which a fantasy body is projected.”