Special interest group:
Essay Film
Convenors:
- Romana Turina (Arts University Bournemouth)
OverviewThe practice and formal analysis of the Essay Film form within the field of film, television and screen studies is an established academic area that is developing quickly with impactful contribution in the way the moving image is studied today. This group focuses on building on these foundations and exploring how the study of the essay film practice can develop within BAFTSS. The group aims to disseminate research and evaluate how the essay film can contribute new knowledge to the field of film studies in terms of its novelty, significance and narrative impact. The group also explores innovative methods of academic dissemination, public engagement and impact.
Reports on activities |
Founding members
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Essay Film Upcoming Events
The BAFTSS SIG Essay Film and APS STADT co-organise with Arts University Bournemouth and the Associazione Culturale Bucanevis the conference+seminar+photographic exhibition entitled: Introduction to Auto-Ethnography (Trieste, 28-30 November, 2025) to be held in person and online. For information email Dr Romana Turina ([email protected]).
Conference-Seminar: Introduction to Auto-Ethnography (28-30 Nov. 2025). For information email Dr Romana Turina ([email protected]).
Photographic Exhibition: Auto-Ethnography in the Essay Film (28-30 Nov. 2025). For information email Dr Romana Turina ([email protected]).
Conference-Seminar: Introduction to Auto-Ethnography (28-30 Nov. 2025). For information email Dr Romana Turina ([email protected]).
Photographic Exhibition: Auto-Ethnography in the Essay Film (28-30 Nov. 2025). For information email Dr Romana Turina ([email protected]).
Recent Publications
The SIG Essay Film announces the publication of the edited volume gathering the work of a few of our members:
Turina, R. & Yu, K.T. (Eds.),(2025), Essay Film and Narrative Techniques - Screen-writing Non-fiction. Bristol: Intellect
Please find the index here:
https://www.intellectbooks.com/essay-film-and-narrative-techniques
Turina, R. & Yu, K.T. (Eds.),(2025), Essay Film and Narrative Techniques - Screen-writing Non-fiction. Bristol: Intellect
Please find the index here:
https://www.intellectbooks.com/essay-film-and-narrative-techniques
Past seminars
- 11 October 2024: Laura Rascaroli (University College Cork): 'Sonic Modernities: Capitalism, Noise and the City Essay Film'
- 12 December 2024: James Slaymaker (Trinity College Dublin): 'Thinking Through Images in Higher Education: Strategies for Teaching the Video Essay in Theory and Practice'
- 9 January 2025: Alessandra Ferrini: 'Gaddafi in Rome: Dissecting a Neocolonial Spectacle'
- 31 January 2025: Miranda Pennell: 'Notes from the scene of a crime'
Past Events
TIMES IN BETWEEN 2025 – Permeable Walls and Insurmountable Barriers
The BAFTSS SIG Essay Film co-organised with Arts University Bournemouth, The SENSA – Laboratory for Semiotics, Ethnosemiotics, Nonfictional Studies and Audiovisuality (University College Cork), APS Stadt, and the Associazione Culturale Bucanevis the TIMES IN-BETWEEN 2025 Conference + Festival (August 2025) in Trieste, Italy.
The event’s conference, with a keynote offered by Professor Laura Rascaroli (University College Cork), gathered about 20 selected delegates and 5 filmmakers from a dozen different countries coming together for four days of presentations, roundtables, and screenings. The debated focused on the selection of short essay films from international filmmakers, and the screening of the always evocative film Duvarlar – Mauern – Walls (Candan, 2000).
TIMES IN BETWEEN 2024 – Barriers, Borders, and Boundaries in Short Film Forms
The BAFTSS SIG Essay Film co-organised with Arts University Bournemouth and the Associazione Culturale Bucanevis the TIMES IN-BETWEEN 2024 Conference + Festival (July 2024) in Gorizia, Italy.
The event saw about 30 selected delegates and filmmakers from a dozen different countries coming together for four days of presentations, roundtables, and screenings.
It featured the international premiere of three films, as well as the re-screening of The Forest in Me (Marshall, 2023), Three Sisters in a Sketchbook (Turina, 2024), Into the Frameless Distance to the City of (no) Memory (Gaal-Holmes, 2024), Processing Images from Caracas (Cervera, 2023).
The BAFTSS SIG Essay Film co-organised with Arts University Bournemouth, The SENSA – Laboratory for Semiotics, Ethnosemiotics, Nonfictional Studies and Audiovisuality (University College Cork), APS Stadt, and the Associazione Culturale Bucanevis the TIMES IN-BETWEEN 2025 Conference + Festival (August 2025) in Trieste, Italy.
The event’s conference, with a keynote offered by Professor Laura Rascaroli (University College Cork), gathered about 20 selected delegates and 5 filmmakers from a dozen different countries coming together for four days of presentations, roundtables, and screenings. The debated focused on the selection of short essay films from international filmmakers, and the screening of the always evocative film Duvarlar – Mauern – Walls (Candan, 2000).
TIMES IN BETWEEN 2024 – Barriers, Borders, and Boundaries in Short Film Forms
The BAFTSS SIG Essay Film co-organised with Arts University Bournemouth and the Associazione Culturale Bucanevis the TIMES IN-BETWEEN 2024 Conference + Festival (July 2024) in Gorizia, Italy.
The event saw about 30 selected delegates and filmmakers from a dozen different countries coming together for four days of presentations, roundtables, and screenings.
It featured the international premiere of three films, as well as the re-screening of The Forest in Me (Marshall, 2023), Three Sisters in a Sketchbook (Turina, 2024), Into the Frameless Distance to the City of (no) Memory (Gaal-Holmes, 2024), Processing Images from Caracas (Cervera, 2023).