Best Avant-Garde/Experimental films (IMO)
IMPORTANT: Avant-garde/experimental directors, please message me here if you want me to see your short film or feature, I'd love to expand my horizons. I've found that this list is the first one on the net if you google "best avant-garde movies" so if I like it enough, and it ends up on here, it could be very good for everyone! Keep em coming!
Based on the very limited amount I've seen
Godard: 8
Brakhage: 4
Rivette: 3
Akerman, Snow, von Trier, Lynch, Korine: 2
Based on the very limited amount I've seen
Godard: 8
Brakhage: 4
Rivette: 3
Akerman, Snow, von Trier, Lynch, Korine: 2
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- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsJuliet BertoDominique LabourierBulle OgierA mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsBrad PittSean PennJessica ChastainThe story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.This one's arguable, but I can see enough experimental elements for it to qualify.
- DirectorDavid BlairStarsFather BessarionDavid BlairWilliam S. BurroughsA man recalls the story of how his bees implanted in him a bee television, causing him to lose all perception of space, time, and self in the deserts of the American West.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsNicole KidmanPaul BettanyLauren BacallA woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town she finds out that their support has a price.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
- DirectorHans RichterStarsJack BittnerLibby HolmanJosh WhiteAfter learning how to look inside himself, a poetic bum sells people vivid dreams.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsÉtienne BeckerJean NégroniHélène ChatelainThe story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation, told through still images.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsNick SuttonJacob SewellLara ToshLonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsJosef KemrMagda VásáryováNada HejnaA grim portrayal of the shift from Paganism to Christianity in medieval central Europe - as a young virgin promised to God is kidnapped and raped by a marauder who her religious father seeks to kill in return.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageMyrrena SchwegmannJane WodeningStan Brakhage films the birth of his first child, Myrrena.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsMaruschka DetmersJacques BonnafféMyriem RousselA woman involved with a terrorist group becomes dangerously close to the police officer guarding the bank they plan to rob.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovStarsSofiko ChiaureliMelkon AlekyanVilen GalstyanThe life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from childhood to death: his spiritual journey, artistic endeavors, and inner conflicts within the cultural and historical context of Armenia. Hailed as revolutionary by Mikhail Vartanov.
- DirectorChantal AkermanStarsChantal AkermanNiels ArestrupClaire Wauthion'Je' is a girl voluntarily lock up in a room. 'Tu' is the script. 'Il' is a lorry driver. 'Elle' is the girlfriend.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Luc GodardYves BeneytonJuliet BertoA day in the life of a Parisian housewife/prostitute, interspersed with musings on the Vietnam War and other contemporary issues.
- DirectorJack ChambersA surreal sequence of images of nature and London, Ontario, life and death.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageJane WodeningThe prelude to Dog Star Man (1964), an experimental film wherein a man climbs a mountain along with his dog.includes all parts of Dog Star Man
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsSarah AdlerNade DieuRony KramerAn indictment of modern times divided into three "kingdoms": "Enfer" ("Hell"), "Purgatoire" ("Purgatory") and "Paradis" ("Paradise").
- DirectorIsiah MedinaStarsErik BergEliza BronteAlexandre GalmardAn experimental film diary about young people in Winnipeg who have difficulty making ends meet.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsMireille DarcJean YanneJean-Pierre KalfonA surreal tale of a married couple going on a road trip to visit the wife's parents with the intention of killing them for the inheritance.
- DirectorOrson WellesGary GraverOja KodarStarsOrson WellesOja KodarFrançois ReichenbachA documentary about fraud and fakery.
- DirectorCharlie KaufmanStarsPhilip Seymour HoffmanSamantha MortonMichelle WilliamsA theater director struggles with his work and the women in his life as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play.As with The Tree of Life, I think there's enough elements of avant-garde to let this qualify as an experimental film.
- DirectorPeter TscherkasskyStarsBarbara HersheyFootage from The Entity (1982) is edited into an abstract nightmare.
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsPierre BaillotGilette BarbierJean-Pierre BastidA shorter version of Out 1 (1971), however some of the omitted scenes of the long version are included.
- DirectorPaul MorrisseyAndy WarholStarsBrigid BerlinRandy BorscheidtChristian PäffgenLacking a formal narrative, Warhol's art house classic follows various residents of the Chelsea Hotel in 1966 New York City, presented in a split screen with a single audio track in conjunction with one side of screen.
- DirectorJacques RivetteSuzanne SchiffmanStarsMichèle MorettiHermine KaragheuzKaren PuigFollowing the May 1968 civil unrest in France, a deaf-mute and a con artist simultaneously stumble upon the remnants of a secret society.
