Anthology Film Archives

Address:32 2nd Ave.
New York, New York
Tel: (212) 505-5181

Movie buffs, brace yourselves for one of the largest archives of avant-garde and experimental cinema in the world!

The legendary home of avant-garde film created by filmmaker Jonas Mekas, the Anthology Film Archives is located in the East Village neighborhood of New York City and is devoted to the preservation and exhibition of experimental film. Today, it is a thriving, dynamic popular space and social scene, with screening rooms and a small gallery, housed in a misleadingly grim institutional-looking facility. The Anthology Film Archives shows about 700 public screenings yearly, is home to about 11,000 films and 3,000 videotapes, and has a particular focus on American independent and avant-garde cinema and its precursors, found in classic European, Soviet and Japanese film.

In the mid-1990s, the academic offering of the Anthology Film Archives was expanded and the archive quickly grew into one of the most active centers of current world cinema. Visitors can choose from eclectic programming or the ongoing "Essential Cinema" series, which remains a must for the film scholar. Home to festivals such as The New York Underground Film Festival, the space has also hosted live musical performances, including Sonic Youth performing to the films of Stan Brakhage. And if you're lucky, you'll get to attend a benefit with lavish refreshments. To get here, take the F to Delancy St., or the U M or Z to Essex St.