__notoc__
The Cinema of Transgression is a term coined by
Nick Zedd
Nick may refer to:
* Nick (given name)
* A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat
* British slang for being arrested
* British slang for a police station
* British slang for stealing
* Short for nickname
Place ...
in 1985 to describe a
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
-based
underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing.
Notable examples include:
John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'',
David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'',
Andy Warhol's '' Blue Movie'',
Rosa von Praunheim's '' ...
movement, consisting of a loose-knit group of artists using
shock value
Shock value is the potential of an image, text, action, or other form of communication, such as a public execution, to provoke a reaction of sharp disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions.
In advertising
Shock advertising or Sh ...
and
black humor
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
in their films. Key players in this movement were Zedd,
Kembra Pfahler
Kembra Pfahler (born August 4, 1961 in Hermosa Beach, California, United States) is an American filmmaker, performance artist, visual artist, adjunct professor, rock musician, and film actress.
Her film work is associated with the movement known ...
,
Tessa Hughes-Freeland
Tessa Hughes-Freeland is a British-born experimental film maker, writer living in New York City. Her films have screened internationally in North America, Europe and Australia and in prominent museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern A ...
,
Casandra Stark,
Beth B, Tommy Turner,
Jon Moritsugu
Jon Moritsugu (born February 15, 1965) is an American cult- underground filmmaker.
His movies are satiric, protopunk deconstructions of popular genres and formats with scabrous and pointedly garish results.
The ''New York Times'' describes them ...
,
Manuel DeLanda
Manuel DeLanda (born 1952) is a Mexican- American writer, artist and philosopher who has lived in New York since 1975. He is a lecturer in architecture at the Princeton University School of Architecture and the University of Pennsylvania School ...
,
David Wojnarowicz
David Michael Wojnarowicz ( (September 14, 1954 – July 22, 1992) was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and AIDS activist prominent in the East Village art scene. He incorp ...
,
Richard Kern
Richard Kern (born 1954) is an American underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to prominence as part of the cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films like ...
, and
Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...
, who in the late 1970s and mid-1980s began to make
very low-budget films using cheap 8 mm cameras.
Zedd outlined his
philosophy on the Cinema of Transgression in ''The Cinema of Transgression Manifesto'', published under the name Orion Jeriko in the
zine
A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very s ...
''The Underground Film Bulletin'' (1984–90).
Cinema of Transgression continues to heavily influence underground filmmakers. In 2000, the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
showed a retrospective of the movement's work introduced by those involved in the production of the original video films.
List of notable films
*''Why Do You Exist'' (
Nick Zedd
Nick may refer to:
* Nick (given name)
* A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat
* British slang for being arrested
* British slang for a police station
* British slang for stealing
* Short for nickname
Place ...
, 1998)
*''You Killed Me First'' (
Richard Kern
Richard Kern (born 1954) is an American underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to prominence as part of the cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films like ...
, 1985)
*''Where Evil Dwells'' (
David Wojnarowicz
David Michael Wojnarowicz ( (September 14, 1954 – July 22, 1992) was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and AIDS activist prominent in the East Village art scene. He incorp ...
& Tommy Turner, 1985)
*''Raw Nerves: A Lacanian Thriller'' (
Manuel DeLanda
Manuel DeLanda (born 1952) is a Mexican- American writer, artist and philosopher who has lived in New York since 1975. He is a lecturer in architecture at the Princeton University School of Architecture and the University of Pennsylvania School ...
, 1980)
*''Mommy, Mommy, Where's My Brain?'' (
Jon Moritsugu
Jon Moritsugu (born February 15, 1965) is an American cult- underground filmmaker.
His movies are satiric, protopunk deconstructions of popular genres and formats with scabrous and pointedly garish results.
The ''New York Times'' describes them ...
, 1986)
*''Llik Your Idols'' (Angélique Bosio, 2007)
*''Wrecked on Cannibal Island'' (
Casandra Stark, 1986)
*''Stigmata'' (
Beth B., 1991)
*''Blank City'' (Celine Danhier, 2009)
*''Nymphomania'' (
Tessa Hughes-Freeland
Tessa Hughes-Freeland is a British-born experimental film maker, writer living in New York City. Her films have screened internationally in North America, Europe and Australia and in prominent museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern A ...
and Holly Adams, 1993)
MUBI
Nymphomania, Tessa Hughes-Freeland and Holly Adams
See also
* Cinema of the world
This is a list of cinema of the world by continent and country.
By continent
* Cinema of Africa
*Cinema of Asia
**South Asian cinema
**Southeast Asian cinema
* Cinema of North America
* Cinema of Latin America
*Cinema of Europe
* Cinema of Oceani ...
* No Wave Cinema
* Transgressive art
Transgressive art is art that aims to outrage or violate basic morals and sensibilities. The term ''transgressive'' was first used in this sense by American filmmaker Nick Zedd and his Cinema of Transgression in 1985. Zedd used it to describe hi ...
* Extreme cinema
* Vulgar auteurism
Vulgar auteurism is a movement that emerged in early 2010s cinephilia and film criticism associated with championing or reappraising filmmakers, mostly those working in the horror and action genres and whose work has otherwise received little atte ...
Notes
References
*
External links
Films from the Cinema of Transgression
at UbuWeb
UbuWeb is a web-based educational resource for avant-garde material available on the internet, founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith. It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives.
Philo ...
.
*
{{film genres
Experimental film
American art
Movements in cinema
Underground culture
1980s in film
1990s in film
2000s in film