Movements

​Film Art History

Important Note: For more depth on Film Art and Film Movements, see Chapter 12 of Film Art, and Chapter 12 of New Ways and Meanings.

Film is about a hundred and twenty years old. Many of the pioneers were concerned with straight representations of reality, but as the technology developed, so did the craft, and filmmakers explored the medium to find new ways of artistic expression.

Below, you will find documents that discuss the definition(s) of Art Film, as well as some of the significant Art Film Movements. There are some pointers to great pioneers of some of these film movements, and it would be great to see some of you make films that are inspired by some of these artists. To help contextualise the clips further down this page, make sure you read the PDFs first.

As you explore Art Film Movements, see what you can learn about the context in which they emerged.