A very special series of films screened on a repertory basis, the Essential Cinema Repertory collection consists of 110 programs/330 titles assembled in 1970-75 by Anthology’s Film Selection Committee: James Broughton, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, P. Adams Sitney, and Jonas Mekas.

It was an ambitious attempt to define the art of cinema. The project was never completed, but even in its unfinished state the series provides an uncompromising critical overview of cinema’s history. Essential Cinema programs screen as a cycle throughout each year – tickets for these screenings are $8 general, and are free for members!

"In 1968, thanks to the foresight of Jerome Hill, a filmmaker and a visionary philanthropist, there arose an occasion to create in New York a film museum dedicated exclusively to film as an art. Lengthy discussions took place to determine the purposes and functions of the new museum. It was decided that one of its main functions would be to serve as a continuous critical tool in the investigation of the essential works created in cinema. Therefore it was decided to create what became known as the Essential Cinema Repertory collection.

A special Film Selection Committee was created to begin to compile such a repertory. The understanding was that the Committee would constitute a permanent part of Anthology Film Archives and that it would continue into the future reviewing old and new cinema works, in all their different manifestations, and keep adding and expanding the Essential Cinema Repertory collection.

With the enthusiastic support of Jerome Hill, the Committee, consisting of P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, James Broughton, Ken Kelman, and myself – and for a brief period Stan Brakhage – began its work. During the following few years it held numerous and lengthy selection sessions, compiling the first Essential Cinema Repertory collection consisting of about 330 titles.

But fate had other plans for us. In February 1973 Jerome Hill died. The Avon Foundation, Jerome’s foundation behind the Anthology project, which had built a special, Invisible Cinema theater, designed by Peter Kubelka and had paid for the acquisition of all the prints voted into the Essential Cinema collection and the running of Anthology, was taken over by people who did not share Jerome’s vision. All funding to the Anthology project was cut off. Anthology had to move from the 425 Lafayette Street location, first to 80 Wooster Street, then to 491 Broadway, and then to its present location. The Essential Cinema Repertory project was frozen until such time as another visionary such as Jerome Hill will appear.

The Essential Cinema Repertory, from its very inception, was strongly and sometimes wildly attacked by those who were not familiar with the history of the project for exclusion of many important films. They were not aware of the fact that the Essential Cinema Repertory was intended to serve as a permanent critical tool with new titles continuously added including possibly the titles that the critics of Anthology had in mind.

As one looks back through the last thirty years of the history of cinema in the United States, one has to admit that even in its unfinished state, the Essential Cinema Repertory collection, as an uncompromising critical statement on the avant-garde film of the period, has dramatically changed perceptions of the history of the American avant-garde film. The avant-garde film has become an essential part of cinema.”

–Jonas Mekas

Films in the Essential Cinema Repertory:

James Agee:

In the Street, 1952 (with Levitt and Loeb)



Kenneth Anger:

Fireworks, 1947

Puce Moment, 1949-70

Eaux D’Artifice, 1953

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, 1954-66

Scorpio Rising, 1963

Kustom Kar Kommandos, 1965

Invocation of My Demon Brother, 1969

Rabbit’s Moon, 1950-70

Lucifer Rising, 1974



Bruce Baillie:

Mass, 1963-64

Quixote, 1965

Castro Street, 1966

All My Life, 1966

Valentin de las Sierras, 1968

Quick Billy, 1971



Robert Beavers:

From the Notebook of..., 1971



Jordan Belson:

Allures, 1961

Re-entry, 1964

Phenomena, 1965

Samadhi, 1967

Momentum, 1968

Cosmos, 1969

World, 1970

Meditation, 1971

Chakra, 1972



Stan Brakhage:

