FMST 031. Archival Practices in Documentary: From Film to Expanded Forms

This seminar examines contemporary nonfiction practices grounded in archival research and long-form artistic inquiry. Focusing on projects that unfold across films, installations, performances, and other expanded formats, we will consider how artists mobilize audiovisual archives to construct historical narratives, activate suppressed histories, and reshape documentary form.

Topics include the politics of preservation and erasure, archival absence, reenactment, essayistic form, and the transformation of research into aesthetic structure. Alongside close analysis of international works and key texts in film, media, and memory studies, the course introduces the practical workflow of archival research in documentary production. Students will develop critical and practical frameworks for understanding how archival materials move from repository to screen or exhibition space, including locating and accessing archives, evaluating materials, negotiating rights and licensing, budgeting and financing archival projects, and assessing the ethical and political stakes of reuse and circulation. Assignments include analytical writing and a final research or creative project engaging archival material in a chosen medium.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Spring 2027. Visiting Cornell Professor, Mila Turajlić.
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/film-media-studies

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