Art film Facts for Kids

Theatrical release poster for Griffith's Intolerance (1916), often referred to as the first art film

Art films are a special kind of movie. They are very different from the big, popular Hollywood movies you usually see. People call them by many names, like art movies, independent films, indie films, arthouse films, or experimental films. Sometimes they are called auteur films, because "auteur" is a French word for "author" or creator.

Art films are usually made by smaller companies. These companies do not have as much money as huge studios like Paramount Pictures or Walt Disney Pictures. Art films often tell more creative or unusual plots (stories) than big blockbuster movies.

These movies might show challenging or sad stories. They can sometimes have sad endings. Art films might be a bit harder to understand. This is because they often explore people's feelings, thoughts, or dreams.

Because of these reasons, art films are not shown in many cinemas. This means they do not have huge audiences and do not make a lot of money. People usually find out about them when friends tell them how good they are.

Art Films vs. Blockbuster Movies
Why Are Art Movies Different?
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Art Films vs. Blockbuster Movies

A popular blockbuster movie is the opposite of an art film. Blockbuster movies have famous actors and very large budgets. They are made so that millions of people will pay to see them.

Movie directors make art films to be very different from blockbusters. An art film is often a more personal statement from the director. Blockbusters are made to earn money, while art films are made for personal reasons.

Budgets and Actors

Blockbuster movies often have huge budgets. This money pays for high salaries for actors. It also pays for special effects and lots of advertisements. Art movies have small budgets. They usually use actors who are not famous. Some even use amateur actors, or regular people with no acting experience. Directors of art films might even use their friends and family as actors.

Stories and Endings

Blockbusters often use simple stories and characters that have been seen before. Art movies usually have strange or unusual stories. Their characters might be new to the audience.

In blockbuster movies, there is usually a happy ending. All the problems in the story are solved by the end. In art movies, the ending is often sad. The ending can also be hard to understand or have many meanings. These types of endings make the audience think about what happened in the story.

Advertising and Sequels

Blockbuster movies have lots of television ads, billboards, and internet sites. Art films often have little or no advertising.

Blockbuster movies are very popular. This often leads to more movies being made with the same story and characters. For example, the James Bond movies are all about the British spy James Bond. The Star Wars science fiction movies are about spaceships and outer space wars. Art films rarely become a franchise with sequels. This is because art film directors often want to create new ideas for each movie they make. However, some art films do get sequels if they are very popular. This happens when the director wants to tell more stories with the same characters.

When an Art Film Becomes a Franchise

Sometimes, an art film can become so popular that it leads to a franchise. The View Askew universe is an example. Kevin Smith wrote and directed the movie Clerks. He and his friend, Scott Mosier, produced it themselves. Their company was called View Askew Productions.

Clerks was an art film. It had a small budget, dealt with personal topics, and its actors were mostly Smith's friends and family. Smith even played one of the characters. The movie became very popular, especially when it was released on DVD. Universal Pictures, a big Hollywood studio, then asked him to make a movie for them. He used two characters from Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob, in his new movie. He later used Jay (played by Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (played by Smith) in three more movies: Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks 2 (a sequel to Clerks).

Why Are Art Movies Different?

David Bordwell is a professor from the United States. He studies movies at a university. In 1979, he explained what an "art film" is. He wrote that art films are different from regular Hollywood movies. Regular Hollywood movies have a clear story and plot. Art films often have much stranger stories.

In an art film, the stories might be hard to follow. The audience might also have trouble understanding what is happening. Art movies are often about people's feelings and thoughts. They can also be about big questions a person has to answer about who they are or what they should do in a situation.

Images for kids

Carl Theodor Dreyer, pictured here in 1965, directed the 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc.
U.S. photographer and filmmaker Man Ray (pictured here in 1934) was part of the Dadaist "cinéma pur" film movement, which influenced the development of the art film.
Actress Lena Nyman from the Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow)