Avante-garde film is in a constant state of change and redefinition. In this history, A.L. Rees tracks the movement of the avante-garde film between, on the one hand, the cinema, and, on the other hand, modern art (with its postmodern coda). He also reconstitutes the avante-garde film as an independent form of art practice with its own internal logic and aesthetic discourse. This history of avante-garde film and video ranges from Cezanne and dada, via Cocteau, Brakhage and Le Grice, to the new wave of British video artists in the 1990s.