16 January 2015, 18:00, Birkbeck Cinema

This first session featured several examples of “notebook” films presented by Laura Busetta, Marlène Monteiro and Muriel Tinel-Temple, who had previously organised a study day entitled “Self-Portraiture in the Moving Image” at BIMI in 2014.

The notebook film is a preparatory essay for another film to come, as well as a kind of foretaste to convince producers to finance the future film. It might typically feature the casting of actors, rehearsals with actors or technicians, exploration of locations, the testing out of ideas and possible narratives, or more general reflections from the director or other members of the team. In short, the film becomes an audiovisual “notebook” in which a future work is sketched out, and in that perspective these films exemplify one of the key features of the essay film, which is to show us the creative process of filmmaking.

Films: Location notes in Palestine for The Gospel according to Saint Matthew [Sporalluoghi per il vangelo secondo Matteo], Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy, 1965, DVD, 55 minutes, Italian with English subtitles
Material shot during location research for the film The Gospel according to Saint Matthew (1964) becomes an essayistic reflection on the filmmaking process and the contemporary reality of Israel and Palestine.

Scenario for Sauve qui peut (la vie) [Scénario de Sauve qui peut (la vie)], Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland, 1979, DVD, 20 minutes, French with English subtitles
In 1979, in place of the expected written screenplay, Godard submitted a 20-minute video scenario to the French funding body CNC (Centre national du Cinéma), a self-reflexive sketch of the proposed film, Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980).

Letter from a Filmmaker [Lettre d’un cineaste], Alain Cavalier, France, 1982, DVD, 13 minutes, French with English subtitles
Composed for the French television programme Cinéma cinéma, which regularly featured such “letters from filmmakers”, this video-letter allows Cavalier the opportunity to reflect on the making of his film Thérèse (1986). 

Les Années quatre-vingt, Chantal Akerman, Belgium, 1983, DVD, 82 minutes [extracts], French with English subtitles
Akerman’s essay film explores the preparation, funding and rehearsals for what would become her unique interpretation of the musical, Golden Eighties (1986).