Research Projects

La Fémis is involved in the organization of diverse research projects, along with several institutions and research laboratories. Students of the school and SACRe PhD students regularly participate in these events, which often associate researc and cinematographical practice.

Current Projects

Origins and Conditions for the Emergence of Life (OCAV)

In collaboration with the OCAV research program (IRIS-OCAV - PSL), La Fémis organizes and participates in projects which question the artistic and scientific methods depicting the emergence and the presence of life in the universe.

« Visualizing the Origins of Life » international conference
From May 31st to June 1st 2021, this conference is organized as part of the OCAV research program (IRIS-OCAVPSL) in collaboration with La Fémis, the Observatoire de Paris PSL and the Centre Alexandre-Koyré (CAK).
It will gather scientists and art and visual cultures historians in order to cross philosophical, scientific and aesthetic points of views about the way those questions circulate in scientifical and vernacular cultures.
In this discussion, speakers will question the place of images in practices related to research on the origins of life and on the conditions for the emergence of life.

You can find more information regarding this conference here.

« Exoplanets » exercise
Every year, La Fémis Production Design and Cinematography students work together in order to create a film sequence about exoplanets – those planets located outside of our solar system. Thanks to a partnership with the Observatoire de Paris et the OCAV research program, students can produce visual representations of those planets with to the most recent and accurate scientific data.
You can find more information and see visual extracts of this exercise here.

History of techniques

La Fémis participates in different research projects which aim to map and extend our knowledge of cinematographical and audiovisual techniques and professions and their history. These projects are conducted in partnership with the TECHNES and ANR Beauviatch research programs.

« Rethinking the digital transition » international conference
La Fémis and the Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière co-organise the « Rethinking the digital transition » international conference thanks to a partnership with the ANR Beauviatech research program. This project is led by Jean-Baptiste Massuet (Rennes 2 University), Gilles Mouëllic (Rennes 2 University), Giusy Pisano (ENS Louis-Lumière) and Barbara Turquier (La Fémis). It will take place in December 2021and will aim to broaden the thinking on relationships between analogue and digital technologies, putting it in the wider context of the history of forms and techniques.

Filmographies : Audiovisual archives of cinematographical professions
La Fémis has inaugurated the « Filmographies » project in 2013. It aims to create oral archives of the memory of great cinema professionals. Each year, students from one department of La Fémis produce an extended interview with a famous cinema professional, which is then deposited to the Cinémathèque Française and available at its film library. The production of those interviews is both of historical and scientific interest, and allows students to deepen their knowledge of the history of cinematographical techniques and professions and to familiarize themselves with the historical research methods and challenges of oral archives.
You can find more information regarding this project here.

History of cinema pedagogy

As an institution dedicated to teaching cinema, La Fémis aims to constitute and preserve a trace of its history. Pedagogy is at the heart of several projects in which La Fémis is involved.

History of artistic creation pedagogy (HPCA)
This project gathers the Ecole nationale des Chartes and five art schools which are either members or partners of the Paris Sciences & Lettres University (PSL) : La Fémis, the CNSAD, the CNSMDP, the EnsAD and the Beaux-Arts. It mainly aims to shed ahistorical and methodological light to artistic pedagogy. HPCA is a frame in which diverse events (seminars, study days) are organized, to which La Femis often participates.

Condorcet Workshop: « Cinema practice in higher education: comparative approach of skills transmission among art schools »
Planned between 2021 and 2022, supported by the Condorcet campus and carried by the Jean-Marbillon center, La Fémis, the CNRS and the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, this project both aims to establish a historical perspective and a contemporary inventory of different teaching practices related to cinema and moving images. It is organized by Gabrielle Chomentowski (CNRS), Stéphanie-Emmanuelle Louis (ENC), Barbara Turquier (La Fémis), Dimitri Vezyroglou (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University).
Planned as an exploratory seminar, this project gathers works from historical, cinematographic and educational science research alongside encounters with agents and witnesses of cinema pedagogy.

Completed projects

Comparative approaches of storytelling

In 2017, a study group worked on the uses of storytelling both in cinema and in music. Its members were doctoral students from the SACRe laboratory and it was supported by the « Creation, cognition, Society » (IRIS) program. For eight months, three music composers from the @|LIENb24c47b|W0NOU01EUC0+aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY29uc2VydmF0b2lyZWRlcGFyaXMuZnIvXQ==|@ and three writers from La Fémis shared their thoughts on storytelling representations and practices shared by cinema and music. From September 2017 to May 2018, this project aimed to question what brings cinema and music together besides film soundtracks.
You can find more information about this project here

Indigenous struggles cinema

Between January and May 2019, the « For a Global Study of Filmic Practices within Autochthonous Struggles » research project was hosted by La Fémis and financed by the « IRIS Global Study » of PSL University.
It resulted in four study days which aimed to share thoughts in order to question the role and the forms of cinematographical practices during conflictual situations where indigenous communities are facing the endangerment of their lands (pollution, dispossession).
With both a historical and contemporary approach, these four study days produced a first mapping of indigenous struggles – especially in North America and in the Pacific. These study days aimed to renew our analytical assumptions regarding struggle situations in order to create new tools and methodologies to approach them. They were also about acknowledging cinematographical forms and practices and shedding light on the experiences of the individuals engaged in those stuggles – understanding how their political and visual history can renew our conception of anthropology, of cinema history, of the history of indigenous stuggles and of the role of moving images in these fights.
More information and the complete program of these study days here.

Other events related to research in La Fémis

Conferences and study days

All year long, La Fémis organizes and co-organizes scientificevents in its areas of expertise – aesthetical, economical or technical aspects of cinema and audiovisual practices.
You can find the complete programs of these different types of event here.

La Fémis Encounters

Twice a year during Spring and Autumn, La Fémis students gather for a conference featuring a common theme. La Fémis Encounters allow students to discuss topics with guest speakers.
You can find the program of La Fémis Encounters here.

Invited filmmakers

Every year, La Fémis welcomes great French and foreign filmmakers for one or two-day masterclasses. These allowstudents to get to get to know their work and deepen their knowledge In this privileged frame of exchange, invited filmmakers share thoughts with them about their cinematographic work and its artistic purpose.
More information here.

Publications

Besides La Fémis students research papers and SACRe doctoral students’ thesis, La Fémis regularlry produce publications of different forms and style, about several objects of study.

You can find more information about it here.