Experimental film and Ecology

Display Schedule

Code Completion Credits Range Language Instruction Semester
300MEFE credit 1 8 seminar hours (45 min) of instruction per semester, 19 to 24 hours of self-study English summer

Subject guarantor

Alexandra MORALESOVÁ

Name of lecturer(s)

Alexandra MORALESOVÁ

Department

The subject provides Subjects and study plans provided by faculty

Contents

Date and venues:

15/5/2025 Thursday

15.00 - 16.30 Lecture „Experimental film and Ecology“, FAMU, Smetanovo nábřeží 2, classroom U1, 1st floor

18.00 screening „Ecological Adventures“ , Cinema Ponrepo, Bartolomějská 11, Praha 1

https://nfa.cz/cs/61966-ecological-adventures?screening=61967

Lecture „Experimental film and Ecology“ followed by screening „Ecological Adventures“ presented by (Dr.) Kim Knowles (Aberystwyth University), in English.

„In this presentation, I will explore the relationship between experimental film and ecology and will discuss the importance of auto-ethnography and auto-theory to my practice as an academic, curator and filmmaker. I have been grappling for several years with Timothy Morton’s notion of ‘the ecological thought’, which I see as perfectly aligned with modes of expression characteristic of experimental film practice. What strikes me about contemporary eco-philosophy is its invitation to move beyond ecological subject matter and towards an interrogation of form. What is the form of ecological thought, and by extension, what are the formal possibilities of ecological representation? The ideas explored in this presentation lay the foundations for a more sustained discussion of the relationship between experimental film aesthetics and ecological thinking that will eventually take the form of my next monograph.“

Learning outcomes

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Prerequisites and other requirements

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Literature

Recommended or required reading:

KNOWLES, Kim (2020). Experimental Film and Photochemical Practices. Palgrave Macmillan

KNOWLES, Kim (2017). (Re)visioning Celluloid: Aesthetics of Contact in Materialist Film in M. Beugnet, A. Cameron and A. Fetveit (dir.), Indefinite Visions: Cinema and the Attractions of Uncertainty, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017, pp. 255-272.

MORTON, Timothy. Being ecological. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2018, xlii, 172. ISBN 9780262038041.

Staying with the trouble : making kin in the Chthulucene. Edited by Donna Jeanne Haraway. London, [England]: Duke University Press, 2016, 1 online. ISBN 9780822373780.

Framing the worldexplorations in ecocriticism and film. Edited by Paula Willoquet-Maricondi. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, xvii, 258. ISBN 9780813930664.

The ecological thought. Edited by Timothy Morton. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2010, x, 163 p. ISBN 9780674056732.

HARAWAY, Donna Jeanne. The companion species manifesto: dogs, people, and significant otherness. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2003, 98 stran. ISBN 0971757585.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Attendance at the lecture at FAMU and the accompanying screening in Ponrepo, signature on the attendance list.

Note

Dr Kim Knowles is Senior Lecturer in Alternative and Experimental Film and Head of Department (Theatre, Film & Television Studies) at the Aberystwyth University in Wales. Kim has also been Experimental Film Programmer for the Edinburgh International Film Festival and is regularly invited to film festivals around the world.

Dr Knowles's current research explores the relationship between film and eco-philosophy, particularly within the context of non-human representation and animal worlds. Her recent book Experimental Film and Photochemical Practices assesses the contemporary status of analogue film (primarily 16mm) and argues for the continued relevance of material engagement for opening up alternative ways of seeing and sensing the world. Kim is now working on a monograph on multispecies cinema.

Schedule for winter semester 2024/2025:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2024/2025:

Date Day Time Tutor Location Notes No. of paralel
15.05.2025 15:00–16:30 Alexandra MORALESOVÁ Room No. 1
Lažanský palác		 Lecturer: Dr. Kim Knowles. Place: clasroom U1 lecture parallel1
15.05.2025 18:00–20:00 Alexandra MORALESOVÁ Poněšice
Poněšice		 Lecturer: Dr. Kim Knowles.Place: Cinema Ponrepo, Bartolomějská 11, Praha 1 lecture parallel1

The subject is a part of the following study plans