Myth of Selfhood: Queer Diasporic Film Craft is a studio course where students will explore alternative approaches to depicting marginalized bodies and desires on screen. These approaches have been concerned less with identifications or lost origins; instead, they have foregrounded intimacies which have been concealed by Euro-American cis-hetero-normative ways of seeing. Queer diasporic imaginaries, in their multifaceted, cross-cultural iterations, question the neoliberal myth of visibility and representation, wherein legibility equates to authenticity. They seek hybrid ways of being in the world and relating to one another.

During the course, we will examine works by queer diasporic filmmakers, animators, and contemporary artists. The discussions will be followed by aesthetic exercises and introductory technical workshops on experimental film and animation practices. Students are encouraged to experiment with techniques learned in class to create time-based works around queer diasporic aesthetics.

Elective