Slow Cinema

June 4th - June 18th 2025

Convenience has become the benchmark of both our media consumption and creation. When we’re not bingeing shows on our phones, we use them to film and share ephemera that swings from the confessional to the surveillant. But how can we use these portable filming devices in other, more considered, slower ways?

In this workshop we will attend to the lineage of “slow cinema” while becoming makers of slow films ourselves. We will consider some of its hallmark techniques: including the “long take,” minimal camera movement, observational perspective, and non-narrative structure. How might these techniques inform our own creative or personal habits? What does slowing down generate when it comes to visual attention? How might a "long take" approach to media consumption and creation turn us into more attentive social and political beings?

We will watch and discuss three films that fall under the category of slow cinema: Jeanne Dielman (1975) dir. Chantal Akerman; Slacker (1990) dir. Richard Linklater; and Yi Yi (2000) dir. Edward Yang. Along the way we will complete short film exercises in the service of producing one final piece of 3-5 minutes in length. No equipment or prior filmmaking is required. 

Led by NYC-based writer and filmmaker Swetha Regunathan.

Classes on Wednesdays, 6:45 - 9:15pm EST
June 4 - June 18