The Video Essay Podcast

On today's show, Jiří Anger joins to discuss his book, Towards a Film Theory from Below: Archival Film and the Aesthetics of the Crack-Up . We also discuss Jiří's approach to videographic criticism and " The First Frames of Czech Cinema ," a video essay created with Adéla Kudlová. [02:15] - Videographic origin story [10:30] - Intro to the book [24:30] - Hybridity & the moving...

Today's episode of The Video Essay Podcast features a conversation hosted by Kevin B. Lee with Chiara Grizzaffi and Annalisa Pellino, who discuss the videographic work of Katie Bird, including the essay, " With a Camera in Hand, I Was Alive ," and in particular Bird's innovative use of a video as a creator's statement. The discussion functions as a companion to the recent con...

On today's episode, Katie Bird discusses her work and practice in an interview with Johannes Binotto. Much of their conversation centers on Katie's 2023 desktop documentary, " With a Camera in Hand, I Was Alive ." Katie and Johannes discuss the potentials of videographic practice, filming oneself as a method of videographic criticism, and her work as an independent scholar and industry professiona...

On today's episode, Jason Mittell joins to discuss his videographic book, The Chemistry of Character in Breaking Bad . The book is the first in a new series of open access, videographic books from Lever Press. Jason joins to discuss the origins of the book and series, the philosophy behind a videographic book, and his longtime interest in alternative, open access forms of digital publishing. ...

Today's episode features the latest collaboration with the Swiss publication, Filmexplorer. For the second time, Filmexplorer has invited guest curators to select video essays to screen as part of their online Video Essay Gallery. In this conversation, Evelyn Kreutzer, Julian Ross, and Volker Pantenburg discuss three videos they curated under the theme, " How to Measure the World ." For more, visi...

Today's episode features an interview with Lucy Fife Donaldson, Colleen Laird, Dayna McLeod and Alison Peirse on their ongoing series of collaborations and methodological practices, " Ways of Doing ." They are interviewed by Kevin B. Lee. This episode is the seventh in an ongoing collaboration between The Video Essay Podcast and "The Video Essay: Memories, Ecologies, Bodies," a three-year research...

Today's episode features the latest collaboration with the Swiss publication, Filmexplorer. For the second time, Filmexplorer has invited guest curators to select video essays to screen as part of their online Video Essay Gallery. In this conversation, Evelyn Kreutzer, Julian Ross, and Volker Pantenburg discuss three videos they curated under the theme, " Who Owns an Image? " The conversation cent...

Today's episode features a conversation with Alice Lenay, an academic researcher and artist based in Paris. The discussion centers on Alice's recent work Twisties!, made with Théophile Gay-Mazas and recently published in NECSUS . Will and Alice also discuss her ongoing interest in Zoom aesthetics. Learn more about the podcast's collaboration with the Cary Comes Home Festival, and our call for vide...

There’s been a lot of debate about what the relationship should be between videographic criticism and writing. Some have wondered if video essays could function as stand-alone scholarship and break free from having to be framed by text-based explanations such as creator statements or peer reviews. But even if one acknowledges the role of writing in advancing videographic scholarship, another quest...

Today's episode features a conversation recorded live in May at The King's Festival of Artificial Intelligence in London . The event featured as the launch of  Cinema and Machine Vision: Artificial Intelligence, Aesthetics and Spectatorship , a new book from Edinburgh University Press by Daniel Chávez Heras, who is a lecturer in the Department of Digital Humanities at King's College Lo...

From movies to television, YouTube to TikTok, it’s a big world of audiovisual media out there. How many videographic works have tried to take them all in? A new installation work has tried to do just that. The Extended Play is a collaboration between artists Anina Müller and Jennifer Merlyn Scherler, which was exhibited at the Austellungsraum Klingental in Basel. The piece consists of four videos,...

Today's episode is the first in a series of conversations on videos created as part of the project, Doing Women’s (Global) (Horror) Film History (DWGHFH) , a year-long video essay mentoring and training program that culminated in a videographic special issue of MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture .  Led by Alison Peirse, DWGHFH features the work of thirty contributors on "women horror film...

