The Avant-Garde Feature Film: A Critical History

Here is a critical and historical overview of unconventional and aesthetically challenging films, all of feature length. The author focuses on the particular forms of contemporary avant-garde films, which often rely on characteristics associated with historical films of the same genre. Included are works by such visionary filmmakers as David Lynch, Luis Bunuel, Jean Cocteau, Jean-Luc Godard, Guy Maddin and Derek Jarman.

The first of the two appendices contains a filmography of key avant-garde feature films, from Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) to Maximum Shame (2010). The second appendix offers a brief list of directors who have made significant contributions to films that take alternative approaches to cinematic practice, establishing new grounds for analysis and evaluation.

William E.B. Verrone has written extensively on both avant-garde and mainstream filmmakers, and has served as executive director and convener of The Conference on Global Film. He teaches film and English at the University of North Alabama, where he chairs the film studies minor.