Audiovisual thoughts about audiovisual arts. Filmscalpel creates, collects and curates video essays at www.filmscalpel.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3mtvoioersk25Here's a challenge: make a 60-second micro-essay about... video essays. The latest collaborative project from @theessaylibrary.com goes meta, turning the format’s attention back on itself. Submissions are open until September 21, 2026 at 9:00 AM. https://theessaylibrary.com/#vol1025 Aug 2026 11:07 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtvoioersk25https://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3mttfvndor22aThe Journal of Embodied Research invites videographic submissions for an issue on how racism, digital technologies, and Asian Americanness are lived, felt, and contested through dance and embodied research. Abstracts are due November 15. Read the call here: tinyurl.com/JER-cfp https://tinyurl.com/JER-cfp24 Aug 2026 13:28 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mttfvndor22ahttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3mttatf6zwc2fAPPARATUS has a CFP for a video essay special issue with the title "Resurfacing in the Cut: Videographic Explorations in East Central European Cinemas and Visual Cultures." Abstracts are due October 1, full submissions in March 31, 2027. Read the call here: tinyurl.com/apparatus-cfp24 Aug 2026 11:58 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mttatf6zwc2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3mtt77rsjj22f@intransition.bsky.social is preparing SCREENING DEATH, a special issue that will "examine how moving images stage and suppress, smooth and trouble, mediated encounters with mortality". Abstracts are due August 31, full submissions in December. Read the Call For Works: https://tinyurl.com/screening-death24 Aug 2026 11:29 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtt77rsjj22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3msi4bt45xk2nEARLY CINEMA’S FISH TANK FILMS dives into the appeal of aquariums for cinema’s pioneers. In a visually rich video essay, @alexzivkovic.bsky.social traces the fascination with fish from Méliès' fantasy films to the documentaries of Jean Painlevé and beyond. Published by @intransition.bsky.social https://vimeo.com/116967478207 Aug 2026 08:12 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3msi4bt45xk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3mshyw5lmy22sWhen Hitchcock visited Jerusalem in 1966, he had an Israeli state-sponsored film crew in tow. Iddo Better Pocker's video essay BEHIND THE CURTAIN cleverly splices that propaganda film with Hitchcock's Torn Curtain, blurring the line between fiction and fact. Published by @intransition.bsky.social https://vimeo.com/118781368607 Aug 2026 07:11 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3mshyw5lmy22shttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lsod6tqy4s2jI Know What You’ll Do This Summer. [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Jun 2025 14:05 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lsod6tqy4s2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3loglmzhcj22jImplement a 100% tariff and ruin a movie. Seventeen [contains quote post or other embedded content]05 May 2025 14:34 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3loglmzhcj22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3ll2tqeoqd22mHow does Kevin Costner's 1991 Robin Hood remember Disney's 1973 version of the outlaw? How does that one, in turn, remember Errol Flynn's 1938 incarnation? Why is Ridley Scott's 2010 take on the character forgettable? @jemsaunders1.bsky.social jogs her memory in this nostalgia-inducing video essay. https://vimeo.com/95981077423 Mar 2025 18:12 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3ll2tqeoqd22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lfxjgzjrlc2yFriends Down Under: my video essay / short film MALE GAZING is playing at the ninth edition of the CAPRICORN FILM FESTIVAL in Yeppoon, Australia. This Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th January it is part of CAPS EXPERIMENTAL, a short form video art selection. More here: www.capricornfilmfestival.org https://www.capricornfilmfestival.org/capsexperimental17 Jan 2025 19:23 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfxjgzjrlc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lfrvrpgigk2rGETTY ABORTIONS explores Getty's stock image databases and finds that the photos used to illustrate abortion are very stereotypical. Franzis Kabisch uses her personal story to challenge the anonymity of those images. #favoritevideoessaysof2024 More here: https://www.filmscalpel.com/getty-abortions/15 Jan 2025 13:48 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfrvrpgigk2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lfrvfc4dvc2rMAKEOVER MOVIE by Sue Ding compiles a long list of objections to the trope of the makeover montage and substantiates them with an impressive array of film excerpts. She also enlisted six childhood friends to give a running commentary on her video essay - a great idea. #favoritevideoessaysof2024 https://vimeo.com/98040343015 Jan 2025 13:41 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfrvfc4dvc2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lfruyp7dps2rHEIMATFILM fashions excerpts from 50 different films into a hilarious supercut. Marion Kellmann deftly combines recurring situations and motifs, and boils the German genre down to its narrative, thematic and iconographic essence. #favoritevideoessaysof2024 More here: www.filmscalpel.com/heimatfilm/15 Jan 2025 13:34 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfruyp7dps2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lfruoa5f6k2rMEANWHILE IN LOS SANTOS (DISSOCIATION NATION) is a mod for Grand Theft Auto V that