Library for the Performing Arts Film Club: Animated & Experimental Films

Explore the fascinating intersection of sight and sound in this program of short animated and experimental films that showcase innovative uses of music. From abstract visual poetry to vibrant representational narratives, these selections place musical composition as a vital partner of visual style and expression.

The screening includes iconic works such as Norman McLaren’s hand-painted Be Gone Dull Care, the fluid, live-action abstractions of Liquid Jazz by Joseph Kramer, the dazzling electronic abstraction of Mary Ellen Bute’s Spook Sport and Abstronic, the lyrical jazz-inspired Harlem Wednesday by Faith and John Hubley, the pre-MTV irony of Braverman’s Condensed Cream of Beatles and Kenneth Anger’s Kustom Kar Kommandos.

Join us for this program of screenings, presented by the Music and

Recorded Sound Division at the Library for the Performing Arts.

Please note: some films contain mild strobing and flashing lights.

Photo Credit: Center for Visual Music

SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all seats are released, regardless of registration, to our patrons in the stand-by line. If you arrive after the program starts, you will be seated at the discretion of our front-of-house staff.

STANDBY LINE | If registration is sold out or has ended, do not fret! We welcome you to come to the Library regardless of registration status and wait in our standby line, which forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Five minutes before the program starts, all remaining seats are released. While this is not guaranteed, we will do our best to get you into any of our programs.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing [email protected].

HARVEY FIERSTEIN THEATRE LAB POLICY | Please note that any unoccupied seat will be released five minutes before the show begins and holding seats for anyone beyond that is prohibited. There is no food or drink allowed inside the venue.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs may be photographed and recorded by and at the discretion of the Library for the Performing Arts and will post signs indicating as such. If you would prefer your image not be captured, please let us know and we can seat you accordingly. Attending any program indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any and all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries to Alex Teplitzky at [email protected]. Please note that all recording, including professional video recordings, are prohibited without expressed consent from the Library.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher New York Public Library for the Performing Arts