Modernist film is related to the art and philosophy of modernism.
Early modernist film came to maturity in the era between WWI and WWII, with characteristics such as montage and symbolic imagery, manifesting itself in genres as diverse as expressionism and surrealism (as featured in the works of Fritz Lang and Luis Buñuel)[1] while postmodernist film – similar to postmodernism as a whole – is a reaction to modernist works, and to their tendencies (such as nostalgia and angst).
[2] Modernist cinema has been said to have "explored and exposed the formal concerns of the medium by placing them at the forefront of consciousness.
"[3] The auteur theory and idea of an author creating a work from their singular vision became a central characteristic of modernist filmmaking.
It has been said that "To investigate the transparency of the image is modernist but to undermine its reference to reality is to engage with the aesthetics of postmodernism.