The Encounter Cinema records span the years 1970-1985 (bulk 1979-1985) and encompass 2.75 linear feet. The collection contains correspondence, programs, press releases, clippings and reviews, grant applications, and information on film series. The majority of the correspondence is between founder and film programmer Douglas Edwards and leading avant-garde/experimental filmmakers Stan Brakhage, Bastian Cleve, Stephen Dwoskin, Doris Chase, Walter Gutman, Ed Emshwiller, Walter Ungerer, and others. In addition, there is a wealth of information on American independent filmmakers who sought out Encounter Cinema and sent résumés, filmographies, film synopses and reviews, and pictorial material (including stills). Valuable topical information is found within film series files such as Japanese Experimental Films, Black American Independent Cinema, Narrative Film Experiments, Scandinavian Avant-Garde Films, and the American New Wave. Finally, financial records and grant applications chronicle the constant struggle to keep an arts organization financially viable.

Encounter Cinema (1979-1985) is the outgrowth of programs launched in 1973 by Theatre Vanguard, a small, nonprofit center for performing and media arts in Los Angeles that focused on independent, avant-garde and/or noncommercial endeavors in film, music, dance, theater, poetry, and performance art. In 1978 the founding and principal patron of Theatre Vanguard closed the theater. Douglas Edwards, who had been the center's theater administrator and film adviser, founded Encounter Cinema with two new co-sponsoring organizations, the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum and the UCLA Film Archives. The series exhibition site was moved to Melnitz Theater at UCLA. Due to funding problems, Encounter Cinema folded in February 1985.