Film, Media & Entertainment
DEPARTMENT OF ANARCHY: Short Cinema Assault · 2026
THE DEPARTMENT OF ANARCHY returns to Los Angeles for a single-night presentation of 15 brand-new short-form cinematic provocations from around the globe. Supported by Slamdance; this 2026 curation marks 14 years of platforming cinematic disobedience that is not for the faint of heart.
Department of Anarchy’s Short Cinema Assaults are curated short film selections from all genres that provoke, disturb, and intoxicate. Cultivated at Slamdance film festival for over a decade by underground filmmakers Burke Roberts and Noel Lawrence, this bold program became notorious as the true fringe of the fringe in Park City, Utah during Sundance week.
Over the past five years their exhibition project has expanded internationally, touring rare cinema experiences to all kinds of venues; ranging from traditional art house movie theaters to PopUps at music festivals, open air cinemas, and art galleries in cities domestic and abroad.
In 2025, Burke and Noel added a new talented treasure hunter to the curation team by the name of Meryem Lalou. A brilliant young visual artist from Morocco, whom the Department of Anarchy was fortunate enough to have discovered via her sick and wonderful animation featured in the 2021 program.
This annual curation spotlights cutting edge works that subvert the status quo -subconsciously, politically, sexually, stylistically, and commercially.
Though diverse in every respect, these films all scream a simple unified message: FUCK THE SYSTEM!
Anarcho-cinema is not produced for the entertainment industry….It is produced in spite of it. In this increasingly unpredictable era for cinema and beyond ~ The Department of Anarchy stands firmly in the belief that nothing is shocking.
WeLcOmE tO ThE NeW WoRLd DiSsOrDeR!
“People crave increasingly novel stimulation, always looking for
a new form of media contraband.”
- David Cronenberg, Videodrome
“To me some of the most exciting curatorial spaces are those
where anything seems possible. Spaces where creative work
can be celebrated and the filmmaker’s imagination can follow
its own unique paths. Department of Anarchy is one such place, with its curators
functioning as a combination of guides and showmen, taking the
audience on a trip through the weird, challenging and oddball limits
of cinema…”
- Jack Sargeant
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