A number of filmmakers worldwide have the distinction of making their own emulsion to create their films. The Seminar Handmade Emulsion Primitive Colour will consist of a week of research during which participants will exchange knowledge, conduct practical experiments and test new formulas in order to take significant steps in this research.
Although not a replacement for commercially produced film stocks, hand crafting and coating silver gelatine emulsions can lead to new and creative ways of forming cinematic images. The process of handmade film emulsion is one that offers the filmmaker an unprecedented degree of creative intervention and expressiveness that simply cannot be accomplished with commercial film stocks. By making his own emulsion, the filmmaker is given the ability to manipulate its shape, alter its chemical properties, apply non-traditional bases and adjust it in countless ways to create a unique photosensitive material. As such, the process manifests new forms of dialogue within filmic production, many of which are still waiting to be explored.
Participants are:
- Kevin Rice (Process Reversal, USA)
‘Film archivist’ from Denver, Colorado, whose practice focuses on the study of photochemical theories, the development of lab resources for filmmakers and the documentation of various darkroom odysseys on motion picture film. One of the founders of Process Reversal, an American film collective dedicated to producing resources for filmmakers and film labs since 2012.
– Robert Schaller (Handmade Film Institute, USA)
MFA and former faculty member of the University of Colorado, where he developed the course “The Physical Properties of Film.” He has worked extensively with the integration of different media with film and performance, in addition to the exploration of handmade emulsion techniques. His films have won several awards and he has made teaching appearances at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and at the University of San Francisco.
– Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy (LaborBerlin, DE)
Filmmakers living and working in Berlin, members of the artist-run film lab LaborBerlin. Since 2010 they have been working together under the moniker OJOBOCA. Together they practice Horrorism, a simulated method for inner and outer transformation. Their work encompasses films, performances, installations and workshops. Their work has been presented internationally in a wide variety of venues.
- Lindsay McIntyre (CAN)
Film artist and creator from Edmonton, Alberta. She completed an MFA degree in Film Production at Concordia University in Montreal. She has also studied at the Kent Institute of Art and Design in England and at the New School in New York. Specializing in analogue film work that emphasizes documentary, experimental and handmade techniques, her work has been shown internationally in different festivals and venues. She generally prefers to do everything the hard way and her current filmic obsessions involve handmade emulsion and all kinds of chemical manipulation of celluloid.
- Alex MacKenzie (Iris Film Collective, CAN)
Vancouver based media artist working primarily with 16mm analog film equipment and hand processed imagery. He creates works of expanded cinema, light projection installation, and projector performance. His work has screened at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the EXiS Experimental Film Festival in Seoul, Lightcone in Paris, Kino Arsenal in Berlin and many other festivals and art spaces worldwide. Alex is a founding member of the Iris Film Collective in Vancouver.
– Josh Lewis ( Negativland, USA)
Artist and experimental filmmaker working at a fluid intersection between abstraction, documentary, and narrative forms. Lewis’s handmade films explore the boundaries of manual knowledge, bodily struggle, and the persisting enigma of material potential. He’s shown work at venues such as Anthology Film Archives, Microscope Gallery, Uniondocs, The Filmmaker’s Coop NY, and at festivals such as The International Film Festival Rotterdam, Chicago Underground Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival among others. Josh is a lab technician and founder of the artist-run film lab Negativland.
– Chloe Reyes (Echo Park Film Center, USA)
Wandered into Echo Park Film Center in LA, USA as a teenager and never left. Introduced to the magic of small gauge film formats while in the EPFC Youth Program, she is especially interested in chemical processes and handmade techniques. Chloe Reyes is now studying at the California Institute of the Arts.
– Esther Urlus (WORM.Filmwerkplaats, NL)
Founder of WORM.Filmwerkplaats, Esther Urlus makes Super8, 16mm and 35mm films and installations. Her work always arise from the DIY method. Kneading with the material, by trial, error and (re) inventing, she creates new work. Her work has been exhibited and screened at film festivals worldwide, among other 25FPS festival Zagreb, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Sonic Acts, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam.