LUIS MACIAS: Spectral Cinema (practical module)

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Date and time:

23/4/2026, 16.00-17.30 at FAMU, Screening Room, 1st floor, Smetanovo nabřeží 2, 110 00 Praha 1

24/4/2026, 10.00-18.00 at FAMU, Department of Photography, darkrooms

25/4/2026, 20.00-22.00 Alfred ve dvoře, Františka Křížka 495/36, 170 00 Praha 7

The mentoring course by Luis Macías, Spanish experimental filmmaker, audiovisual artist and co-founder of Crater-lab in Barcelona, proposes to conceive photochemical artistic practice as a direct exchange between laboratory and projection. Luis will foreground the relationships between materialist photochemical and plastic physical image and its virtual possibilities in projection. Departing from still images and the dispositive of projection the space of difference as a promise and condition for motion and sensations will be explored.

First, on Thursday, April 23, Luis Macías will present his artistic path, personal approach to cinema, and comment on the conditions of his artistic practice in a lecture entitled „Your Eyes Are Spectral Machines“ that will be accompanied by a screening of the excerpts of his earlier performances and two complete works from 35mm prints.

Second, on Friday, April 24, he will give a workshop „MOVING STILLS“ and introduce students into the practice of creation, intervention and development of b&w and color 35mm slides. The workshop aims to explore different tools and possibilities around the multiple photographic slide projector. It regards the projector as a tool and the slide as a non-static image. During the workshop the participants will learn different modifications both internal and external that can be easily done with different technological and D-I-Y devices. At the same time, participants will also learn different image processes both from a plastic and physical perspective.

The workshop is practical and the participants will learn how to create, intervene and develop color 35mm prints and also explore creative ways of live projection with multiple carousel slide projectors. The workshop ends with a collective improvisation exercise.

Third, on Saturdy, April 25, Luis Macías will perform two 35mm slide and 16mm performances INSIDE-OUTSIDE-AROUND and I CAN'T SEE THE SIXTH SUN in the theater Alfred ve dvoře.

Learning outcomes

The students will acquire the basic knowledge in the area of colour and black-and-white print development and get familiar with the basis of cinematographic projection through direct hands-on experience. They will have unique opportunity to broader their scope of understanding of cinematic creation that encompasses the laboratory part, parameters of projection and its performative variables.

Prerequisites and other requirements

The attendance at the previous mentoring courses focusing on experimental cinema practices is welcome but not compulsory.

Literature

Ramey, K. (2016). Experimental Filmmaking. Break the Machine. Focal Press (Taylor &

Francis).

Walley, J. (2020). Cinema Expanded. Avant-Garde Film in the Age of Intermedia. New York:

Oxford University Press.

Zinman, G. (2020). Making Images Move: Handmade Cinema and the Other Arts. Oakland:

University of California Press.

BIO:

LUIS MACIAS is an artist, filmmaker and image-moving composer. His pieces deal with the formal and spectral properties of the moving image, through the exploration of the cinematographic device itself and the photochemical nature of the medium. Focused on experimental and procedural practices of analog image, his works in Super 8, 16mm, 35mm and / or video format are composed for projection, performance or installation.

His films and pieces of expanded cinema have been shown in prestigious film, art and music festivals as well as art centers, museums and alternative spaces around the world.

He’s been part of collective exhibitions and had one individual so far. He has collaborated with various artists, musicians and filmmakers for the creation of collective works.

Co-founder and active member of CRATER-Lab, an independent artist-run-film lab for analog cinema. Luis alternates his artwork with specialized whorkshops in experimental cinema and the exploration of analogue moving images.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Attendance at the lecture at FAMU, participation in the workshop and attendance at the screening in Alfred ve dvoře.

Note

Workshop participants are encouraged to bring their own found footage 16mm or 35mm, colour and black-and white.

Further information

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans