Cinema and the Unseen

There are several ways to think of the invisible. There are those things that are too small or too far, too vast or too fast to be perceived by the naked eye, but which have become knowable through the history of the invention of optical apparatuses. There are also those things that are invisible in the sense of otherworldly: ghosts, spirits, shades and other spectral beings that haunt our bodies and spaces. In this masterclass we will explore the ways in which the moving image medium has a deep and inextricable relationship to both.

We will begin by tracing the history of the invention of cinema along three parallel lines of optics, projection, and photosensitive substrate, and how each of these, in their own way, are also histories of the expansion of the horizon of (in)visibility, of concretising the products of the mind’s eye, and of shaping the collective imaginary of the unseen. We will also see how these qualities of the medium have been harnessed and elaborated upon by contemporary artists and filmmakers.

The session will culminate in a hands-on exercise, the insights from which participants will be able to further apply in their own practice. Whether or not we are explicitly working with things beyond the levels of perceptibility or with invisible presences, experimenting with how to engage things not directly available for capture and how to account for the necessarily haunted nature of the medium are invaluable to any nonfiction practice.

Sasha Litvintseva is an artist, filmmaker and writer. She has directed and co-directed twelve short and medium length films, including a recent trilogy with frequent collaborator Beny Wagner, that have screened at festivals worldwide including at the Berlinale, IFFR Rotterdam, Cinema du Reel, and won numerous awards including at IndieLisboa, Guanajuato Film Festival, CPH:DOX. Her films have also been presented at major art institutions including Tate Modern, Baltic Triennial, Seoul Mediacity Biennale, been subject of focus and retrospective screenings at more than fifteen venues worldwide including Courtisane Festival, Union Docs NY, Los Angeles Filmforum, and been featured in publications including Cahiers du Cinema, Sight & Sound, Filmmaker Magazine. She holds a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Art, a PhD in Media, Communications and Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths, and teaches filmmaking at Queen Mary University of London.