ABSTRACT
Cinema not only uses the technique of cutting between scenes in order to tell a story or convey an emotion; the medium of cinema itself has become one of the greatest projection surfaces ever for human mind, perhaps only surpassed by its younger siblings: the television and computer screens. Even the “cutting edge” is incredibly vast, so the author cherry-picks a few revealing examples rather than striving for a comprehensive overview. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Anger’s first official film was Fireworks, for which Harry Smith coordinated one of the first screenings in 1948, at the Art in Cinema Society in San Francisco. Moving to Manhattan in 1953, Mekas began screening avant-garde films at Gallery East. The mid-20th century was undoubtedly a vital time for creative and groundbreaking filmmaking, and work of experimental, avant-garde artists such as Maya Deren, Harry Smith, Kenneth Anger, Robert Frank, Jonas Mekas and the New American Cinema have certainly influenced generations of filmmakers since.
