Underground film
Encyclopedia
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing.
film critic Manny Farber
, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of directors who "played an anti-art role in Hollywood." He contrasts "such soldier-cowboy-gangster directors as Raoul Walsh
, Howard Hawks
, William Wellman," and others with the "less talented De Sicas
and Zinnemanns
[who] continue to fascinate the critics." However, as in "Underground Press", the term developed as a metaphorical reference to a clandestine and subversive culture beneath the legitimate and official media.
In the late 1950s, "underground film" began to be used to describe early independent film
makers operating first in San Francisco
, California
and New York City
, New York
, and soon in other cities around the world as well, including the London Film-Makers' Co-op
in Britain and Ubu Films in Sydney, Australia. The movement was typified by more experimental film
makers working at the time like Stan Brakhage
, Harry Everett Smith
, Maya Deren
, Andy Warhol
, Jonas Mekas
, Ken Jacobs
, Ron Rice
, Jack Smith
, George Kuchar
, Mike Kuchar
, and Bruce Conner
.
By the late 1960s, the movement represented by these filmmakers had matured, and some began to distance themselves from the countercultural
, psychedelic
connotations of the word, preferring terms like avant-garde
or experimental to describe their work.
Through 1970s and 1980s, however, "underground film" would still be used to refer to the more countercultural fringe of independent cinema. The term was embraced most emphatically by Nick Zedd
and the other filmmakers associated with the New York based Cinema of Transgression
and No Wave Cinema
of the late 1970s to early 1990s.
In the early 1990s, the legacy of the Cinema of Transgression carried over into a new generation, who would equate "underground cinema" with transgressive art
, ultra-low-budget
filmmaking created in defiance of both the commercialized versions of independent film
offered by newly wealthy distributors like Miramax and New Line, as well as the institutionalized experimental film canonized at major museums. This spirit defined the early years of underground film festivals (like the New York Underground Film Festival
, Chicago Underground Film Festival
, Melbourne Underground Film Festival
, Sydney Underground Film Festival
, Hamilton Underground Film Festival
, Toronto
's Images Festival
, and others), zines like Film Threat
, as well as the works of filmmakers like Craig Baldwin
, Jon Moritsugu
, Carlos Atanes
, Sarah Jacobson
, Johnny Terris
and Bruce La Bruce. In London the Underground resurgence emerged as a movement of Underground cinema clubs which included the radical open access group the Exploding Cinema.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the term had become blurred again, as the work at underground festivals began to blend with more formal experimentation, and the divisions that had been stark ones less than a decade earlier now seemed much less so. If the term is used at all, it connotes a form of very low budget independent filmmaking, with perhaps transgressive content, or a lo-fi analog to post-punk music and cultures.
Taking place in basements across America, underground film has long had difficulties in gaining mainstream acceptance. Critics have further stated that underground film viewing is analogous with gang culture, violence, and drug use in minors.
. Though there are important distinctions between the two, a significant overlap between these categories is undeniable. The films of Kenneth Anger
, for example, could arguably be described as underground, experimental and cult
. However, a studio film like Heathers
may have a cult
following, but could not be accurately described as an underground film.
Definition and history
The first use of the term "underground film" occurs in a 1957 essay by AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film critic Manny Farber
Manny Farber
Emanuel "Manny" Farber was an American painter, film critic and writer. Often described as "iconoclastic" , Farber developed a distinctive prose style and set of theoretical stances which have had a large influence on later generations of film critics; Susan Sontag considered him to be "the...
, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of directors who "played an anti-art role in Hollywood." He contrasts "such soldier-cowboy-gangster directors as Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...
, Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
, William Wellman," and others with the "less talented De Sicas
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
and Zinnemanns
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
[who] continue to fascinate the critics." However, as in "Underground Press", the term developed as a metaphorical reference to a clandestine and subversive culture beneath the legitimate and official media.
In the late 1950s, "underground film" began to be used to describe early independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
makers operating first in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and soon in other cities around the world as well, including the London Film-Makers' Co-op
London Film-Makers' Co-op
The London Film-makers' Co-op, or LFMC, was a British film-making workshop founded in 1966. It ceased to exist in 1999 when it merged with London Video Arts to form LUX....
in Britain and Ubu Films in Sydney, Australia. The movement was typified by more experimental film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
makers working at the time like Stan Brakhage
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage , better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film....
, Harry Everett Smith
Harry Everett Smith
Harry Everett Smith was an American archivist, ethnomusicologist, student of anthropology, record collector, experimental filmmaker, artist, bohemian and mystic...
, Maya Deren
Maya Deren
Maya Deren , born Eleanora Derenkowsky, was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist of the 1940s and 1950s...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...
