UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This course surveys the history of experimental forms of cinema. For as long as cinema has been in existence, filmmakers and artists of many different backgrounds have used the medium to test the limits of its expressive tools. Thus, beginning with early cinema and continuing to the present day, experimental film and video have thrived, developing their own set of concerns and aesthetic interests. These oppositional, radical, creative, and revolutionary films challenge not only the dominant commercial form of the cinema-- they also open up new horizons of expression for political, social, and aesthetic issues. By looking at the development of different forms of experiments over the course of cinema history, this course gives students a historical and theoretical background to hone their appreciation and understanding of the meanings produced by film and video art. ART 370L and CINE 370L are the same course.