Desistfilm, 1954

Reflections on Black, 1955

The Wonder Ring, 1955

Flesh of Morning, 1956

Loving, 1956

Daybreak and White Eye, 1957

Anticipation of the Night, 1958

Window Water Baby Moving, 1959

Cat’s Cradle, 1959

Sirius Remembered, 1959

The Dead, 1960

Thigh Line Lyre Triangular, 1961

Mothlight, 1963

Blue Moses, 1963

Dog Star Man, 1961-64

The Art of Vision, 1965

Pasht, 1965

Bluewhite, Blood’s Tone, Vein, 1965

Fire of Waters, 1965

The Horseman, The Woman, & The Moth, 1968

Lovemaking, 1968

Songs, 1-14, 1964-65

Songs 15-22, 1965-66

23rd Psalm Branch, 1966

Songs 24-27, 1967-68

Songs 28-30, 1968-69

Scenes From Under Childhood, I-IV, 1969-70

The Weir-Falcon Saga, 1970

Sexual Meditation No. 1: Motel, 1970

The Machine of Eden, 1970

The Animals of Eden and After, 1970

Angels’, 1971

Door, 1971

Western History, 1971

The Peaceable Kingdom, 1971

Eyes, 1971

Deus Ex, 1971

Sexual Meditation: Room with View, 1971

The Shores of Phos: A Fable, 1972

The Wold Shadow, 1972

The Riddle of Lumen, 1972

The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes, 1972

Sincerity, 1973

The Text of Light, 1974



Robert Breer:

Form Phases 1, 1952

Form Phases 2, 1953

Recreation, 1956

Motion Pictures No. 1, 1956

Jamestown Baloos, 1957

Eyewash, 1959

Blazes, 1961

Pat’s Birthday, 1962

Breathing, 1963

Fist Fight, 1964

66, 1966

69, 1969

70, 1971

Gulls & Buoys, 1972

Fuji, 1974



Robert Bresson:

Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, 1944 (The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne)

Le Journal d’un Curé de Campagne, 1950 (Diary of A Country Priest)

Un Condamné à Mort s’est Echappé, 1956 (A Man Escaped)

Pickpocket, 1959

Au Hasard, Balthazar, 1966

Mouchette, 1966

Une Femme Douce, 1969 (A Gentle Creature)



James Broughton:

The Potted Psalm, 1946 (with Sidney Peterson)

Mother’s Day, 1948

Four in the Afternoon, 1951

Loony Tom, the Happy Lover, 1951

The Pleasure Garden, 1953

The Bed, 1968

Nuptiae, 1969

The Golden Positions, 1970

This Is It, 1971

Dreamwood, 1972

Testament, 1974

High Kukus, 1974



Luis Buñuel:

Un Chien Andalou, 1928 (An Andalusian Dog) (with Salvador Dali)

L’Age D’Or, 1930 (The Golden Age)

Land Without Bread, 1932

Los Olvidados, 1950 (The Forgotten)



Alberto Cavalcanti:

Rien que les Heures, 1927 (Nothing but the Hours)



Charlie Chaplin:

A Woman, 1915

A Night in the Show, 1915

Easy Street, 1917

Cure, 1917

Payday, 1922

The Gold Rush, 1925

Selected Features (One Program per Cycle)

Selected Shorts (One Program per Cycle)



René Clair:

Entr’acte, 1924 (with Francis Picabia)



Jean Cocteau:

La Sang d’un Poete, 1930 (The Blood of a Poet)

La Belle et la Bete, 1946 (Beauty and the Beast)

Orphée, 1950

Le Testament D’Orphée, 1960 (The Testament of Orpheus)



Bruce Conner:

A Movie, 1958

Cosmic Ray, 1961

Report, 1965



Tony Conrad:

The Flicker, 1966



Joseph Cornell:

Rose Hobart, 1939

Cotillion (finished by Larry Jordan, 1969)

The Midnight Party (finished by Larry Jordan, 1969)

The Children’s Party (finished by Larry Jordan, 1969)

Centuries of June, 1955

Aviary, 1955

Gnir Rednow, 1955

Nymphlight, ca. 1957

A Legend for Fountains (photographed ca. 1957; completed in 1970)

Angel, ca. 1957



Douglass Crockwell:

Glens Falls Sequence, 1946

The Long Bodies, 1949



Maya Deren:

Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943 (with Alexander Hammid)

At Land, 1944

A Study in Choreography for Camera, 1945

Ritual in Transfigured Time, 1946



Alexandr Dovzhenko:

Zvenigora, 1928

Arsenal, 1929

Zemlya, 1930 (Earth)

Ivan, 1932

Aerograd, 1935 (Frontier)



Carl Th. Dreyer:

Prastankan, 1921 (The Parson’s Widow)

Michael, 1924

La Passion de Jeanne D’Arc, 1928 (The Passion of Joan of Arc)

Vampyr, 1932

Vredens Dag, 1943 (Day of Wrath)

Ordet, 1955 (The Word)

Gertrud, 1965



Marcel Duchamp:

Anemic Cinema, 1926 (with Man Ray)



Viking Eggeling:

Symphonie Diagonale, 1924



Sergei Eisenstein:

Stachka, 1925 (Strike)

Bronenosets Potyomkin, 1925 (Battleship Potemkin)