, Ken Jacobs
Ken Jacobs
Ken Jacobs is an American experimental filmmaker. He is the director of Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son , which was admitted to the National Film Registry in 2007, and Star Spangled to Death , a nearly seven hour film consisting largely of found footage.He coined the term paracinema in the early 1970s,...
, Ron Rice
Ron Rice
For the American football player see Ron Rice Ron Rice was an American experimental filmmaker, whose freeform style influenced experimental filmmakers in New York and California during the early 1960s.-The Flower Thief:Rice twice collaborated with future Warhol star Taylor Mead, including Rice's...
, Jack Smith
Jack Smith (film director)
Jack Smith was an American filmmaker, actor, and pioneer of underground cinema...
, George Kuchar
George Kuchar
George Kuchar was an American underground film director, known for his "low-fi" aesthetic.-Early life and career:...
, Mike Kuchar
Mike Kuchar
Mike Kuchar is an American underground filmmaker and actor. Kuchar is notable for his low-budget and camp films such as Sins of the Fleshapoids and The Craven Sluck.-Biography:...
, and Bruce Conner
Bruce Conner
Bruce Conner was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines.-Early life:...
.
By the late 1960s, the movement represented by these filmmakers had matured, and some began to distance themselves from the countercultural
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
, psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
connotations of the word, preferring terms like avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
or experimental to describe their work.
Through 1970s and 1980s, however, "underground film" would still be used to refer to the more countercultural fringe of independent cinema. The term was embraced most emphatically by Nick Zedd
Nick Zedd
Nick Zedd is an American filmmaker and author based in New York City. He coined the term Cinema of Transgression in 1985 to describe a loose-knit group of like-minded filmmakers and artists using shock value and black humor in their work...
and the other filmmakers associated with the New York based Cinema of Transgression
Cinema of Transgression
The Cinema of Transgression is a term coined by Nick Zedd in 1985 to describe a New York City, United States based underground film movement, consisting of a loose-knit group of like-minded artists using shock value and humor in their work...
and No Wave Cinema
No Wave Cinema
No Wave Cinema was a Colab sponsored boom in underground filmmaking on the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. Its name, much like its cousin No Wave music, was a stripped down style of guerrilla/punk filmmaking that emphasized mood and texture above everything else.This brief movement,...
of the late 1970s to early 1990s.
In the early 1990s, the legacy of the Cinema of Transgression carried over into a new generation, who would equate "underground cinema" with transgressive art
Transgressive art
Transgressive art refers to art forms that aim to transgress; i.e. to outrage or violate basic mores and sensibilities. The term transgressive was first used by American filmmaker Nick Zedd and his Cinema of Transgression in 1985...
, ultra-low-budget
No budget film
A no budget film is a produced film made with very little, or no money.Young directors starting out in filmmaking commonly use this method because there are few other options available to them at that point. All the actors and technicians are employed without remuneration, and the films are largely...
filmmaking created in defiance of both the commercialized versions of independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
offered by newly wealthy distributors like Miramax and New Line, as well as the institutionalized experimental film canonized at major museums. This spirit defined the early years of underground film festivals (like the New York Underground Film Festival
New York Underground Film Festival
Founded in 1994 by filmmakers Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland, the New York Underground Film Festival was an annual event that occurred each March at Anthology Film Archives in New York City from 1994 through 2008...
, Chicago Underground Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival, founded in 1994, occurs each spring at various venues in Chicago, Illinois in the USA.Over the last 18 years it has become one of the most respected festivals in the USA and is today well attended by critics and programers. The festival's stated goal is "to focus...
, Melbourne Underground Film Festival
Melbourne Underground Film Festival
The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreements over the content and running of the Melbourne International Film Festival...
, Sydney Underground Film Festival
Sydney Underground Film Festival
The Sydney Underground Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place in Sydney, Australia, and shows independent, experimental and arthouse films from Australia and abroad...
, Hamilton Underground Film Festival
Hamilton Underground Film Festival
The Hamilton Underground Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Hamilton, New Zealand. The festival is open to all and has no admission fee for film entries. Each entrant receives a DVD which contains all the entered films....
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's Images Festival
Images Festival
The Images Festival is a yearly event devoted to independent and experimental film, video art, new media and media installation that takes place each spring in Toronto. It was founded in 1987, originally conceived as an alternative to the Toronto Film Festival...
, and others), zines like Film Threat
Film Threat
Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
, as well as the works of filmmakers like Craig Baldwin
Craig Baldwin
Craig Baldwin is an American experimental filmmaker. He uses “found” footage from the fringes of popular consciousness as well as images from the mass media to undermine and transform the traditional documentary, infusing it with the energy of high-speed montage and a provocative commentary that...
