Art in Cinema: Documents Toward a History of the Film Society (Wide Angle Books)

From 1946 until 1954, the San Francisco-based film society Art in Cinema presented programs of independent film to audiences at the San Francisco Museum of Art and the University of California, Berkeley. Led by filmmaker Frank Stauffacher, Art in Cinema pioneered the promotion of avant-arde cinema in America.
Scott MacDonald's Art in Cinema presents the complete programs presented by the legendary society; dozens of previously unavailable letters between Stauffacher, his collaborators, and filmmakers including Maya Deren, Hans Richter, Vincent Minnelli, and Man Ray; a reprint of the society's original catalog, which features essays by Henry Miller, Oskar Fischinger, Luis Bunuel, and others; and a wide range of other historical documents.
A companion to Cinema 16 (Temple), this documentary history provides cineastes, students, teachers, and scholars with extensive documentation of one of the most important film societies in American history. Together or separately, the books provide an indispensable reference source for the emergence of this country's love affair with independent film.