Kriterion’s December Modern Classic programme is called: Avant-garde: Buzzword or movement? For their third screening they are showing the documentary/indie Nitrate Kisses (on 16MM)!

What does it mean when a documentary or film is labeled as Avant-Garde? The term implies that the work of art breaks with conventions within the artistic establishment and is considered innovative for doing so. These works are often seen as ahead of their time and experimental. The term ‘avant-garde’ originates from the French military, referring to an advanced scout who explores the terrain before the rest of the army.

This December, as part of the Modern Classics program, Kriterion invites audiences to ponder the meaning of Avant-Garde and the value of such a label. The program consists of two documentaries and a fiction films, the directors of which are regarded as experimental or avant-garde artists.

This first feature documentary by Barbara Hammer, a pioneer of lesbian cinema, weaves striking images of four gay and lesbian couples with footage of an unearthed forbidden and invisible history.

Visually structured around four couples making love, one couple at a time; narratively structured around four chapters in lesbian life: older women talking about what it was like in the 30s, 40s and 50s; a look at the hidden eroticism of movies; the repression of gays under the Third Reich; and, the work of the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York City. The narrative voices and the couples making love share the film with photographs, movie outtakes, newsreel archives, and individuals relating events in their lives. The film calls lesbians to tell their stories; it also dramatizes the importance of telling the story of the loss of stories.