TOPICS: EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA in Fall 2025 (FM3091A)

Experimental films often explore the formal and technical possibilities of the medium, engage with issues of politics and representation, and demonstrate approaches that range from steadfast opposition to mainstream cinema to playful homage and hybridization. The blurring of borders with practices such as documentary, fiction, installation, and performance is a recurrent interest of filmmakers and artists working within this tradition. In this course, we will make films inspired by different experimental sub-genres (self-portrait, city symphony, found footage), techniques (frame-by-frame animation, sync- and non-sync sound), and formats (digital, analog film, expanded cinema). In connection with these hands-on exercises, we will study and discuss works ranging from the historical avant-gardes to contemporary experimental film and artists’ moving image. Thanks to field trips, students will have the opportunity to discover Paris’s wide-ranging experimental moving image scene (distributors, artist-run film labs, museums, galleries, etc.). Students will incur approximately 40 euros in expenses for museum and screening tickets. Prior experience with editing and video/film production is welcome but not required.