Avant-Garde Cinema at Anthology Film Archives

Anthology Film Archives opened in 1970, founded by Jonas Mekas with Stan Brakhage, Peter Kubelka, P. Adams Sitney and Jerome Hill, as a museum devoted to independent and avant-garde film. Since 1979 it has occupied a former courthouse on Second Avenue at East 2nd Street, where two theaters screen experimental work, artists' films, documentaries and rare prints that play nowhere else. Its Essential Cinema repertory collection still screens in rotation.

Check the calendar on the website and buy at the box office or online; tickets are inexpensive and members pay less. Programs are listed in detail, so read the notes before choosing. Some shows are short-film programs; others are long and demanding, and the audience is the most attentive in the city. It is ideal for curious, solo nights. The East Village's bars and late-night food are a block away.