FotoFocus at The Mini: Cinema and Archive is a month-long screening series examining film and video’s complex relationship to the photographic archive. The Mini Microcinema will present over 30 screenings and events, featuring more than 50 makers with programming by five different curators. Ultimately, film and video’s relationship to archive, both on and off the screen, can be examined and interpreted in a variety of ways. In the most traditional sense, cinema is a storytelling mechanism with the power to capture and archive an artist’s ever-changing process. Archival material, both still and moving, can also be used as source material for the construction of new works. Like collage or sound mixing, the use of appropriated media has the ability to create greater meaning through montage, as well as the ability to re-examine and re-interpret the past. Oftentimes, experimental film and media makers use photographic archives as both objects and subjects in their work, which prompts the viewer to consider the similarities and differences between the mediums themselves. Further, the film still is an aspect where film and video calls on its photographic origin, and considers the role of filmmaker as photographer. Animation, specifically stop-motion, underscores the notion of the filmstrip as a photographic archive because the production directly involves snapping photo after photo, slightly changing the content within the frame. Here, the filmmaker literally constructs a moment in time, rather than capturing it, thus animation could represent an archive of a fully constructed reality. The examination of film and media collections are another fascinating way to learn about media’s historical impact in relationship to the socio-political moment in which the archive derives. FotoFocus at The Mini: Cinema and Archive presents a variety of work exploring the many intersections between cinema and the photographic archive worth further thought and examination.

Participants: Stéphane Aubier, Stephanie Barber, Stephanie Barber, Matthew Bauman, Steve Boot, Dr. Svea Braeunert, Dan Browne, Paul Bush, Alberto Couceiro, Studio Creature, Victoria Santa Cruz, Thirza Cuthand, Nazli Dincel, Cheryl Dunn, Paz Encina, Rhiannon Evans, Harun Farocki, Siegfried A. Fruhauf, Kelly Gallagher, Ariana Gerstein, Karø Goldt, Joan C. Gratz, Adriana Vila Guevara, Vanessa Haroutunian, Vashti Harrison, Carrie Hawks, Dr. Todd Herzog, Narcisa Hirsch, Dr. Elisabeth Hodges, Desiree Dawn Kapler, Abbas Kiarostami, Evalds Lacis, Kirsten Lepore, Nicki Lindroth, Jayne Loader, Robert Loebel, Azucena Losana, Guy Maddin, Vincent Patar, Jean-Gabriel Périot, PES, Annalisa D. Quagliata, Kevin Rafferty, Pierce Rafferty, Mónica Savirón, Ann Segal, Shelly Silver, Alejandra Tomei, Hui-ching Tseng, UC Center for Film and Media Studies, Péter Vácz, Carlo Vogele, Spencer Williams, Liz Wolf (dream tiger), C. Jacqueline Wood, Alice Pixley Young

For Cinema and Archive Program descriptions, click here.