Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - CA 334 D100

Film Forms (3)

Archive Filmmaking as Resistance

Class Number: 6269

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Thu, 10:30 a.m.–1:20 p.m.
    GOLDCORP

  • Prerequisites:

    36 units in CA courses, including CA 285.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Intensive study of a specific approach to film praxis, in which students create projects through experimentation with film form. This course can be repeated once for credit if the topic is different. This course cannot be taken concurrently with other Film Forms courses.

COURSE DETAILS:

COUNTER CINEMA: Archive Filmmaking as Resistance

How would you re-tell our histories?

Every sight and sound is imbued with a memory. In one form or another, these memories become captured/recorded whether by those who created those memories or by those who merely observed. Housed formally in library archives, private collections, or informally in a family home, these memories become audio and visual (AV) artefacts of a time and space. Our question as artists then becomes “who controls these memories?” and “what could these memories mean to us today?” As interrogators, you will respectfully appropriate and creatively express a critique of our existing histories.

This course looks to unsettle and disrupt the underrepresented images and sounds trapped in its colonial past and release it into a re-imagined future. Counter imaginings of our histories is one of the most important contemporary arts practices for artists in all disciplines today as a form of decolonization and decentralization. Reframing existing materials from institutional, informal, and personal archives, will be the foundation of the films you will make in this course.

All are welcome! No prior filmmaking experience required. Focus will be on the use of existing archival/collections/found footage AV materials online, therefore there will be little to no use of camera and sound recording devices. Basic film editing software knowledge is recommended but not required (iMovie, Davinci Resolve, Audacity, or similar).

Admission through prerequisites above or prior approval therefore please email the instructor.

Course Structure
Classes will include weekly film screenings, guest speakers, basic software training, foundational filmmaking concepts and techniques, and student presentations.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1) Investigate relevant online archives in an efficient manner.
2) Construct films with images / sounds in a thoughtful and critical manner.
3) Nurture a unique and personal perspective.
4) Engage with guest speakers within the professional film and arts communities.
5) Share feedback in a positive and constructive manner.

Grading

  • Film Project 20%
  • Final Film Proposal 15%
  • Final Film Project 50%
  • Share & Acknowledge 15%

NOTES:

SHARE & ACKNOWLEDGE involves sharing your physical and emotional energy within the class. This also includes respectful acknowledgment of who you are, who you share with (students, instructors and staff), and the space you are working within. Your attendance, participation, and positive attitude in class is the key to this grading criteria.

Materials

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.