Experimental film meticulously re-evaluates cinematic conventions, examines our dependence on narrative forms, explores new methods of working and probes the medium’s materially of space and time. From the first experimentations in film to Avant-garde, Surrealist, Structural, Independent, Counter and Post-colonial cinema movements to other approaches from Video Art, Expanded Cinema and Transmedia storytelling, the experimental process is what gives light to the genres we are accustomed to seeing today and is what can ultimately produce new directions. 

Experimentation is the action of trying out new ideas, methods, or activities. For artists and thinkers, it is the core of the creative process providing the freedom to question and form new insights. The course will investigate the key qualities and approaches to experimental cinema and how these methods can be applied in analyzing, curating and making audiovisual works today. The course has been organized in weekly sections that examine branches of experimental cinema via works of artists associated with those specific movements, while introducing less visible artists and groups who were integral to form those directions. Weekly lessons will combine historical overviews with screenings of significant works being supported by discussions and curatorial and practical workshops. Theoretical readings, film analysis texts, and exhibition visits will provide material for class discussions, providing insight regarding the films and artists presented. 

Though this is a studies-based course, video-making assignments are part of the class structure, which will provide students the ability to explore the materiality of video to better understand qualities of experimental cinema, be it in juxtaposition or in support of the genre, as this conflict is generative within contemporary art. These experimental video assignments will be recorded and edited on personal mobile devices (no prior video making experience is needed). An end of term research project (composed of an analytical paper, presentation and experimental video), which will be developed throughout the semester, is required for the completion of the course. The final group project is a curated public screening of short experimental films/videos that will be organized collectively by the class—noted as an Experimental Cineforum--utilizing promotion, graphic design and event organizing approaches to activate and further discussions within the public sphere (online and in presence).

The course is structured so it can also be an introduction to the DMA Expanded Cinema course, which could be taken a following semester. 

Textbook: *Denotes honors requirement 

Textbook readings will be accompanied by key texts on the period or artists presented in class for each week. These texts will be provided to you on the moodle course page and are listed within the weekly sections they are assigned and also in the course bibliography. Sitney, P. Adams. 2002. Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde, 1943-2000 (version 3rd ed.). 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/59280596  (ebook). 

*Fialka, Gerry. Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation. Edited by Rachael (Laughtertears Press, 2020) https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1233032884 

Equipment:

Personal recording device (i.e. mobile phone) for the recording and editing of videos.

By the end of the course, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the history and theory of experimental cinema and how it can relate to movements in media 

• Expand personal concepts and methods regarding the creative process within film and research-based projects

• Strengthen the ability to develop a visual language using space and time as materials in audiovisual works

• Develop initial analytical and curating skills related to the exhibition of moving image work

Participation
Three late arrivals (more than 10 minutes) are counted as one unexcused absence. Two unexcused absences will result in a full letter drop in the final grade and three unexcused absences will result in failure.   

All students are expected to be active participants in their own and each other’s learning process. Simply showing up is not attending or participating.

• Please make sure that all observations, comments, and criticisms are constructive, respectful, and spoken in a neutral tone.

• Please silence all electronic devices for the consideration of others.

• Please do not use social media or email during class if it is not relevant to the topic/discussion at hand.

• Sleeping and side conversations in class are not permitted. Excessive occurrences will lead to consequences at the

professor’s discretion.

• Arriving late to class is extremely disruptive both for your peers and for me. Be on time.

Students unwilling to comply with these policies will be asked to leave the class and will be marked absent for that class period.

Examination policy
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed.

SCHEDULE  (subject to change) (*denotes honors requirement)

Week 1: First Experiments

• Introduction, lecture, screenings and discussion

• Readings: Tom Gunning "The Cinema of Attraction[s]: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde," inThe Cinema of Attractions Reloaded, edited by Strauven Wanda, 381-88 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006); Carol Vernallis “Avant-gardists and the lure of pop music” (2017); Jacques Rancière “The Future of the Image,” in The Future of the image, ed. Jacques Rancière (London: Verso, 2009). * “Forward, Preface, Chick Strand”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 2: Dada/Surrealism/Cubism

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• Readings: Tom Gunning “What’s the Point of an Index? Or, Faking Photographs,” & Karen Beckman and Jean Ma “Introduction,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen Beckman and Jean Ma (E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham:Duke University Press, 2008); Adams P. Sitney “The Graphic Cinema: European Perspectives,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). * “Lynne Sachs”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 3: Avant Garde Film 

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• Readings: Jacques Rancière “Painting in Text,” in The Future of the image, ed. Jacques Rancière (London: Verso, 2009); Adams P. Sitney “Meshes of the Afternoon” and “Ritual and Nature,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). * “George Manupelli”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 4: Structuralist/Materialist Film

