A method and system for detecting anomalies in video footage. A training dictionary can be configured to include a number of event classes, wherein events among the event classes can be defined with respect to n-dimensional feature vectors. One or more nonlinear kernel function can be defined, which transform the n-dimensional feature vectors into a higher dimensional feature space. One or more test events can then be received within an input video sequence of the video footage. Thereafter, a determination can be made if the test event(s) is anomalous by applying a sparse reconstruction with respect to the training dictionary in the higher dimensional feature space induced by the nonlinear kernel function.