Today's episode is the fourth in an ongoing collaboration between The Video Essay Podcast and "The Video Essay: Memories, Ecologies, Bodies," a three-year research project on video essays led by Kevin B. Lee, Locarno Film Festival Professor for the Future of Cinema at USI University of Lugano, with Johannes Binotto and Evelyn Kreutzer, and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundat...

Today's episode features a conversation with filmmaker Christopher Jason Bell, who joins the show to discuss Miss Me Yet, his ten-part found footage series on the presidency of George W. Bush and rehabilitation of Bush's image in recent years. The series is available to stream for free via Means TV . Also, check out an essay on Miss Me Yet written by Will in the latest issue of Millennium...

Today's episode is the third in an ongoing collaboration between The Video Essay Podcast and "The Video Essay: Memories, Ecologies, Bodies," a three-year research project on video essays led by Kevin B. Lee, Locarno Film Festival Professor for the Future of Cinema at USI University of Lugano, with Johannes Binotto and Evelyn Kreutzer, and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundati...

Today's episode features a conversation with Alison Peirse, a horror film scholar and professor at the University of Leeds. Alison led the project  Doing Women’s (Global) (Horror) Film History (DWGHFH) , a year-long video essay mentoring and training program that culminated in a videographic special issue of MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture . DWGHFH features the work of thirty contributors w...

Today's episode is the second in an ongoing collaboration between The Video Essay Podcast and "The Video Essay: Memories, Ecologies, Bodies," a three-year research project on video essays led by Kevin B. Lee, Locarno Film Festival Professor for the Future of Cinema at USI University of Lugano, with Johannes Binotto and Evelyn Kreutzer, and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundat...

On today's episode, Will talks with filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho about his new film, Pictures of Ghosts. Set in the director's home city of Recife, in the Pernambuco state of Brazil, the film is a self-described "multidimensional journey through time, sound, architecture and filmmaking." Kleber talks about the film's origins, the art of voiceover narration, treating his ow...

Today's episode centers on Sight & Sound magazine's new list, " The Best Video Essays of 2023. " In a conversation moderated by Kevin B. Lee, the curators of this year's list, Irina Trocan, Queline Meadows, and Will Webb, discuss the results of the poll, their curatorial strategies, and offer general thoughts on the video essay landscape in 2023. This episode is the first...

On today's episode, Will is joined by Catherine Fowler, a film scholar based at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Catherine curated the most recent special issue of the journal, [in]Transition, which features feminist videographic diptychs by six scholars: Nicole Morse, Maryam Tafakory, Melissa Dollman, Paola Voci, Maud Ceuterick, and Catherine herself. Watch and read more about the spec...

On today's episode, Evelyn Kreutzer , a Berlin-based scholar, curator, and video essayist, joins to discuss her videographic origin story, collaborative projects (including Once Upon a Screen and Moving Poems ), videographic vulnerability, the new Videography section of the journal zfm , and more. We also discuss Evelyn's video essay, " Footsteps ," and a moving poem by Desirée d...

Today's episode features a conversation with Alan O'Leary, a scholar and artist based at Aarhus University. On today's episode, we discuss Alan's origin story, the videographic "society," academic labor and mode, organizing videographic events, and more. We also discuss Alan's video, " Nebular Epistemics: A Glossary (Scholarship Like a Spider or Spit) ," and...

On today's episode, writer-director Alexandre O. Philippe joins to discuss his new film, Lynch/Oz , which explores the relationship between the cinema of David Lynch and The Wizard of Oz (1939). Will and Alexandre discuss his influences, why he makes films about films, the importance of the theatrical experience, and collaborating with a group of writers and filmmakers to bring this work to th...

What is it like to study for a videographic PhD? On today's show, Emily and Will are joined by Jemma Saunders and Cormac Donnelly, who are pursuing PhDs at the University of Birmingham and the University of Glasgow, respectively. We talk about what prompted them to pursue videographic PhDs, how their universities evaluate and think about such work, and provide tips for those who may be interes...

On today's episode, Will is joined by the critic and filmmaker Bianca Stigter, director of Three Minutes: A Lengthening. Bianca and Will discuss the film's origins as a video essay, the process of creating this documentary, the various videographic techniques employed, and much more. Depending on your location Three Minutes: A Lengthening is available to stream via Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and o...