Oktyabr, 1928 (October)

Staroye i Novoye, 1929 (Old and New)

Ivan Grozny, I, II, 1944, 1946 (Ivan the Terrible)



Jean Epstein:

La Glace à Trois Faces, 1927 (The Three-Sided Mirror)

La Chute de la Maison Usher, 1928 (The Fall of the House of Usher)



Louis Feuillade:

Fantomas, 1913-14

Les Vampires, 1915

Tih Minh, 1919



Robert Flaherty:

Nanook of the North, 1922

Man of Aran, 1934



Bob Fleischner:

Blonde Cobra, 1962 (with Ken Jacobs)



Hollis Frampton:

Zorns Lemma, 1970

Hapax Legomena I: (nostalgia), 1971



Georges Franju:

Le Sang des Betes, 1949 (Blood of the Beasts)



Robert Frank:

Pull My Daisy, 1959 (with Alfred Leslie)



Ernie Gehr:

Reverberation, 1969

Serene Velocity, 1970

Still, 1971



Jean Genet:

Un Chant D’Amour, 1950 (The Song of Love)



Dwinell Grant:

Contrathemis, 1941

Stop Motion Tests, 1942

Color Sequence, 1943



D. W. Griffith:

The Birth of a Nation, 1915

Intolerance, 1916



Alexander Hammid:

Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943 (with Maya Deren)



Marcel Hanoun:

Une Simple Histoire, 1958 (A Simple Story)

L’Hiver, 1959 (Winter)

Le Printemps, 1970 (Spring)



Jerome Hill:

Death in the Forenoon, 1955

Canaries, 1968

Film Portrait, 1971



Ian Hugo:

Bells of Atlantis, 1952



Ken Jacobs:

Little Stabs at Happiness, 1961

Blonde Cobra, 1962 (with Bob Fleischner)

Tom, Tom, The Piper’s Son, 1969



Humphrey Jennings:

Listen to Britain, 1941



Larry Jordan:

Hamfat Asar, 1965

Duo Concertantes, 1962-64

Gymnopedies, 1968

The Old House, Passing, 1966

Our Lady of the Sphere, 1968



Buster Keaton:

Neighbors, 1920

The General, 1926

Selected Films (One Program per Cycle)



Dimitri Kirsanoff:

Menilmontant, 1924-25

Rapt, 1934



Peter Kubelka:

Mosaik im Vertauen, 1955 (Mosaic in Confidence)

Adebar, 1957

Schwechater, 1958

Arnulf Rainer, 1960

Unsere Afrikareise, 1966 (Our Trip to Africa)



George & Mike Kuchar:

Pussy on a Hot Tin Roof, 1961

Tootsies in Autumn, 1962



George Landow (a.k.a. Owen Land):

Fleming Faloon, 1964

Film in which there Appear, Sprocket Holes, Edge Lettering, Dirt Particles, etc., 1966

Diploteratology or Bardo Follies, 1967

The Film that Rises to the Surface of Clarified Butter, 1968

Institutional Quality, 1969

Remedial Reading Comprehension, 1971

What's Wrong With This Picture?, 1972

Thank You Jesus for the Eternal Present (Parts 1 & 2), 1973-74



Laurel and Hardy:

Selected Films (One Program per Cycle)



Fernand Léger:

Ballet Mécanique, 1924 (with Dudley Murphy)



Alfred Leslie:

Pull My Daisy, 1959 (with Robert Frank)



Helen Levitt:

In the Street, 1952 (with Agee & Loeb)



Janice Loeb:

In the Street, 1952 (with Agee & Levitt)



Louis & Auguste Lumière:

Selected Films (One Program per Cycle)



Len Lye:

Tusalava, 1928

Trade Tattoo, 1937

Rhythm, 1953

Free Radicals, 1958



Willard Maas:

Geography of the Body, 1943



Christopher MacLaine:

The End, 1953



Gregory Markopoulos:

Du Sang, de la Volupte et de la Mort, 1947-48 (Of Blood, of Pleasure and of Death)

Psyche, 1948

Swain, 1950

Twice a Man, 1963

Himself as Herself, 1966

Ming Green, 1966

Eros, O Basileus, 1966

The Illiac Passion, 1967

Gammelion, 1968



Jonas Mekas:

Walden: Diaries, Notes and Sketches, 1964-69

Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania, 1971



Georges Méliès:

Selected Films (Four Programs)

Selected Films (Five Programs)

Selected Films (Four Programs)



