Film Canon | Best Experimental Films

In Order of Excellence

1. Blood of a Poet - Jean Cocteau (1932)

Captures the poet's obsession with the struggle between the forces of life and death.

2. Man with a Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov (1929)

A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.

3. Un Chien Andalou - Luis Bunuel (1929)

Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.

4. Meshes of the Afternoon - Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid (1943)

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.

5. American Falls - Phil Solomon (2012)

Panoramic and artistic journey through the cataclysms of American history.

6. La Jetee - Chris Marker (1962)

The story of a man forced to explore his memories in the wake of World War III's devastation.

7. Berlin: Symphony of a Great CIty - Walter Ruttmann (1927)

One day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.

8. Outer Space - Peter Tscherkassky (1999)

Footage from The Entity (1982) is edited into an abstract nightmare.

9. Cremaster 1 - Matthew Barney (1996)

The film alludes to the position of the reproductive organs during the embryonic development process.

10. Window Water Baby Moving - Stan Brakhage (1959)

Stan Brakhage films the birth of his first child, Myrrena.

11. Koyaanisqatsi - Godfrey Reggio (1982)

The relationship between nature and humanity.

Narrative films with Experimental Elements

1. Beauty and the Beast - Jean Cocteau, Rene Clement (1946)

A beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.

2. Dogville - Lars von Trier (2003)

A 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.

3. F for Fake - Orson Welles (1973)

A documentary about fraud and fakery.

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Michel Gondry (2004)

When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories.

5. Night and Fog - Alain Resnais (1956)

The history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.

6. Eraserhead - David Lynch (1977)

Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.

7. Pierrot le Fou - Jean-Luc Godard (1965)

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne,
a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.

8. House - Nobuhiko Obayashi (1977)

A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.

9. Daisies - Vera Chytilova (1966)

After realizing that all world is spoiled, Marie and Marie are committed to be spoiled themselves.
They rip off older men, feast in lavish meals and do all kinds of mischief. But what is all this leading to?