TEXT

A collection of texts discussed within the new course at AUB Film Essay as Form

The Syllabus (Main Publication)

by Subversive Film (2017)

(Excerpt)

“The Syllabus is an ongoing publications project, the starting point of which is what we call the mother book, i.e. the main publication that performs as a reference for future iterations of the project. The main publication is concerned with publishing an archival document, a manuscript written by Hani Joharieh in the 1970s during the Palestinian revolution and which we assume was meant to be a syllabus for teaching cinematography to beginners.”

the syllabus - supplement #1: Mosireen

by Subversive Film (2017)

“Mosireen is a non-profit media collective born out of the explosion of citizen journalism and cultural activism in Egypt during the revolution. From 2011-2014 it held a space in downtown Cairo that was a revolutionary activist hub dedicated to supporting and producing citizen media of all kinds - including publishing videos, providing training, technical support, campaign support, equipment, screenings and events, alongside hosting an extensive archive of footage from the revolution. At its height Mosireen’s YouTube channel was the most watched non-profit YouTube channel in the world. It remains the most watched non-profit channel in Egypt. Campaigns and initiatives Mosireen supported include No To Military Trials for Civilians, Kazeboon, Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment, Freedom for the Brave, and Tahrir Cinema, amongst others. Alongside their personal work, the archive is the current focus of the collective members’ work together.”

on the essay and its prose

by Max Bense

(Excerpt from Essays on the Essay Film by Nora M. Alter & Timothy Corrigan)

“Max Bense (1910, Strasbourg – 1990, Stuttgart) was a German philosopher, writer, and publicist, known for his work in philosophy of science, logic, aesthetics, and semiotics. His thoughts combine natural sciences, art, and philosophy under a collective perspective and follow a definition of reality, which – under the term existential rationalism – is able to remove the separation between humanities and natural sciences.”

a soundtrack for collective engagement

by Juli Carson

“Community is what takes place always through others and for others. It is not the place of egos...but of the I’s who are always others (or else nothing)...It is not a communion that fuses egos into an Ego or a higher We. It is the community of others.”

– Jean-Luc Nancy