The forerunners of art films include Italian silent film L'Inferno (1911), D. W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916) and the works of Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, who influenced the development of European cinema movement… See more

Film scholar David Bordwell outlined the academic definition of "art film" in a 1979 article entitled "The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice", which contrasts art films with the mainstream films of classical Hollywood … See more

There are scholars who point out that mass market films such as those produced in Hollywood appeal to a less discerning audience. This group then turns to film critics as a cultural elite that can help steer them towar… See more

The following list is a small, partial sample of films with "art film" qualities, compiled to give a general sense of what directors and films are considered to have "art film" characteristics. The films in this list demonstrat… See more