Beginning in the 1960s, artists began producing experimental film that defied previous definitions of both commercial cinema and fine art. Andy Warhol, who created some 650 films between 1963 and 1968, is considered an early influencer in the field. He made hundreds of silent Screen Tests, close up moving portraits of his subjects screened in slow motion. Warhol also created full-length films, the most successful of which was the avant garde Chelsea Girls (1966), which consisted of two rolls of film projected concurrently. Despite its unconventional format, Chelsea Girls achieved commercial success. Acclaimed American artist Matthew Barney, known for his work across a wide variety of media, made The Cremaster Cycle, a series of five full-length films, between 1994 and 2002. Featuring actors such as Ursula Andress, Richard Serra, and Barney himself, the films operated within a self-enclosed symbolic system. Barney expanded on the mythology surrounding the cycle by marketing as related works of art the sculpture, drawings, and other art created within the films.

While the genres have commonalities, art films differ from video art in important ways. Video art often maintains specific installation requirements within the gallery space, including defined technological specifications. Art film, on the other hand, may be shown in a screening room similar to other cinema. Art film usually retains some kind of narrative structure or tension, while video art may abandon this convention completely. Art films also often employ actors—Warhol famously cast his “superstars” like Nico and Edie Sedgwick in his films—while video art typically does not. Other artists associated with the art film movement include Tony Conrad, Jack Smith, Jonas Mekas, and Hollis Frampton.