, Jon Moritsugu
Jon Moritsugu
Jon Moritsugu is an American underground filmmaker.Jon Moritsugu started filmmaking in 1985 when he went to school at Brown University. His Thesis film "Der Elvis" was called by critic J...
, Carlos Atanes
Carlos Atanes
Carlos Atanes is a Spanish film director and writer.Born in Barcelona, Spain, Atanes has written and directed many works since 1987, using different genres and techniques . In 1991, he shot The Marvellous World of the Cucu Bird, which has been followed by another experimental works as El Tenor...
, Sarah Jacobson
Sarah Jacobson
Sarah Jacobson was an independent filmmaker who wrote, produced, and filmed her own movies.-Career:...
, Johnny Terris
Johnny Terris
Born in Toronto and raised in Pictou County Nova Scotia, Dutch-Canadian Johnny Terris is an actor, filmmaker, writer, producer, dancer, model, artist, photographer and visual video editor...
and Bruce La Bruce. In London the Underground resurgence emerged as a movement of Underground cinema clubs which included the radical open access group the Exploding Cinema.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the term had become blurred again, as the work at underground festivals began to blend with more formal experimentation, and the divisions that had been stark ones less than a decade earlier now seemed much less so. If the term is used at all, it connotes a form of very low budget independent filmmaking, with perhaps transgressive content, or a lo-fi analog to post-punk music and cultures.
Taking place in basements across America, underground film has long had difficulties in gaining mainstream acceptance. Critics have further stated that underground film viewing is analogous with gang culture, violence, and drug use in minors.
Underground versus cult
The term "underground film" is occasionally used as a synonym for cult filmCult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
. Though there are important distinctions between the two, a significant overlap between these categories is undeniable. The films of Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...
, for example, could arguably be described as underground, experimental and cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
. However, a studio film like Heathers
Heathers
Heathers is a 1989 black comedy film starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannen Doherty. The film portrays four girls in a trend-setting clique at a fictional Ohio high school...
may have a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
following, but could not be accurately described as an underground film.
List of underground cinema's figures
- Kenneth AngerKenneth AngerKenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...
- Carlos AtanesCarlos AtanesCarlos Atanes is a Spanish film director and writer.Born in Barcelona, Spain, Atanes has written and directed many works since 1987, using different genres and techniques . In 1991, he shot The Marvellous World of the Cucu Bird, which has been followed by another experimental works as El Tenor...
- Michel AuderMichel AuderMichel Auder was born in Soissons France in 1945. He began making films at the age of 18. He was influenced of the French New Wave and experimental cinema, most notably Jean-Luc Godard and Andy Warhol. In 1969, Auder met and eventually married Viva, one of Warhol’s principal talents. A year later,...
- Carmelo BeneCarmelo BeneCarmelo Bene was an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in 20 films between 1967 and 2002...
- Jean-Pierre BouyxouJean-Pierre BouyxouJean-Pierre Bouyxou is a French film critic, author, filmmaker and actor.-Career:He started his career as a writer in 1964 when his article was published in fanzines...
- Stan BrakhageStan BrakhageJames Stanley Brakhage , better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker who is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th century experimental film....
- Jonas MekasJonas MekasJonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...
- Stephen DwoskinStephen DwoskinStephen Dwoskin is an accomplished experimental filmmaker. He studied at Parsons School of Design where he was a student of De Kooning* and Josef Albers* and at New York University, receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to move to London in 1964, where is he still based. He was a co-founder of the...
- Pierre ClémentiPierre ClémentiPierre Clémenti was a French actor.Born in Paris, Clémenti studied drama and began his acting career in the theatre. He secured his first minor screen roles in 1960 in Yves Allégret's Chien de pique performing alongside Eddie Constantine...
- Bruce ConnerBruce ConnerBruce Conner was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines.-Early life:...
- Paul MorrisseyPaul MorrisseyPaul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
- Otto MuehlOtto MuehlOtto Muehl is an Austrian artist, who is best known as one of the co-founders as well as a main participant of Viennese Actionism. In 1972 he founded the Friedrichshof Commune that existed for several years before falling apart in the 1990s...
Further reading
- Wheeler Winston DixonWheeler Winston DixonWheeler Winston Dixon is best known as a writer of film history, theory and criticism. He is the author of numerous books on film, as well as a professor who has taught at Rutgers University, New Brunswick; The New School in New York; and the University of Amsterdam, Holland. He received his Ph.D....
