P. Adams Sitney (August 9, 1944 – June 8, 2025) was a historian of American
avant-garde cinema. He was known as the author of ''Visionary Film'', one of the first books on the history of
experimental film
Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...
in the United States.
Life
Sitney grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. At fourteen years old, while wandering into a screening, the film that set the course of his life was the 1929
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
and
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
’s collaboration ''
Un Chien Andalou''. He would later form a film society and published the newsletter ''Filmwise''. He also traveled to Europe and Buenos Aires with programs of experimental films (watching screenings multiple times, documenting and taking notes).
Career
Sitney attended
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, where he received an
A.B. in
classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
in 1967 and a
Ph.D. in
comparative literature
Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...
in 1980. He co-founded the
Anthology Film Archives
Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and film distribution, exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent film, independent, experimental film, ex ...
in 1970 and, along with
Jonas Mekas (who alongside Sitney and fellow filmmakers
Barbara Rubin and David Brooks, were establishing the thriving movement known as New American Cinema),
Peter Kubelka, Ken Kelman, and
James Broughton, served as one of the members of the Anthology Film Archives ''Essential Cinema'' film selection committee. He is currently Professor of Visual Arts at the Lewis Center for the Arts at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
.
Sitney was a fixture at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
's doctoral program in its new cinema studies department in 1970. Before moving to Princeton, he also taught at the
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He has been a major critical leader and intellectual supporter of the
New American Cinema avant-garde movement.
Four main techniques that Sitney identified for
structural film
Structural film was an avant-garde experimental film movement prominent in the United States in the 1960s. A related movement developed in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
Overview
The term was coined by P. Adams Sitney who noted that film artist ...
are: fixed camera position; flicker effect; re-photography off the screen; and loop printing. These techniques were implemented by experimental filmmakers in the 1960s to create cinema "in which the shape of the whole film is pre-determined and simplified".
Sitney died on June 8, 2025, after a short battle with advanced metastatic cancer.
See also
*
Marjorie Keller
*
List of American independent films
*
Cinephilia
References
External links
''Visionary Film'' on Google BooksFull text of the book on Internet ArchiveP. Adams Sitney
on IMDb
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sitney, P. Adams
1944 births
2025 deaths
American film critics
Princeton University faculty
Experimental film
American film historians
Yale University alumni