In this short retrospective we present some of the key works from the first wave of avant garde/experimental filmmakers of the 1920s and early 30s. Many of the first filmmakers to make abstract or "absolute" films came from painting and other visual arts, and conceived their work as being independent from either the realism of photography, or the narrative approach of mainstream cinema. Walter Ruttman, whose "In Der Nacht"(1931) will be screened, referred to his work as 'maleri mit zeit (painting in time)', and these filmmakers refer more to the avant garde art movements of the time, such as Futurism, Cubism, Expressionism, or, as exemplified here by Marcel Duchamp's "Anemic Cinema"
(1925), Dadaism.

One of the earliest examples, Hans Richter's "Rhythmus 21"(1923), although entirely abstract, combines form, speed, rhythm and light to produce an amazing vitality. Another German pioneer was Oskar Fischinger, whose films, "Komposition in Blau"(1935) and "Ornament Sound"(1932), will be screened. Fischinger was to have a large and lasting influence on the evolution of animation, eventually working on Disney's "Fantasia".

An early example of a conjunction of avant garde practice and commercial concerns is Guido Seeber's "Kipho"(1925), an advertisment for the Berlin Film and Photography exhibition of that year. Other films being screened include Henri Chomette's "Cinq Minutes de Cinema Pur"(1925), and Germaine Dulac's "Disque 957"(1928).