Canyon Cinema Foundation (CCF) is dedicated to educating the public about independent, noncommercial, 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 and 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 project.

Canyon Cinema began in Bruce Baillie’s Canyon, California backyard in 1961 as a forum for artists and independent filmmakers to share work in a community-oriented setting. In 1967, filmmakers including Chick Strand, Baillie, Bruce Conner, Gunvor Nelson, and Robert Nelson, founded Canyon Cinema Co-op as an artist-run distribution company and film services organization. A year later, its exhibition activity was rebranded as Canyon Cinematheque, which in time split off to become a separate outfit, the San Francisco Cinematheque. In 2012 Canyon’s membership voted to become a nonprofit, giving rise to a reshaped entity: Canyon Cinema Foundation.

After more than 50 years, Canyon Cinema remains committed to reimagining what it means to be a reliable, artist-centered distributor of some of the most adventurous filmmaking being done outside the mainstream. CCF’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 nearly 4,000 groundbreaking works representing over 300 artists.