Essay Film Festival 2020

Due to Covid-19, the 2020 Essay Film Festival was sadly cancelled, with a view to reschedule the events. It was set to showcase work by The Yugantar Film Collective, The Otolith Group, Ruchir Joshi, Garrett Bradley, Cauleen Smith and more. 

Full programme below

This year’s programme features several key themes and strands:

New work by the Otolith Group and restored essay films by Ruchir Joshi and the Yugantar Collective engage with the cultural history and politics of India, providing imaginative and insightful perspectives on the educational projects of Rabindranath Tagore, the wandering Baul musicians, the changing cities of Ahmedabad and Kolkata, and the political struggles of Indian women. A symposium on the work of author and filmmaker Joshi will take place during the festival with guests from India, France and the USA, while Yugantar member Deepa Dhanraj will join researchers from Berlin Arsenal and Goldsmiths to discuss the restoration of the collective’s films.

From Argentina, France, UK and the Philippines come challenging found footage experiments by Leandro Listorti, Frank Beauvais, Sarah Wood and John Torres, which critically examine the status and uses of images today while transforming them into moving and fascinating new creations. A student-led research workshop with guest filmmakers will analyse the theory and practice of found footage in the digital age.

US artists Garrett Bradley and Cauleen Smith investigate and celebrate the depth and diversity of African-American lives, past and present, with works that, like all good essays, both question the viewer and invite us into an ongoing conversation. Both Bradley and Smith will give lecture-workshops about their practice alongside the screenings of their films.

Developing the theme of ‘the living archive’, a series of events will address the cultural politics of film restoration, featuring works by Jocelyne Saab, Mostafa Derkaoui, Ingemo Engström and Gerhard Theuring, in addition to the restored films of Ruchir Joshi and the Yugantar Collective.

Finally, Israeli filmmaker Tamar Rachovsky will join the festival to present and discuss Home in E Major, which looks at complex questions of identity and belonging through the deceptively simple lens of the diary film.

Essay Film Festival 2020 Programme

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Thursday 26 March, 18:00-21:00, Birkbeck Cinema 

Is This Just a Story? Celebrating the Yugantar Film Collective

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SESSION TWO: FOUND FOOTAGE RESEARCH EVENT

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Friday 27 March, 11:00-18:00, Birkbeck Cinema 

Archive/Fictions: Found Footage and the Essay Film

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SESSION THREE: OTOLITH GROUP/O HORIZON

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Friday 27 March, 20:30-22:30, ICA 

Essay film exploring the educational philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore

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SESSION FOUR: TORRES/LISTORTI

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Saturday 28 March, 18:00-19:30, ICA 

UK premieres of found footage works by Leandro Listorti and John Torres

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SESSION FIVE: RUCHIR JOSHI/ELEVEN MILES

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Saturday 28 March, 20:00-23:00, ICA 

UK premiere of restored classic Indian essay film

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SESSION SIX: RICHTER/BEAUVAIS

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Sunday 29 March, 18:00-20:00, ICA 

Double bill of experimental works by Hans Richter and Frank Beauvais exploring the personal and the everyday

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SESSION SEVEN: RUCHIR JOSHI/SHORT FILMS & CONVERSATION

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Sunday 29 March, 20:30-22:30, ICA 

Ruchir Joshi: short film programme and conversation

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SESSION EIGHT: RUCHIR JOSHI/SYMPOSIUM

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Monday 30 March, 10:00-19:00, Birkbeck Cinema 

Ruchir Joshi Symposium: Essays in Text and Image

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SESSION NINE: TAMAR RACHKOVSKY/HOME IN E MAJOR

Tuesday 31 March, 14:00-17:00, Birkbeck Cinema 

A first-person essay film about unlikely friendships and what it means to find a home

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SESSION TEN: SARAH WOOD/SHORT FILMS PROGRAMME

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Tuesday 31 March, 20:55-23:00, ICA 

To bring the world into the world: a programme by Sarah Wood

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SESSION ELEVEN: WORKSHOP WITH GARRETT BRADLEY

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Wednesday 1 April, 14:00-17:00, Birkbeck Cinema

Workshop with Garrett Bradley

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SESSION TWELVE: GARRETT BRADLEY/AMERICA AND OTHER WORKS

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Wednesday 1 April, 21:00-23:00, ICA

UK premiere of America and conversation with Trevor Mathison

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SESSION THIRTEEN: WORKSHOP WITH CAULEEN SMITH

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Thursday 2 April, 14:00-17:00, Birkbeck Cinema

An illustrated lecture by Cauleen Smith

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SESSION FOURTEEN: DRYLONGSO

Thursday 2 April, 6.00 -7:30, Close Up Cinema

16mm Screening of the recently released debut film by Cauleen Smith

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SESSION FIFTEEN: CAULEEN SMITH/SHORTS PROGRAMME

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Thursday 2 April, 21:00-23:00, ICA 

Cauleen Smith: short film programme and conversation

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SESSION SIXTEEN: TRIBUTE TO JOCELYNE SAAB

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Friday 3 April, 14:00-17:00, Birkbeck Cinema

A tribute to the work of Jocelyne Saab presented by Mathilde Rouxel

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SESSION SEVENTEEN: ABOUT SOME MEANINGLESS EVENTS

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Friday 3 April, 8:15, French Institute

UK premiere of restored Moroccan essay film banned forty years ago

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SESSION EIGHTEEN: TRANSIT/ESCAPE ROUTE TO MARSEILLE

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Saturday 4 April, 14:30-19:30, Goethe-Institut

UK premiere of restoration of Escape Route to Marseille adapted from the novel Transit

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