Christian Farrell: CINEMA OF THE WILD

Subject guarantor:

Name of lecturer(s):

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Mode of study:

This course will involve screenings, discussions, excursions, and in-class, direct cinema experiments.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Recommended optional programme components:

Course contents:

The „art of the wild“ is to see art in the context of the process of nature - nature as process rather than as product or commodity - because „wild“ is a name for the way that phenomena continually actualize themselves.

-Gary Snyder

„The wild“ is often associated with distant and pristine wildernesses - primeval forests, mountain peaks, ocean depths - but „wildness“ - uncultivated, self-actualizing, vital - is present everywhere: in our cities, bodies, and minds. In this module we will explore the wild zone that exists at the meeting place of nature and art, science and poetry, empiricism and imagination. We will view and discuss the work of a range of cinema artists who have focused their lenses upon the organisms and natural processes which are all around us (and within us). Through hands-on experiments and excursions to undeveloped places on the edges of Prague and pockets of open space within the urban neighborhoods of the city we will make our own investigations into the forms and phenomena of the natural world. Guided by an array of visionary artists, amateur scientists, nature poets, and experimental filmmakers (including Albertus Seba, Anna Atkins, Jean Painleve, Erst Haeckel, Susan Derges, Semiconductor, silt, Wilson Bentley, Karl Blosfeldt, Margaret Watts-Hughes, Hans Jenny, August Strindberg, Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou, Willard Maas, Stan Brakhage, J.W. Goethe, Novals, and H.D. Thoreau) we will employ camera-less techniques, direct-cinematic strategies, contemplative experiments, observation, and 'exact sensorial imagination' to meet the wild within this city and within the organic nature of the creative process itself.

October 6 - 8, 2011

Thursday: 6 pm - 9 pm in Classroom 2

Friday, Saturday: 9 am - 1 pm, 2 pm - 5 pm in Classroom 1

Recommended or required reading:

Planned learning activities and teaching methods:

This course will involve screenings, discussions, excursions, and in-class, direct cinema experiments.

Assessment methods and criteria:

Student evaluations will be based on attendance, involvement in class discussions, and participation in in-class experiments.

Course web page:

Note:

Born in San Francisco, California, Christian Farrell has been living in his wife's hometown of Cesky Krumlov in South Bohemia, Czech Republic off and on since 1998. As a member of the cinema collaborative silt, Christian's films, installations, and performances have been shown throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia at venues including the Whitney Biennial, Sundance Film Festival, New York MOMA, San Francisco International Film Festival, and the Rotterdam Film Festival. He holds degrees in both Film and Philosophy/Religion and has been teaching courses which chart the territory of his overlapping fields of interest since 2001.

Further information:

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Animovaná tvorba - bakalář (optional subject)
• Dokumentární tvorba - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Dokumentární tvorba - bakalář (optional subject)
• Animovaná tvorba - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Scenáristika a dramaturgie - bakalář (optional subject)
• Scenáristika a dramaturgie - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Režie - bakalář (optional subject)
• Režie - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Kamera - bakalář (optional subject)
• Kamera - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Produkce - bakalář (optional subject)
• Produkce - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Audiovizuální studia - bakalář (optional subject)
• Střihová skladba - bakalář (optional subject)
• Střihová skladba - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Zvuková tvorba - bakalář (optional subject)
• Zvuková tvorba - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Fotografie CZ - bakalář (optional subject)
• Fotografie CZ - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Fotografie EN - bakalář (optional subject)
• Fotografie EN - magistr (optional subject)
• Audiovizuální studia - magistr (faculty subject, optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Cinematography (qualification subject, optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting (qualification subject, optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing (qualification subject, optional subject)
• Fotografie CZ: Restaurování fotografie (optional subject)