When Arthur Lipsett’s first film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1962, the event marked the arrival of an influential turn in cinema. The film’s dark humour and dancing rhythms had captured the spirit of his times. When Lipsett committed suicide in 1986, the humour and joy of his work was eclipsed by that sardonic darkness. It all came to feel like an omen.
Secret Museums is a study in the life and work of Canadian collage filmmaker Arthur Lipsett, whose struggles with mental illness have overshadowed his vital and innovative work. Author Stephen Broomer explores the spiritual themes and formal challenges posed by Lipsett’s films and the artist’s absurdist, comic, beatnik sensibility. As a critical biography, Secret Museums follows the trajectory of Lipsett’s life through his years as a filmmaker (1960-1975) and after, with new interpretations and analysis of his eight completed films.
In Secret Museums, Lipsett’s films are recognized as riotous comedies that reflect the artist’s resilience. It serves as a new interpretation of Lipsett and his films, positioning him as both a visionary force and a holy fool, illuminating fresh pathways through his work that reflect his understandings of his sources and his world.

Stephen Broomer is a filmmaker and film historian. He teaches at the Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto and is the host of the video essay series Art & Trash, on cult and underground cinema. He has been a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of California Santa Cruz and the Prelinger Library, and is a past recipient of the Chalmers Art Fellowship. As a filmmaker, he has been the subject of retrospectives at the Canadian Film Institute and Anthology Film Archives.

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