The Essay Film

Permission of Instructor required.

"We spend a long time thinking about how to
create an image where the image refuses the
expectations or refuses the pleasures of what an
image is. And I think that's partly the
essayistic. To me, the essayistic is not about a
particular generic fascination for voiceover or
montage, the essayistic is dissatisfaction, it's
discontent with the duties of an image and the
obligations of a sound." --Kodwo Eshun, The
Otolith Group

This production class will explore the essay
¬film. Film critic Alexandre Astruc created the
term camera-stylo in 1948 to suggest a new means
of writing through cinema in which the camera
would serve as a pen, creating arguments,
meditations and inquiries. Essay films are
neither straight documentaries nor fictional
narratives but are usually a hybrid of different
forms. This class will include screenings,
readings and lively discussion. Students will
produce three short videos over the course to the
semester in response to directives provided by
the instructor. Priority give to MFA students and
upper level undergraduates.