Movies: Avant garde

Shirley Clarke's frenetic documentary about multi-talented musician Ornette Coleman....

Moving through its five parts, the work describes a cycle of birth through to death, depicting both an eternal, universal Mary, and an earthly Mary representing human life on Earth....

Ayush suffers from sleep paralysis and dark hallucinations, haunted by shadowy figures that represent his repressed fears. Trapped between dream and reality, he confronts these manifestations of his inner turmoil....

An American Dissident: un tributo a Frank Zappa is an Italian documentary that aired on the Videomusic channel on January 7, 1994. It includes footage from Zappa's Universe, Video From Hell, Does Humor Belong In Music?, Baby Snakes, The True Story Of...

A dreamy, impressionistic 16mm film of light on water, comprised mostly of sepia tones....

This live recording was culled from seven September 1992 concerts given in Vienna, Berlin, and Frankfurt by the Ensemble Modern, a Frankfurt-based chamber orchestra that performs only contemporary music. Composed and conducted by Frank Zappa....

A multimedia sex-ed video about life and love in a world where humans have corkscrew penises and corkscrew vaginas....

An exploration of two souls inhabiting bodies from 1940's Hungary, and the beginning of the digital age....

Although the free jazz movement of the 1960s and '70s was much maligned in some jazz circles, its pioneers - brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane - are today acknowledged as central to the evol...

A visual journey across various cities in Chile through a cinematic diary....

The mind of a prisoner, expressed through various poetic stanzas, corrodes at the same rate as the house they are trapped in....

"Dancing is sculpting in time." Diotima captures the fluid grace of two people sculpting time through dance, in a continuous one-take shot around Indy Simin's "Echt in Vorm." Their movements inside, around, and upon the sculpture reveal a simple unit...

Shot on July 23, 1968, this historical 16mm footage of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention at Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood, CA has been newly restored from the Vault! The film has been newly synced to the 2023 mixes, marking the first time i...

Suppressed memories reach a boiling point. An animated tale of longing. “The Experimental section saw Non Films’ Dull Hope scoop the premier place as category winner. Half animation and half movie footage, this hybrid resonated very much with the ju...

A guy named Ray tries to go to sleep and a sasquatch gets into funky business....

Recorded Live in Paris in 1980, this is a rare recording of Frank Zappa performing at the peak of his career with his incredible backing band, including Ike Willis (guitar/vocals), Ray White (guitar/vocals), Tommy Mars (keys), Arthur Barrow (bass) an...

Weaving blistering performance footage from Europe, Japan, and the U.S. with a sublimely restrained, intimate glimpse into a world-renowned jazz percussionist’s singular voice and complex cosmology....

University project based on a pre-written script. This is an extended "directors cut" version re-edited by Scarlett J. Stribley. Two estranged friends reunite and reminisce on the bridge where they first met....

Face in Motion depicts Chang Chao-Tang from the shoulders up, dressed in a light tank top, shaking his head and contorting his face. The background is pitch black, and he is lit with an almost otherworldly glow. The artist recorded at two frames per ...

An experimental short film capturing the delicate beauty of flowers....