1960s

New American Cinema and Structural Film

American independent filmmakers who broke with Hollywood between the late 1950s and 1970s: improvised narrative dramas, personal poetic films and strict structural experiments.

In the late 1950s a loose group of New York filmmakers began to make cinema outside Hollywood. Jonas Mekas gave it a voice through Film Culture and the Village Voice, and in 1960 the New American Cinema Group issued its manifesto. John Cassavetes and Shirley Clarke made improvised, rough narrative films, while Stan Brakhage, Kenneth Anger and Andy Warhol made personal, poetic or provocative work. Later, Michael Snow and Hollis Frampton led what critic P. Adams Sitney named structural film, where the shape of the film itself is the subject. Maya Deren's 1940s films stood behind them all.

Where: United States, above all New York, with Canadian and Austrian allies
When: Late 1950s to about 1980
Key figures: John Cassavetes, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Kenneth Anger, Andy Warhol, Michael Snow, Hollis Frampton, Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas
Landmark films: Shadows (1959), Scorpio Rising (1963), Empire (1964), Wavelength (1967), Zorns Lemma (1970), A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
Legacy: Opened the way for American independent cinema and shaped video art, music video and gallery film

What to look for

Handheld cameras, improvised scenes and non-studio locations
Silent, painted or hand-made images that follow the filmmaker's own vision
Long takes, fixed shots and strict systems that make the viewer notice time and the screen itself

If you are new to New American Cinema and Structural Film, take a look at our guide to start.