shifts the focus to NPCs (non-player characters, the extras of the gaming world). Their interior monologues are a critique of GTA’s design. #favoritevideoessaysof2024 More here: https://www.filmscalpel.com/meanwhile-in-los-santos-dissociation-nation/15 Jan 2025 13:28 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfruoa5f6k2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lfrugfkgqc2rLIGHT HANDS is an excellent example of how to revitalise archival footage in a video essay. Historian Lily Ford delves into the Imperial War Museum’s collection of footage of women building airplanes during WWI. She engages with it in a creative and speculative manner. #favoritevideoessaysof2024 https://vimeo.com/92199690615 Jan 2025 13:24 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfrugfkgqc2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lfru4nf3kk2rTHE RED GOD strings together footage of foxes recorded by a wildlife camera. Christine Rogers connects her videographic research to her Māori ancestry and her personal history, to decolonisation and the camera as imperial tool, to speciesism and the human/nonhuman divide. #favoritevideoessaysof2024 https://vimeo.com/80795789315 Jan 2025 13:18 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfru4nf3kk2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lfrty7o4g22rDE SONT OF MJOEZIK is a live performance by Maria Zandvliet that translates videographic strategies to the stage. It turns the video essay into a fully embodied form of research. The result is an exhilarating study of fandom. #favoritevideoessaysof2024 More here: https://www.filmscalpel.com/de-sont-of-mjoezik/15 Jan 2025 13:16 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfrty7o4g22rhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lem33ynncc2uHere's a great way to start 2025. The Museum of the Moving Image in New York is devoting a screening series to the video essay. From January 3 to 5, they will present four different programs. My video essay THE APARTMENT is part of the second program (scheduled for Jan 4), called REMIXING NEW YORK. https://movingimage.org/series/expanded-screens-the-video-essay/31 Dec 2024 12:42 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lem33ynncc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lehdelju2k2cOn this day in 1986, Andrei Tarkovsky left us. He had spent only 54 years with us, but he sculpted that time into seven immortal feature films. Celebrate his legacy with this selection of ten video essays: http://filmscalpel.com/andrei-tarkovsky/29 Dec 2024 15:27 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lehdelju2k2chttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3ldlqdzsw2k22Sight and Sound has published its annual poll of the year's most notable video essays. @queline.bsky.social , @willwebbful.bsky.social, and @cydniiwilde.bsky.social tallied a total of 183 videos. Better start now if you plan to watch them all before the year ends. Or skip Christmas dinner. https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/best-video-essays-202418 Dec 2024 16:05 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldlqdzsw2k22https://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lcg7i7ohvs2sOn this day in 1930, Jean-Luc Godard was born. He was both film icon and iconoclast, movie rebel and royalty. Defining this chameleonic French provocateur is hard, but these ten video essays give it a go, focusing on different aspects of his output: www.filmscalpel.com/godard03 Dec 2024 17:54 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcg7i7ohvs2shttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lc3zuewuz22qOn November 29, 1954, Joel Coen was born. His brother Ethan would join him three years later. Celebrate their combined creative output with this selection of video essays. 🧵 (Big fan? There are even more on www.filmscalpel.com/coen-brothers/)29 Nov 2024 16:47 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lc3zuewuz22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lbyupxjaw22yOn November 28, 1961, Alfonso Cuarón was born. He has directed just eight feature films but often does double duty on his movies. He's won Academy awards as director, producer, editor and cinematographer. Here's a selection of half o dozen video essays to celebrate his birthday. 🧵📽️ #filmsky28 Nov 2024 10:37 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbyupxjaw22yhttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lbmylba7f22gIf you want to contribute to the newest volume of the Screen Stars Dictionary, then here's your chance. Previous entries in this series of video essays can be found on the website of the Journal of Audiovisual Essays TECMERIN (see tinyurl.com/2f74a8ej). [contains quote post or other embedded content]23 Nov 2024 17:14 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbmylba7f22ghttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lbmmst2ka22wOn November 23, 1887, William Henry Pratt was born in London. He emigrated to Canada, then the US, where he pursued acting. In 1931 he rose to fame under his stage name Boris Karloff when he played Frankenstein's Creature. Celebrate his birthday with these Frankenstein-themed video essays. 🧵23 Nov 2024 13:44 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbmmst2ka22whttps://bsky.app/profile/filmscalpel.bsky.social/post/3lbhsbvd6ok2mResearcher and visual artist Roc Albalat traces the genealogy of modern AI visuals back to two 19th-century photography pioneers, Marey and Galton. His excellent video essay LATENCIES OF THE STATISTICAL IMAGE invites viewers to reflect on the ambitions and aspirations that underpin AI developments. https://vimeo.com/92428771821 Nov 2024 15:38 +0000at://did:plc:wp44idkbwva5bqobdcf5eopw/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbhsbvd6ok2m