Mentoring programme Alexandre Larose: Film Bodies of Memory

Display Schedule

Code Completion Credits Range Language Instruction Semester
300MPAL credit 1 30 seminar hours (45 min) of instruction per semester, 3 to 8 hours of self-study English winter

Subject guarantor

David ČENĚK

Name of lecturer(s)

David ČENĚK, Alexandra MORALESOVÁ

Contents

On Wednesday, 31 January 2024 at 7 pm in the Projection Room of the Lažanský Palace, 1st floor, the filmmaker will give his masterclass and on Thursday, 1 February 2024 from 1 - 4 pm in the Studio FAMU, Klimentska 4, 110 00 Prague 1, Reference screening room, 4th floor, a lecture on the role of technology in the creative process, focusing on the apparatus of the optical film copier in experimental film. On Thursday evening at 20:30 he will personally present his films in the cinema of the National Film Archive Ponrepo, Bartolomějská 11, 110 00 Prague 1.

Day one Wednesday 31. 01. 2024

Day two Thursday 01. 02. 2024

https://www.famu.cz/cs/aktuality/kanadsky-experimentalni-filmar-alexandre-larose-me-3827/

Learning outcomes

The ability to grasp personal themes using artistic tools and the ability to reflect on the role of technology and technology in the creative process. The ability to transpose this reflection into the field of one's own creation. Familiarity with contemporary Canadian experimental film.

Prerequisites and other requirements

Self-study of appropriate literature, films.

Literature

Rossella Catanese and Jussi Parikka, Handmade films and artist-run labs: The chemical sites of film’s counterculture, 2018 (https://necsus-ejms.org/handmade-films-and-artist-run-labs-the-chemical-sites-of-films-counterculture/)

Vilém Flusser, “The Gesture of Making“ in: Gestures, University of Minnesota Press, 2014 Minneapolis, pp. 32-47.

Kim Knowles, Experimental Film and Photochemical Practices, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020.

Alexandra Moralesová, „Experimentální film: Vstup do filmové laboratoře a setkání s tělem“ in: Sešity pro umění a příbuzné zóny, č. 24, Listopad 2018, s. 60–91

Evaluation methods and criteria

Attendance at the masterclass, lecture and film screening is mandatory. Active participation in the discussion after the film and your own research is welcome.

Note

Biography of the lecturer

Born in 1978 in Montréal, Québec, the filmmaker belongs to the current generation of Canadian experimental filmmakers. He first earned a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sherbrooke (2001), followed by a BA from the Mel Hoppenheim Film School (2006), and then an MA in Studio Arts (Film Production) from Concordia University (2013). His creative practice in the medium of photochemical and opto-mechanical film explores the phenomena of the appearance and representation of moving

images and draws directly from his engineering and artistic handcraft background. Film theorist Éric

Thouvenel writes: „His work, which is characterized by a particular form of porosity with the documentary field, is a sensitive and sophisticated exploration of the perceptual categories through which we perceive reality, and at the same time a waking dream in the labyrinths of memory. In his creative career, he has increasingly turned his attention to the forms of imprints that film can create, and the very notion of documentation - whether of a place, a situation, an architectural configuration, a family or a memory - becomes crucial to him. In doing so, he remains fundamentally informed by the technical specifics of the material he uses, be it Super 8 or, more often, 16mm and 35mm. The role of technique in his work is thus crucial, and Larose himself is quick to refer to his films as projects prescribed by the tool.“ (Débordements, 2016)

Along with the transparent technical precision that can be perceived on the surface of the films - whether it is the work with an optical photocopier or the multiple exposures in camera - an exhaustive obsession or attraction emanating from somewhere deep permeates Larose's work, imposing pace and order on the films. The virtual images, however fixed on a strip of celluloid, draw on techniques of repetition and multiplication that bring us back to the precinematic repertoire of attractions foreshadowed by Victorian Philosophical Toys. Larose's films have won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix and Critics' Prize at the 25FPS (Zagreb), the Fuji Award at the EX-IS Festival (Seoul), the Grand Prix at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (Montreal), and the International Jury Award for Best Film at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. His films

has been widely screened at the George Eastman Museum (Rochester), Belarusian State University (Minsk), Media City Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, European Media Art Festival (Osnabrück, Germany), Ji. hlava (Czech Republic), Foundation for

Contemporary Art (Kiev), Museum of the Moving Image (New York), Rotterdam International Film Festival, IMAGE Forum (Tokyo), Mostra de Cinema Periférico (A Coruña), Message to Man International Film Festival (St. Petersburg) and hundreds of other venues internationally.

Further information

This course is an elective for all AMU students

Schedule for winter semester 2023/2024:

Date Day Time Tutor Location Notes No. of paralel
31.01.2024 19:00–21:00 Projection Room
Lažanský palác		 lecture parallel1
01.02.2024 12:30–16:30 Studio FAMU - reference Screen
Klimentská ulice		 lecture parallel1
01.02.2024 20:30–22:00 Kino Ponrepo
 lecture parallel1

Schedule for summer semester 2023/2024:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans