Together we explore the history and present of experimental film and animation, encounter the key figures of the avant-garde, and learn how to approach even the most challenging films – and love them. Participants also gain access to a large archive of rare films for independent viewing.
The courses are designed for animators, filmmakers, visual artists, and anyone drawn to the creative and aesthetic possibilities of experimental cinema and animation. No prior knowledge required.
The course instructor, Tiina Madisson, is a filmmaker and visual artist with eight years of experience teaching experimental film and animation at educational institutions, museums, and art institutions.
Courses are held in both Finnish and English.
Format: Weekly Zoom sessions (120 min) – lecture, film screenings, and discussion.
We currently offer four courses – more coming:
1. Back to the Avant-Garde – The History of Experimental Cinema
A journey through the full history of experimental cinema — from French Impressionism and Surrealism to trance film, structural cinema, diary film, and Soviet parallel cinema.
11 lectures · Weekly Zoom sessions · 2 hours each
2. Experimental Animation – From Collage to Abstraction
A course exploring the radical language of experimental animation – from collage and found footage to structural film, expanded cinema, and abstraction.
8 lectures · Weekly Zoom sessions · 2 hours each
3. Documentary Animation – Memory, Reality, and the Animated Image
A course exploring documentary animation through testimony, archive, personal memory, and experimental forms.
10 lectures · Weekly Zoom sessions · 2 hours each
4. Experimental Documentary – Memory, Archive, and the Poetics of Reality
A course exploring documentary cinema beyond conventional observation – through found footage, essay film, personal diary, ethnography, and expanded image practices.
10 lectures · Weekly Zoom sessions · 2 hours each
For more information: madissontiina@gmail.com · +358 41 742 3945