avant-garde film index

The Avant-Garde Film Index is an ongoing project, supported by a Carnegie-Whitney Grant from the American Library Association.  Phase I of the project is now complete and available for use.  What you will find here is a framework, based on an initial sample of films and filmmakers, that can and will be expanded upon in the coming years.  Liza Palmer, the author, invites you to read the About page to learn more about the methodology used to compile the sample, as well as the plan for expansion and updates.

For now, the site can be searched by keyword, or browsed by films and filmmakers.  On the Films pages, you will discover links to entries from the Canyon Cinema Catalog and the Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalog, which provide relevant synopses, as well as production details for the films. On the Filmmakers pages, you will find references to articles and archival collections related to the filmmaker and his/her films, as well as links to entries from the Canyon Cinema Catalog and the Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalog, which provide artist statements and overviews.  Neither section is comprehensive but is rather based on the initial sample arrived at by Palmer’s methodology for inclusion.  This will change as the index expands; but for posterity’s sake, Palmer has linked to the Excel spreadsheet of the initial sample on the About page.

The Links page is an ever-growing list of recommended resources for additional research, and represents the institutions and organizations that Palmer seeks to highlight with her index.  Indexed Works is a bibliography of the resources that have, so far, been indexed in these pages.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with Palmer, via the Contact page, if you have suggestions for films and filmmakers to add to the index or if you wish to be involved in the project.  She welcomes your feedback and input!

Finally, Phase II of the project will be announced in fall 2012 — a call for original entries on the films and filmmakers included in the initial sample.  For this to be a truly useful resource, it must belong to many and be reflective of differing perspectives and approaches.

Thanks for stopping by!