, The Exploding Eye: A Re-Visionary History of 1960s American Experimental Cinema, Albany: SUNY UP, 1998. - Sheldon Renan, An introduction to the American underground film, New York : Dutton, 1967
- Jack SargeantJack SargeantJack Sargeant is a writer specialising in cult film, underground film, and independent film, as well as subcultures, true crime, and other aspects of the unusual. In addition he is a film programmer and an academic...
, Naked Lens: Beat CinemaNaked Lens: Beat CinemaNaked Lens: Beat Cinema is a book by Jack Sargeant about the relationship between Beat culture and underground film. First published by Creation Books in 1997, the book has been subsequently republished in two different English language editions, by Creation Books in 2001 and Soft Skull in 2008...
, London : Creation Books, 1997, 1999. - Jack SargeantJack SargeantJack Sargeant is a writer specialising in cult film, underground film, and independent film, as well as subcultures, true crime, and other aspects of the unusual. In addition he is a film programmer and an academic...
, Deathtripping: The Cinema of Transgression , London : Creation Books, 1995, 2000. - P Adams Sitney, Visionary Film: The American Avant Garde 1943 - 1978 , Galaxy Books, 1979
- Jack Stevenson, Desperate Visions: Camp America ; London : Creation Books, 1996
- Duncan Reekie, Subversion: The Definitive History of Underground Cinema ; London : Wallflower Press 2007.
See also
- MicrocinemaMicrocinemaThe term Microcinema can have two meanings. It can describe low-budget or amateur films shot mostly on digital video, edited on a computer, and then distributed via videotape, disc or over the Internet...
- No Wave CinemaNo Wave CinemaNo Wave Cinema was a Colab sponsored boom in underground filmmaking on the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. Its name, much like its cousin No Wave music, was a stripped down style of guerrilla/punk filmmaking that emphasized mood and texture above everything else.This brief movement,...
- Experimental filmExperimental filmExperimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
- Remodernist filmRemodernist FilmRemodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
- Cinema of TransgressionCinema of TransgressionThe Cinema of Transgression is a term coined by Nick Zedd in 1985 to describe a New York City, United States based underground film movement, consisting of a loose-knit group of like-minded artists using shock value and humor in their work...
- Grupo Cine LiberaciónGrupo Cine LiberaciónThe Grupo Cine Liberación was an Argentine film movement that took place during the end of the sixties. It was founded by Fernando Solanas, Octavio Getino and Gerardo Vallejo...
, an Argentine film movement - No budget filmNo budget filmA no budget film is a produced film made with very little, or no money.Young directors starting out in filmmaking commonly use this method because there are few other options available to them at that point. All the actors and technicians are employed without remuneration, and the films are largely...
- Chicago Underground Film FestivalChicago Underground Film FestivalChicago Underground Film Festival, founded in 1994, occurs each spring at various venues in Chicago, Illinois in the USA.Over the last 18 years it has become one of the most respected festivals in the USA and is today well attended by critics and programers. The festival's stated goal is "to focus...
- New York Underground Film FestivalNew York Underground Film FestivalFounded in 1994 by filmmakers Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland, the New York Underground Film Festival was an annual event that occurred each March at Anthology Film Archives in New York City from 1994 through 2008...
- Lausanne Underground Film and Music FestivalLausanne Underground Film and Music FestivalThe Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival, or LUFF, is a film festival and music festival devoted to underground film and music. It is held each year in Lausanne, Switzerland. It began with the formation of the LUFF Association For The Promotion of Independent Cinema. The festival thus rests...
- Boston Underground Film FestivalBoston Underground Film FestivalThe Boston Underground Film Festival is an annual event held in the Boston, Massachusetts area that specializes in alternative film and video. The Boston Underground Film Festival, also known as BUFF, is the largest underground film festival in New England, spotlighting short films and feature...
- New Haven Underground Film FestivalNew Haven Underground Film FestivalThe New Haven Underground Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Connecticut, USA. Despite its name, the event itself has never been held in New Haven; instead, it has been held in other Connecticut cities while carrying the slogan "So underground that it's not even in New Haven."This...
- Hamilton Underground Film FestivalHamilton Underground Film FestivalThe Hamilton Underground Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Hamilton, New Zealand. The festival is open to all and has no admission fee for film entries. Each entrant receives a DVD which contains all the entered films....
External links
- B-Independent.com A primary networking site for underground filmmakers and fans.
- Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film
- Cinovid, database for experimental film and video art
- The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre
- London Underground Film Festival
- Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival
- Chicago Underground Film Festival
- New York Underground Film Festival
- Boston Underground Film Festival
- New Haven Underground Film Festival
- Exploding Cinema Collective
- Sydney Underground Film Festival
- Carlos Atanes, current underground filmmaker
- Paracinema Magazine