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• In-class video experimentation assignment (technical and creative aspects in preparation for Final Project)

• Readings: Juan A. Suàrez “Structural Film: Noise,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen Beckman and Jean Ma (E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham:Duke University Press, 2008); Adams P. Sitney “Structural Film” and “Major Mythopia,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). * “Jay Rosenblatt”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 5: Expanded Cinema

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• In-class video experimentation assignment continued (technical and creative aspects in preparation for Final Project)

• Readings: Adams P. Sitney “The Seventies,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002); Raymond Bellor “Concerning the Photographic,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen   Beckman and Jean Ma (E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham:Duke University Press, 2008). * “Tom Gunning”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 6: Independent Cinema

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• End of Term Research Project––assigned
• Readings: Adams P. Sitney “The End of the 20^th Century,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002); Tomothy Corrigan “The Forgotten Image Between Two Shots: Photos, Photograms and the Essayistic,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen  Beckman and Jean Ma (E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham:Duke University Press, 2008); & Scott Macdonald “The Ecocinema Experience,” in Ecocinema Theory and Practice : Theory and Practice, eds. Rust, Stephen, Salma Monani and Sean Cubitt. London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2012. Accessed January 29, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central. * “Martha Colburn”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 7: Counter Cinema

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• End of Term Research Project––proposal due

• Readings: Ursula Frohne “Dissolution of the Frame: Immersion and Participation in Video Installations,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton (London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008); Teresa de Lauretic “Rethinking Women’s Cinema: Aesthetics and Feminist Theory” in Film Theory; an Anthology, ed. Robert Stam and Toby Miller (Blackwell, 2000). * “Robert Nelson”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 8: Radical Cinema

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• End of Term Research Project––outline due

• Readings: Solanas, Fernando, and Octavio Getino. "Toward A Third Cinema."Cinéaste4, no. 3 (1970): 1-10; "Radical American Film?: A Questionnaire."Cinéaste5, no. 4 (1973): 14-20; “Defending Black Imagination: The ‘L.A. Rebellion’ School of Black Filmmakers” by Jacqueline Stewart, from the digital archive of the exhibition Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles at the Hammer Museum, 2016. * “Nina Menkes”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 9: Post-colonial Cinema

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• Readings: “Theory by other means: Pasolini’s cinema of the unthought” by Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli (UNESCO 2014. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.,); “Black Orpheus, Myth and Ritual: A Morphological Reading” by Hardy Fredricksmeyer (International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Summer 2007, Vol. 14, No. 1/2 (Summer 2007), pp. 148-175. * “Larry Gotthem”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 10: Video Art & Performance

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• End of Term Research Project––draft and video rough-edit due

• Readings: Gene Youngblood “Hardware: The Videosphere,” Rosalind Krauss “Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism,” David Joselit “Tale of the Tape: Radical Software,” and Janet Kraynal “Dependent Participation: Bruce Nauman’s Environments,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton (London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008). * “Gene Youngblood”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 11: Queer Cinema

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• Group Project––assigned

• Readings: B. Ruby Rich Part IV—Queering a new Latin American Cinema “Preface to a History,” “Refashioning Mexican Screen Sexuality,” “Gay and Lesbian Traces,” “Mexico in the Forties,” “Revolution, Sexuality, and the Paradox of Queer Film in Cuba,” and “Queering the Social Landscape,” in New Queer Cinema: The Directors Cut, ed. B. Ruby Rich (London: Duke University Press, 2013). * “Evan Meaney”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 12: New Media & Transmedia

• Lecture, screenings and discussion

• Group Project––workshop

• Readings: Anne Friedberg “The end of cinema: multimedia and technological change” in Reinventing Film Studies, ed. Christine Gledhill and Linda Williams (London: Arnold, 2003); Lev Manovich “Digital Cinema and The History of the Moving Image” in Film theory and criticism: introductory readings, ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen (New York: Oxford Press, 2016); Lev Manovich “Principles of New Media” in The Language of New Media, ed.Lev Manovich (MIT Press, 2002). * “Mike Hoolbloom” in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 13: Site visit (tbd)

• Museum or exhibition venue, meeting with curator

• Group Project––workshop

• Readings: Gregor Stemmrich “White Cube, Black Box and Grey Areas: Venues and Values” and Mark Nash “Art and Cinema: Some Critical Reflections,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton (London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008). * “Theo Anthony”, in Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation, Gerry Fiaka (2020).

Week 14: Research Project Presentations

• End of Term Research Project due (paper, presentation and video)

• In-class Presentations

Week 15 Finals Week

• Group Project: Experimental Cineforum

BIBLIOGRAPHY (*denotes honors requirement)

Beckman, Karen and Jean Ma. “Introduction,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen Beckman and Jean Ma. E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.

Bellor, Raymond. “Concerning the Photographic,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen Beckman and Jean Ma. E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.