Marie Menken:

Glimpse of the Garden, 1957

Arabesque for Kenneth Anger, 1961

Eye Music in Red Major, 1961

Notebook, 1962-63

Go! Go! Go!, 1963

Andy Warhol, 1965

Lights, 1965



F. W. Murnau:

Sunrise, 1927



Dudley Murphy:

Ballet Méchanique, 1924 (with Fernand Léger)



Robert Nelson:

The Great Blondino, 1967

Bleu Shut, 1970



Andrew Noren:

The Adventures of the Exquisite Corpse, Part I: Huge Pupils, 1967 (formerly known as: Kodak Ghost Poems, Part I)



Pat O'Neill:

Saugus Series, 1973



Yasujiro Ozu:

Umarete Wa Mita Keredo, 1932 (I Was Born, … But)

Chichi Ariki, 1942 (There Was a Father)



Sidney Peterson:

The Potted Psalm, 1946 (with James Broughton)

The Petrified Dog, 1948

Mr. Frenhofer and the Minotaur, 1949

The Lead Shoes, 1949



Francis Picabia:

Entr’acte, 1924 (with René Clair)



Vsevolod Pudovkin:

Mat, 1926 (Mother)



Man Ray:

Le Retour à la Raison, 1923 (Return to Reason)

Emak Bakia, 1927

Etoile de Mer, 1928

Anemic Cinema, 1926 (with Marcel Duchamp)



Jean Renoir:

La Règle du Jeu, 1939 (Rules of the Game)



Ron Rice:

Chumlum, 1964



Hans Richter:

Rhythmus 21, 1921

Alles Dreht Sich, Alles Bewegt Sich, 1929 (Everything Revolves, Everything Turns)

Zweigroschenzauber, 1929 (Two Pence Magic)



Leni Riefenstahl:

Triumph des Willens, 1934-35 (Triumph of the Will)

Olympia, 1938



Roberto Rossellini:

Francesco, Giullare di Dio, 1949 (The Flowers of St. Francis)

La Prise de Pouvoir par Louis XIV, 1966 (The Rise to Power of Louis XIV)



Walter Ruttmann:

Berlin, die Symphonie der Grosstadt, 1927 (Berlin: Symphony of a City)



Paul Sharits:

N:O:T:H:I:N:G, 1968

T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G, 1969

S:TREAM:S:S:ECTION:S:ECTION:S:S:ECTIONED, 1968-70

Color Sound Frames, 1974



Harry Smith:

No. 1-5, 7, 10, c. 1946-59 (Early Abstractions)

No. 11, c. 1957 (Mirror Animations)

No. 12, c. 1958-61 (Heaven and Earth Magic Feature)

No. 14, 1964 (Late Superimpositions)

No. 16, 1967 (Oz: The Tin Woodsman's Dream)



Jack Smith:

Scotch Tape, 1962

Flaming Creatures, 1963

No President, 1969



Michael Snow:

Wavelength, 1967

<--->, 1969 (Back and Forth)

La Region Centrale, 1970-71 (The Central Region)



Warren Sonbert:

Carriage Trade, 1972



Frank Stauffacher:

Sausalito, 1948



Erich von Stroheim:

Greed, 1924



Karl Valentin:

Der Firmling, 1934 (Confirmation Day)



Dziga Vertov:

Newsreel Material (Kinonedelia, 1918-19; Kinopravda, 1922, etc.)

Kinoglaz, 1925

Shagai, Soviet!, 1925-26 (Forward, Soviet!)

Shestaya Chast Mira, 1926 (The Sixth Part of the World)

Odinnadtsati, 1928 (The Eleventh Year)

Chelovek s Kinoapparatom, 1929 (Man With a Movie Camera)

Entuziasm, 1931 (Enthusiasm)

Tri Pesni O Leninye, 1934 (Three Songs About Lenin)



Jean Vigo:

A Propos de Nice, 1929-30

Taris, 1931

Zéro de Conduite, 1933 (Zero for Conduct)

L’Atalante, 1934



Andy Warhol:

Eat, 1963

Chelsea Girls, 1966

Two Other Programs per Cycle (Including: Kiss, 1963; Blow Job, 1963; Harlot, 1964; My Hustler, 1965; Sausalito, 1967)



James Sibley Watson & Melville Webber:

The Fall of the House of Usher, 1928



Orson Welles:

Citizen Kane, 1941



James Whitney:

Lapis, 1963-66



John & James Whitney:

Film Exercises 1-5, 1943-45