Volume 2, Issue 6: Changes at [in]Transition
Some #Breaking Video Essay News
As some readers of this newsletter may know, I was first exposed to videographic criticism as an undergraduate, when I was working as a reporter for the local newspaper in Middlebury, Vermont.
For a long time I wanted to be a “traditional” journalist — you know, the one who starts out as a local reporter and then works their way up to a publication like New York Times. And while my current day job falls within the broader media landscape, I obviously no longer want to pursue journalism in the way I once did.
But one of my original goals for The Video Essay Podcast was (when my budget allowed it) to try and travel to as many video essay events, screenings, etc. as I could and “cover” them as part of the podcast (this was also when I was in Europe and living on a generous stipend). The pandemic got in the way of those plans, but I was able to attend a live event at Birkbeck, University of London, hosted by Catherine Grant, in the fall of 2019. I live-tweeted the event here.
While at the event, Katie referred to me as the video essay’s “roving correspondent.” It’s a title that has stuck in my head ever since, and one I hope I live up to in my work in this newsletter and on the podcast. So it is in this spirit that I report some exciting changes at the indispensable journal [in]Transition!
First, the latest issue of in[Transition], 8.2, is now available on their website. The issue features work by Sarah Atkinson, Celia Sainz, Chiara Grizzaffi, Giulia Scomazzon, Georgia Thomas-Parr, and Lennart Soberon.
Second, the journal will bring on three new editors in the coming months: Katie Bird (Assistant Professor in Film Studies and Digital Media Production in the Department of Communication at the University of Texas at El Paso), Eva Hageman (Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland in American Studies and the Harriet Tubman Dept. of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies), and Juan Llamas-Rodríguez (Assistant Professor in the School of Arts, Technology and Emerging Communication at the University of Texas at Dallas).
And third, in a first for the journal, [in]Transition has welcomed a group of Associate Editors — “a team of nine dynamic early career academics, post-doctoral researchers, and several more junior scholars, from around the world (all making or thinking about videographic scholarship and criticism)” — who will assist the journal in a variety of ways: Ariel Avissar, Cormac Donnelly, Libertad Gills, Cydnii Wilde Harris, Evelyn Kreutzer, Hoi Lun Law, Nike Nivar Ortiz, Jordan Schönig, and Maryam Tafakory.
I must say, this is truly an all-star line up of videographic scholars. I have been lucky enough to work with and meet some of them — and have enjoyed the work of many more — and I cannot wait to see where they help take the journal in the coming months and years. And thank you to the current editors for this great “scoop”!
Preview to Episode 27. Ian Garwood
The next episode of The Video Essay Podcast will be released in the next week or so and feature a conversation with Ian Garwood, a scholar at the University of Glasgow and one of the form’s leading practitioners. On the show, we discuss Ian’s work, background, and creative approach. We also discuss’s Ian’s award-winning project, “Indy Vinyl: Records in American Independent Cinema: 1987 to 2018” and Jessica McGoff’s “My Mulholland.”
News & Notes
I need your help curating this section! Is there something going on in the video essay world that you think others should know about? Email me: willdigravio@gmail.com.
A talk by Kevin B. Lee for the Berlinale Form: “Double Agency: Fraught positions in postcolonial film analysis." Watch here.
The editorial board of Screenworks participated in a panel discussion at the MPE/MeCCSA Practice Network Symposium 2021, “Publishing Screen Media Practice Research: Editorial Approaches.” Watch here.
“The Essay Library Anthology, Vol. 2: Time” is here! A compilation of 60-second micro-essays from 17 creators each exploring the theme of “time” from different angles.
The Woman with a Movie Camera Summit will take place online from July 17-18. The event includes a talk by Catherine Grant, “The Joy of Video Essaying.” More via the British Film Institute, here.
An article (in Russian) on the videographic research project led by Johannes Binotto. Read here.
Chloé Galibert-Laîné and Kevin B. Lee’s “Bottled Songs 1-4” will screen at the Museum of the Moving Image on July 31. More here.
One of the premier festival events in the video essay world is back! FILMADRID and MUBI present THE VIDEO ESSAY, a collection of seven works that all debuted online earlier this month. Access them all via MUBI here and via FILMADRID here.
Tecmerin. Journal of Audiovisual Essay has published their seventh issue: “we are proud to incorporate a new language to our video essay collection: Farsi. We are also delighted with the fact that the majority of works have been made by women, challenging the dominant role of male authors and creators within the worldwide panorama, and, specifically, Spain.” Watch here.
The Spring 2021_#Solidarity issue of NECSUS is now online. Pieces that may interest readers of this newsletter in particular are “Desktop documentary: From artefact to artist(ic) emotions” by Miklós Kiss, who generously quotes me and interview with Chloé Galibert-Laîné and Grace Lee on the podcast in the piece (Thank you, Miklós!) , and “Workshop of Potential Scholarship: Manifesto for a parametric videographic criticism” by Alan O’Leary.
⏰ NEW VIDEO(S) ⏰ The Essay Library Anthology, Vol. 2: Time A compilation of 60-second micro-essays from 17 creators each exploring the theme of “time” from different angles. Check out the full video here: youtu.be/Meiwn6-NApk ⏱️ The Essay Library: videoessay.carrd.co
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