Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1893-1941 premieres a comprehensive 20-program retrospective of the pre-Maya Deren inspired avant-garde film movement in America. Over 160 films in newly preserved and restored 35mm and 16mm film prints survey the hitherto unknown accomplishments of pioneer filmmakers working in the United States and abroad during the formative period of American film. The series postulates an innovative and often controversial view of experimental cinema as a product of avant-garde artists, of Hollywood directors, and of amateur movie-makers working collectively and as individuals at all levels of film production during the last decade of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

From the little theaters of the 1920s to the ad hoc film societies of the 50s, avant-garde cinema knew no established form and held no predictable position. The boundaries of its history are still hotly debated, but its rough sensibilities informed and peFrom the little theaters of the 1920s to the ad hoc film societies of the 50s, avant-garde cinema knew no established form and held no predictable position.