About

Canyon Cinema Foundation is dedicated to educating the public about independent, non-commercial, experimental, avant-garde, and artist-made moving images. We manifest this commitment by providing access to our unrivaled collection to universities and cultural organizations worldwide, as well as cultivating scholarship and appreciation of artist-made cinema. We ensure the experience of rare film works in their original medium while also reaching new audiences through our growing digital distribution program.

Canyon Cinema’s unique collection of artist-made films – comprised of digital media, 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, and 35mm prints – traces the vital history of the experimental and avant-garde filmmaking movements from 1921 to the present.  With a strong emphasis on American West Coast and San Francisco Bay Area filmmakers, we are the access point to approximately 4,000 ground-breaking works representing 320 artists.

Canyon Cinema began in filmmaker Bruce Baillie’s Canyon, California backyard in 1961 as a forum for filmmakers to share work with each other and the community. In late 1966, this flourishing network of Bay Area independent filmmakers founded Canyon Cinema Co-op as a member-owned and -operated distribution company and film service organization. A year later, its exhibition practices were rebranded as Canyon Cinematheque, which in time split off to become the San Francisco Cinematheque. In 2012, Canyon’s members voted to become a nonprofit, the Canyon Cinema Foundation. Today, Canyon Cinema Foundation continues to serve as an essential resource for educators, curators, researchers, and enthusiasts through our robust distribution program and online catalog.

View: Canyon Cinema Foundation – A Service Organization for Local Geniuses (video, 3:55)