Watch amazing short films from the entire history of underground film in the United States, from the 1930s to the early 2000s. And, if you go far back enough into our archives, you’ll find modern short films, movie trailers, film festival trailers and other great video.
Divinations — Storm De Hirsch
Divinations was completed in 1964 at the same time Storm De Hirsch was finishing her only feature film, Goodbye in the Mirror. De Hirsch described the making of Divinations as saying she wanted badly to make an animated short, but didn’t have a camera available.
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Flight Paths — Robert Todd
Robert Todd was Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. During his lifetime, he produced an extraordinary body of work in the form of short, experimental films that primarily captured his environment in minute and poetic detail.
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Offon — Scott Bartlett
Offon by Scott Bartlett is considered one of the first works to combine film and video together. It was celebrated upon its release for both its technical ingenuity as much as for its artistic integrity.
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Flight — Greta Snider
Flight by Greta Snider (1997). San Francisco-based filmmaker Greta Snider is primarily known for her unique spin on documentaries. At first glance, Flight may seem like a straight-up experimental film, but reading its official description by Snider shows the work’s documentary essence.
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Candy and Daddy — Anton Perich
Candy and Daddy by Anton Perich (1972). Starring: Candy Darling, Taylor Mead and Craig Vandenburgh. After living as a poet and a painter in Paris, France in the mid-1960s, Anton Perich moved to New York City, fell in with the Warhol crowd and made raucous videos.
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Turn Turn Turn — Jud Yalkut
Turn Turn Turn by Jud Yalkut (1965-1966). Jud Yalkut’s main contribution to the 1960s underground film scene was his cinematic documentation of multi-media installations and performance art “happenings.”
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Anybody’s Woman — Bette Gordon
Anybody’s Woman by Bette Gordon (1981). Starring Nancy Reilly and Spalding Gray. In the 1970s, filmmaker Bette Gordon was associated with the Structuralist style of experimental filmmaking.
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The Last Time I Saw Ron — Leslie Thornton
The Last Time I Saw Ron by Leslie Thornton (1994). The “Ron” of The Last Time I Saw Ron is late actor Ron Vawter who passed away in 1994.
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Spectral Ascension — Paul Clipson
Spectral Ascension by Paul Clipson (2017). This film is a collaboration with experimental musician Byron Westbrook. It was filmed in 16mm with title and end credits added digitally.
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And Sometimes The Boats Are Low — Leighton Pierce
And Sometimes the Boats Are Low by Leighton Pierce (1983). As of this writing, there does not appear to be much written about this particular film by Pierce, even though there is quite a bit written about his work in general, particularly by film historian Scott MacDonald.
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