Investigating Ecocinema through the Video Essay

How can the video essay be deployed as a critical tool to analyse ecocinema and its relevance to the current environmental crisis? The Video Essay for Ecocinema course, held in the 2023 spring semester at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, introduced videographic techniques to investigate the topic of ecocinema and critically analyse ecological imaginaries. A heterogeneous bibliography of texts, films and video essays related to ecocinema presented key thematic concepts, including: visualizations of ecological scale(s); the role of affect in producing environmental consciousness; materialising intangible infrastructures and hidden “grey energies”; and the digital footprint of film and media industries. These concepts in turn served as the basis for a distinct series of videographic exercises that prepared students for their final videographic project. The results demonstrate the profound value of the video essay as a pedagogical practice that can provide students with the tools to address such a challenging and multifaceted topic as the global environmental crisis.