Courses / Undergraduate

Fall 2018

  • History of Avant-Garde Film

    129 | CCN: 21523

    Jeffrey Skoller

    4 Units

    T/Th 2:00-3:30pm, Dwinelle 142; W 7:00-10:00pm, BAMPFA

    This class explores the idea of experimentalism as filmmaking without a net; a risk taking approach to creative expression and a philosophical position that emphasizes art as process and invention over product and professional mastery. We will also look beyond the films themselves to explore the kinds of creative sub-cultures and underground communities that this approach to film and media making are a part of. We explore the rich and varied history of films made by visual artists who are experimenting with the formal, perceptual and narrative elements of film, video, and other expanded forms of moving image media. Through weekly screenings, the reading of word texts, talking to visiting artists, discussing and writing about the films as well as making short filmic artworks, we move back and forth between historical and contemporary practices, sampling from the garden of underground, personal, poetic, queer, surrealist cinemas, feminist, and activist video art, found films, love films and smash-the-state films!