Underground Resources: Index

Below is a list of books written about the history of underground film. Titles are linked to their Amazon page if you wish to purchase a copy, but please note that many of these books are out of print — and so noted — and are only available from used book dealers. Bibliography formatting courtesy of EasyBib. This list is currently still a work-in-progress and many more books will be added.

• 
  Blaetz, Robin.
  Women’s Experimental Cinema: Critical Frameworks.
  Durham: Duke UP, 2007.
• 
  Brakhage, Stan, and Bruce R. McPherson.
  Essential Brakhage: Selected Writings on Filmmaking.
  Kingston, N.Y.: Documentext, 2001.
• 
  Brakhage, Stan.
  Film at Wit’s End: Eight Avant-garde Filmmakers.
  Kingston, N.Y.: Documentext, 1989.
• 
  Brakhage, Stan.
  Metaphors on Vision.
  S.l.: S.n., 1976.
• 
  Curtis, David.
  Experimental Cinema.
  New York: Dell Pub., 1978.
  (Originally published: New York: Universe, 1971.)
• 
  Deren, Maya, and Bruce R. McPherson.
  Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film. Kingston, N.Y.: Documentext, 2005.
• 
  Dixon, Wheeler Winston, and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster.
  Experimental Cinema: the Film Reader. London: Routledge, 2002.
• 
  Dixon, Wheeler W.
  The Exploding Eye: a Re-visionary History of 1960s American Experimental Cinema.
  Albany: State University of New York, 1997.
• 
  Frampton, Hollis.
  On the Camera Arts and Consecutive Matters: the Writings of Hollis Frampton.
  Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 2009.
• 
  Hall, Phil.
  The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies: Films from the Fringes of Cinema.
  Studio City: M. Wiese Productions, 2004.
• 
  Hoberman, J., and Jonathan Rosenbaum.
  Midnight Movies.
  New York: Da Capo, 1991.
  (Originally published: New York: Harper & Row, 1983.)
• 
  Horak, Jan-Christopher.
  Lovers of Cinema: the First American Film Avant-garde, 1919-1945.
  Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin, 1995.
• 
  James, David E.
  The Most Typical Avant-garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles.
  Berkeley: University of California, 2005.
• 
  James, David E.
  Stan Brakhage: Filmmaker.
  Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2005.
• 
  James, David E.
  To Free the Cinema: Jonas Mekas & the New York Underground.
  Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1992.
• 
  Landis, Bill.
  Anger: the Unauthorized Biography of Kenneth Anger.
  New York: Harper Collins, 1995. (out of print)
• 
  MacDonald, Scott.
  Avant-Garde Film: Motion Studies.
  New York, N.Y.: Cambridge UP, 1992.
• 
  MacDonald, Scott.
  Canyon Cinema: the Life and Times of an Independent Film Distributor.
  Berkeley: University of California, 2008.
• 
  MacDonald, Scott.
  Cinema 16
  Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2002.
  (Originally published Athens, OH: Ohio University School of Film, 1997.)
• 
  MacDonald, Scott.
  The Garden in the Machine: a Field Guide to Independent Films about Place.
  Berkeley: University of California, 2001.
• 
  MacDonald, Scott.
  Screen Writings: Scripts and Texts by Independent Filmmakers.
  Berkeley: University of California, 1995.
• 
  Mekas, Jonas.
  Movie Journal; the Rise of the New American Cinema, 1959-1971.
  New York: Columbia UP, 2016.
  (Originally published: Collier, 1972.)
• 
  Patterson, Clayton.
  Captured: a Film/video History of the Lower East Side.
  New York: Seven Stories, 2005.
• 
  Reekie, Duncan.
  Subversion: the Definitive History of Underground Cinema.
  London: Wallflower, 2007.
• 
  Rees, A. L.
  A History of Experimental Film and Video.
  London: BFI, 1999.
• 
  Renan, Sheldon.
  An Introduction to the American Underground Film.
  New York: Dutton, 1967. (out of print)
• 
  Russett, Robert, and Cecile Starr.
  Experimental Animation: Origins of a New Art.
  New York, NY: Da Capo, 1988.
  (Originally published: Da Capo, 1976.)
• 
  Sargeant, Jack.
  Deathtripping: the Extreme Underground.
  Brooklyn: Soft Skull, 2008.
  (Originally published: London: Creation, 1995.)
• 
  Sargeant, Jack.
  Naked Lens Beat Cinema.
  Berkeley, CA: Soft Skull, 2008.
  (Originally published: London: Creation, 2001.)
• 
  Sitney, P. Adams.
  The Avant-garde Film: a Reader of Theory and Criticism.
  New York: New York UP, 1978.
• 
  Sitney, P. Adams.
  The Essential Cinema. Essays on Films in the Collection of Anthology Film Archives.
  New York: Anthology Film Archives, 1975.
• 
  Sitney, P. Adams.
  Eyes Upside Down: Visionary Filmmakers and the Heritage of Emerson.
  Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008.
• 
  Sitney, P. Adams.
  Film Culture Reader.
  New York, NY: Cooper Square, 2000.
  (Originally published: New York: Praeger, 1970.)
• 
  Sitney, P. Adams.
  Visionary Film: the American Avant-garde, 1943-2000.
  New York: Oxford UP, 2002.
  (Originally published: New York: Oxford UP, 1974.)
• 
  Small, Edward S.
  Direct Theory.
  Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1994.
• 
  Suárez, Juan Antonio.
  Bike Boys, Drag Queens & Superstars: Avant-garde, Mass Culture, and Gay Identities in the 1960s Underground Cinema.
  Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1996.
• 
  Tyler, Parker.
  Underground Film: a Critical History.
  New York: Da Capo, 1995.
  (Originally published: New York: Grove, 1970.)
• 
  Vogel, Amos.
  Film as a Subversive Art.
  London: CT Editions, 2005.
• 
  Waters, John.
  Shock Value: a Tasteful Book About Bad Taste.
  Philadelphia: Running, 2005.
  (Originally published: Dell Pub. Co., 1981)
• 
  Waters, John.
  Trash Trio: Three Screenplays.
  New York: Thunder’s Mouth, 1996.
  (Originally published: Random House, 1988)

Underground Resources: Index