The transformation of matter and the reflection of light are at the heart of filmmaking and moving image practice, exemplified by Stan Brakhage’s assertion that “matter is still light. Light held in a bind.” Catoptrics is the use of optical devices, mirrors, crystals and lenses in the processes of focussing and directing light. Alchemy has a two thousand year history, commonly misunderstood as a form erroneous proto-chemistry in which people sought the Philosopher’s Stone to transmute base metals into gold. Alchemical catoptrics is the place where the disciplines of alchemy and catoptrics meet, encompassing an enquiry into the fundamental properties of matter and the possibilities for its transformation, bound up in range of pre-scientific belief systems and philosophies of light, matter and cosmogenesis. In conventional media histories, the historical antecedents of moving image practice are usually explored through the evolution of visual media technologies. Such an approach only deals with the superficial tools of moving image practice, binding itself up in the machinery of spectacle, while remaining silent on the deeper questions of humankind’s imaginative relationship with luminous matter. The practice of alchemical catoptrics was an experimental exploration of this relationship; between light, the phenomenal world, the deep structure of substance, imagination, belief and meaning. The current study offers a fresh historical perspective on what it means to experiment with the substance of light in a transformative, luminous, meaning-making capacity. It uncovers a language of transformation that speaks to the author's own practice, while offering new insights into the experimental methodologies, motives and practices of other moving image artists. The research discusses the 13th century light philosophy of Robert Grosseteste and its referencing by Stan Brakhage and Hollis Frampton, leading into an exploration of the methodologies of historical alchemical catoptrics, citing original document translations prepared for the purpose of the thesis. Using the examples of Man Ray (1890–1976) and Patrick Bokanowski (1943-present), the research then shows how alchemical catoptrical thinking can inform our interpretation of the practices of these two moving image artists. The thesis concludes with an examination of the alchemical-catoptrical ideas and methods used for the production of two of my recent film works: Speculum (2011-2014) and Catoptrica (2011-2013).

The subject of the thesis is a comparative analysis of sign production and the interpretation of the film and painting of oneiric or horror genre focused on Vall Lewton's films and their similarity to the painting in creating an atmosphere of uneasiness and fear. Although these works are based on a sign structure, which is an important key to their interpretation, they are not independent of the different interpretations they allow. On the contrary, it seems that the work's intention is to encourage the viewer to complete the art by projecting his own fear into it. This approach is based on Umberto Eco's and Jan Mukařovský's theory of the interpretation, both of which emphasizing the reader's role in understanding the principle of functioning of the work of art. The concepts of the model author and model reader in Eco's theory and the term semantic gesture within Mukařovský's work are sharing numerous similarities.

Interactive Coast is a moving-image art installation that will mix 16mm film and digital footage. Inspired by the cyclical nature of the biological concept of succession, this installation will focus on human interactions with nature and architecture, specifically at the beaches on the East Coast of Florida. In its biological definition of the word, “Succession is the gradual transformation or creation of a biological community as new species move into an area and modify local environmental conditions” (Rehkopf 1581). The coast, once with its undeveloped tract of mangroves and sand dunes is now interspersed with construction, oil spills, and commercial development of natural habitats on the coast. The timeline of humanity on earth seems bleak, but may just be part of a cycle that ultimately leaves nature to one day take back its environment. My creative process of making this installation involves exploring and drawing critical conclusions about the effect of human development and activity on the cycles of the natural environment—with Hollywood beach as a visual, creative, and exploratory case study. The evolution of film stock succeeded by digital data, will act as a parallel motif in the project—this will serve as a form of a cycle, like the nitrogen or phosphorous cycle. The installation will place the viewer surrounded by three screens and observing the cycle take place. In the end, I hope that the installation will assist in drawing more attention to the current epoch of human destruction known as Anthropocene.

Things, spaces and people collaborate in order to create an immersive experience. This project investigates this collaboration in order to combine them for an embodied way of tell and perceive stories.  Can a immersive experience help to close the gap between information and the person, the event and the story? In the following essay I am going to analyze the components that are part of the experience. I am interested in the connection between perception, memory, atmosphere and objects. Inquire how they are related and what they represent in order to tell stories with them. I try to question the way we perceive and expand the function of telling and receiving stories to the whole body and everything around us. With these new questions, create my project – Johan’s Room – and experiment with them, trying to connect the audience with the story.