Corrigan, Tomothy. “The Forgotten Image Between Two Shots: Photos, Photograms and the Essayistic,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen Beckman and Jean Ma. E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.

de Lauretic, Teresa. “Rethinking Women’s Cinema: Aesthetics and Feminist Theory” in Film Theory; an Anthology, ed. Robert Stam and Toby Miller. Blackwell, 2000.

    *Fialka, Gerry. Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation. Edited by Rachael (Laughtertears Press, 2020)

Fredricksmeyer, Hardy. “Black Orpheus, Myth and Ritual: A Morphological Reading.” International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Summer 2007, Vol. 14, No. 1/2 (Summer 2007), pp. 148-175.

Friedberg, Anne. “The end of cinema: multimedia and technological change” in Reinventing Film Studies, ed. Christine Gledhill and Linda Williams. London: Arnold, 2003.

Frohne, Ursula. “Dissolution of the Frame: Immersion and Participation in Video Installations,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton. London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008. 

Gunning, Tom. "The Cinema of Attraction[s]: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde." InThe Cinema of Attractions Reloaded, edited by Strauven Wanda, 381-88. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006.

–––. “What’s the Point of an Index? Or, Faking Photographs,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen Beckman and Jean Ma. E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.

Krauss, Rosalind. “Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton. London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008.

Kraynal, Janet. “Dependent Participation: Bruce Nauman’s Environments,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton. London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008. 

Manovich, Lev. “Digital Cinema and The History of the Moving Image” in Film theory and criticism: introductory readings, ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford Press, 2016.

–––. “Principles of New Media” in The Language of New Media, ed.Lev Manovich. MIT Press, 2002.

Nash, Mark. “Art and Cinema: Some Critical Reflections,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton. London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008.

"Radical American Film?: A Questionnaire."Cinéaste5, no. 4 (1973): 14-20.

Rancière, Jacques. “The Future of the Image,” in The Future of the image, ed. Jacques Rancière. London: Verso, 2009.

     –––. “Painting in Text,” in The Future of the image, ed. Jacques Rancière. London: Verso, 2009.

Ravetto-Biagioli, Kriss. “Theory by other means: Pasolini’s cinema of the unthought.” UNESCO 2014. Published by JohnWiley & Sons Ltd.

Rich, B. Ruby. “Gay and Lesbian Traces,” in New Queer Cinema: The Directors Cut, ed. B. Ruby Rich. London: Duke University Press, 2013.

–––. “Mexico in the Forties,” in New Queer Cinema: The Directors Cut, ed. B. Ruby Rich. London: Duke University Press, 2013.

–––. “Preface to a History,” in New Queer Cinema: The Directors Cut, ed. B. Ruby Rich. London: Duke University Press, 2013.

–––. “Queering the Social Landscape,” in New Queer Cinema: The Directors Cut, ed. B. Ruby Rich. London: Duke University Press, 2013.

–––. “Refashioning Mexican Screen Sexuality,” in New Queer Cinema: The Directors Cut, ed. B. Ruby Rich. London: Duke University Press, 2013.

–––. “Revolution, Sexuality, and the Paradox of Queer Film in Cuba,” in New Queer Cinema: The Directors Cut, ed. B. Ruby Rich. London: Duke University Press, 2013.

Macdonald, Scott. “The Ecocinema Experience,” in Ecocinema Theory and Practice : Theory and Practice, eds. Rust, Stephen, Salma Monani and Sean Cubitt. London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2012. Accessed January 29, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Sitney, Adams P. “Meshes of the Afternoon,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

–––. “Ritual and Nature,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

–––. “Structural Film” and “Major Mythopia,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

–––. “The End of the 20th Century,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. 

–––. “The Graphic Cinema: European Perspectives,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

–––. “The Seventies,” in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943-2000, ed. Adams P. Sitney. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Solanas, Fernando, and Octavio Getino. "Toward A Third Cinema."Cinéaste4, no. 3 (1970): 1-10; 

Stemmrich, Gregor. “White Cube, Black Box and Grey Areas: Venues and Values,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton. London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008.

Stewart, Jacqueline. “Defending Black Imagination: The ‘L.A. Rebellion’ School of Black Filmmakers” from the digital archive of the exhibition Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles at the Hammer Museum, 2016.

Suàrez, Juan A. “Structural Film: Noise,” in Still Moving: Between Cinema and Photography, ed. Karen Beckman and Jean Ma. E-Duke Books Scholarly Collection. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.

Vernallis, Carol. “Avant-gardists and the lure of pop music.” 2017. 

Youngblood, Gene. “Hardware: The Videosphere,” in Art and the Moving Image: A Critical Reader, ed. Tanya Leighton. London: Tate Publishing/Afterall, 2008.