New York, new cinema: The independent film community and the underground crossover, 1950--1970.

摘要

This dissertation examines the institutional history of the independent and experimental filmmaking community in New York City, from the rise of the 16mm non-theatrical film industry in the early 1950s to the nationwide distribution of underground feature films in the late 1960s. Using sociologist Howard Becker's model of an "art world" as a guide, this historical study explains how an experimental film community in New York evolved through a conflict between the ideals of professionalism and amateurism advocated by filmmakers, programmers, and critics. Primary documents from Film Council of America, the American Federation of Film Societies, Cinema 16, the New York Film Festival, the Film-Maker's Cooperative, and the Film-Maker's Distribution Center trace this history in relation to the careers of Shirley Clarke, Jonas Mekas, and Andy Warhol. Chapter 2 discusses how the infrastructure of the 16mm non-theatrical film market in the 1950s enabled a community of filmmakers including Clarke to maintain a professional career. Chapter 3 explains how some filmmakers within this community attempted to produce low-budget feature films for theatrical distribution in the early 1960s, including Mekas's Guns of the Trees and Clarke's The Connection. Distribution obstacles led Mekas to advocate a new kind of amateurism that nonetheless depended upon the infrastructure built by the 16mm film industry. Chapter 4 explains how Mekas's amateurism coalesced with the folk-art sensibility that emerged in the Greenwich Village art world in the early 1960s. Filmmakers Jack Smith and Andy Warhol rejected the professionalism of the 16mm film industry, yet its infrastructure allowed their work to reach audiences outside of New York City. Chapter 5 explains how the combined ideals of Clarke's professionalism and Mekas' amateurism led to the creation of the Film-Maker's Distribution Center (1966--1970) which facilitated the theatrical distribution of underground films such as Warhol's The Chelsea Girls (1966). The final chapter explains how the commercial crossover of experimental films was dissipated by the standardization of underground films, the rise of mature content in Hollywood, and the academicization of the American avant-garde, all of which led to the demise of the Film-Maker's Distribution Center.