Les inédits du Sud révèlent une double qualité pour fonder une recherche en cinéma : ils sont à la fois les expressions marquées et les filtres d’observation privilégiés des environnements de trois grands domaines : les Relations internationales, la politique publique et le contexte français du marché de l’Art et Essai. Autour et grâce à un corpus de 430 films de longs métrages distribués commercialement pour la première fois en salles en France entre 1990 et 2007 [Afrique subsaharienne, Mena Iran, Asie centrale, Asie, Amérique Latine] cette thèse propose :- une étude de la construction de la scène culturelle de la diplomatie au sein des politiques étrangères bilatérales et multilatérales, à l’échelle française et européenne et de la place assignée au cinéma par le phénomène des fonds d’aide à la production [Fonds Sud, HBF, ACPFILMS…] dans l’action plus vaste en faveur de l’audiovisuel extérieur ;- une mise en perspective de la construction de la politique publique cinématographique, de ses problématisations successives en lien avec les activités professionnelles et le marché , de la question du paritarisme de ses cadres de décision et d’une conception propre de l’action culturelle et surtout de l’Art et Essai comme projet, mouvement et système puis comme spécialisation éditoriale de la distribution ;- une étude plus monographique des trajectoires de quelques cinématographies du Sud selon la problématique d’une symétrie supposée autour d’un indicateur de production entre marché de provenance et marché français [Chine, Iran, Argentine, Brésil, Mexique] et selon la problématique des small cinemas [Tunisie, Liban, Maroc, pays d’Afrique subsaharienne]. / The study of newly released films from the ‘South’ opens up interesting new perspectives for research in cinema studies. These films not only inform us about international relations, public policy and the art house cinema market in France but have also led to some original conclusions.This thesis is based on a study of 430 long feature films released in France between 1990 and 2007 from Subsaharan Africa, the MENA region, Iran, Central Asia, Asia and Latin America. In this dissertation, we propose:- an analysis of the construction of cultural diplomacy in the context of bilateral and multilateral foreign politics. This treatment operates at the levels of French and European politics and examines the place of cinema with respect to the agencies that finance film production [Fonds Sud, HBF, ACPFILMS…] as well as the larger context of external funding for audio-visual productions in general;- an assessment of the construction of public policy concerning film, with an examination of the successive strategies for coping with professional activities and the market. Here, we examine industrial relations and cooperative decision making as well as the reflections concerning the conception of cultural activity and, above all, art house cinema as a project, movement and system then later as a specialist form of production and distribution;- a study of the trajectories of a selected group of film cultures from the south. This study turns around two issues; the purported symmetry between the market of the country where the film is made and the French market as measured by production statistics [China, Iran, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico] and the question of ‘small cinemas’ [Tunisia, Lebanon, Morocco, sub-Saharan Africa].

Return is a video-based installation which includes sound, performance, and textile elements. Leilani Bascom is the lone actor navigating the water and where the water meets the land in this personal project exploring concepts of the life cycle from birth to death and rebirth. Life's paradox of struggle and release unfolds with imagery of battling through waves to swim deep underwater, fighting a river current and then surrendering to the flow, and carving a hole in the sand to climb into and be held. Viewers are immersed in the movement and sounds of water to witness the power and meaning of our first home and what sustains us.

This study regards the influence of ’modern’ satanism on performative art in the nineteen sixties- and seventies. The methodological framework consists of performativity theory, religious visual culture and aesthetics of experimental film. The material consists mainly of cinematic work by Kenneth Anger and Alejandro Jodorowsky, as well as musical performances by the likes of Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. In addition to this material I also use academic texts, dissertations and books written about the subjects themselves as a foundation for my own further analysis and discussions. By looking closely at a selection of cinnematic work of foremost Kenneth Anger, I try to show how his own esoteric and occult interests are present as a fundamental part of his creative process and the following filmworks/artworks themselves. This is also put into relationship with Anton Szandor Lavey, founder of the Church of Satan, and their common thoughts concerning ritually performed magic. By using performativity theory I trie to emphasise the interlocking structures of these two worlds in the artwork of Kenneth Anger and other artists active in the culturual ’milieu’ of the sixties- and seventies. The results indicate that the religious sphere of satanism, occultism and esotericism (and alternative modes of religion in general) was closeley inflicted with counterculture-infused film and music (as represented by the selection of material).

1 Abstract The thesis focuses on the involvement of Jiří Mařánek in the management of the Film Department of the Ministry of Information during the years 1945 - 1948. His ministe- rial engagement is related to the contemporary strengthening of the importance of literary preparation of the film and to the associated state dramaturgical supervision. Jiří Mařánek belongs to the circle of writers connected on one hand through their affiliation with the interwar avant-garde movements, on the other hand by their postwar involve- ment in the power apparatus that ended by the political and economic changes in the late forties and fifties. His professional fate speaks about the changes of cultural policy of the state, about the institutional development of the cinema and about the relations between literary and cinematic arts. It is a testimonial of what a successful professional career meant for a man of letters and what relationship it had to the cinema. We follow therefore a relatively brief but breakthrough episode of a writer and retired officer in the position of the Ministerial Counsellor, and we try to place its course and causes into a complex network of historical and social contexts and personal motivation. Focusing on this personality unburdened neither by a historical uniqueness, fundamental role of...