Underground Movies

Catalog description

New York City has been home to some of the most iconic, glamorous, and successful films in history. But what does cinema have to teach us about the people, places, and social movements of the city that lie below the surface? This course goes under the mainstream to examine the history of underground films set in New York City. Exploring the socio-economic and aesthetic implications of the term underground, we will focus on cinematic stories about marginalized communities and films that challenge the aesthetic conventions of Hollywood cinema. John Cassavetes, Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas, William Greaves, Jennie Livingston, and Lena Dunham, among others, will guide us through the worlds of misfits, outcasts, and artistic visionaries that populate the city we live in. This journey will introduce us to a side of the city’s history that is often ignored and to an exciting corpus of independent and avant-garde cinema.