Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artefact.
Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.

Surrealist Cinema
Related to Dada cinema, Surrealist cinema is characterised by juxtapositions, the rejection of dramatic psychology, and a frequent use of shocking imagery. Surrealism draws upon irrational imagery and the subconscious mind. Surrealists should not, however, be mistaken as whimsical or incapable of logical thought; rather, most Surrealists promote themselves as revolutionaries. 
Surrealism was the first literary and artistic movement to become seriously associated with cinema, though it has also been a movement largely neglected by film critics and historians

Dada 
Dada or Dadaism was an art movement that sprang up in Zurich Switzerland roughly around 1916. It emerged largely in response to the atrocities and insanity of World War 1, and sought to find and experiment with new forms of expression in an attempt to rejuvenate the creative act. After the end of the war in 1918, Dada spread to Germany (Berlin, Cologne, Hanover), where it was to rebel against the increasingly militaristic and nationalistic policies of the emerging far right as typified by the eventual rise to power of Hitler's Nazi party. 
Dada was important in an Art historical context in that it paved the way and laid the foundations for surrealism which was to follow. Many of the artists active in Dada later becoming influential and active within surrealism. Dada groups existed in several forms for longer and shorter periods in other areas such in Paris, Italy, the Netherlands and New York.