Presentation

La Femis develops its research activities in relation with its core training program and in collaboration with various institutions. These activities are divided into three main axis :

The research department gathers research adivsors and teachers of La Fémis involved in research projects, and the SACRe PhD students of La Fémis.

La Fémis research activities involve different types of partners:
—   the SACRe (PSL) laboratory, gathers researchers, artists and doctoral students who are part of the ENS and the PSL art schools.
—   other institutions which are members or partners of the Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL).
—   A variety of cultural and scientifical partners.
—   Several technical partners and other types of private partners in the f cinema and audiovisual industries.

First Axis. Research-creation

Cinema is both an object of study and a practice and can therefore be considered as a specific modality of researching. By associating practical expertise and theorical knowledge in its pedagogy, La Femis has developed specific ideas on research-creation since the beginning of its participation to the SACRe PhD program in 2012. This axis is about exploring the ability of films and moving images to produce thinking and forms of knowledge which interact with other methodologies. The aesthetical aspects, the technical changes, the collaboration among artistic practices and the new forms of writing are at the core of this axis, which thus echoes the school’s pedagogy and the SACRe PhD program. The methodology of these research projects incorporates artistic practice as a specific way to investigate our reality and to produce knowledge.

Second Axis. Interdisciplinary approaches: cinema at the intersection of diverse disciplines

Cinema as an object of study can be considered at the intersection of several disciplines such as aesthetics, philosophy, history, economy or sociology.
The evolution of forms cannot be separated from the economic context of production and diffusion of films and from their reception by an audience – which can also be apprehended thanks to economic and sociological approaches. These questions have been studied at La Femis during several conferences.

You can find more information about those here.

Third Axis. Cinema as a place of memory: archives, technical history and patrimony

As a place of transmission from a generation of professionals to another, La Fémis is also a place of memory. Projects related to this axis are about the history of techniques and professions, the history of cinema pedagogy and the matters which relate to patrimony. They also aim to create audiovisual archives of those things.
La Fémis investigates these subjects thanks to partnerships with several institutions and research programs: the international research program TECHNES, the ANR « Beauviatech », the [Cinémathèque française, the PSL-Explore ressource website and the École nationale des Chartes. The research department organizes and participates regularly to scientific events about the history of cinema professions and artistic pedagogy.