Following the displacement and deprivations of the war many European artists were slow to commence further experiments with film. In America, however, film was establishing itself as an art, supported by the publication of Film Culture and the work of artists such as Maya Deren. A 'beat' culture of poetry, drugs and abstract expressionist painting challenged the norms of society and was reflected in the film Pull My Daisy and the emergence of artist filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage.

Written and researched by Ingrid Stigdotter, who is a PhD candidate in Film Studies at the University of Southampton, where she also teaches on the undergraduate Film Studies programme. Her doctoral research examines the reception of contemporary European cinema in Britian, with particular focus on recent French and Swedish films, and the impact of cultural and linguistic difference on film interpretation.