- When discussing surrealist film, I think it is important to differentiate between those films made by individuals who were, so to speak, 'official' surrealists - that is, counted as members of the surrealist movement, from those films made by directors whose vision independently paralleled the surrealists, those that were considered surrealist 'in spite of themselves' (as the first generation surrealists interpreted Peter Ibbetson and other films made by major studios), or more contemporary or obscure works where 'surrealist' is ultimately the only proper descriptor.