Making Space for Film with Film Geographies

Abstract

In this article I will argue that the online filmmaking and screening initiative Film Geographies is shaping (and has been shaped by) our understanding of what a geographical film is. It has achieved this by opening up a previously unavailable space for geographers to make and screen films allowing the creation and curation of a growing archive of work that is a significant contribution not just to filmic geographies as a sub field but to the discipline more widely. Film Geographies was established in 2016 as an online digital platform for the making and screening of films by geographers and/or about geography. In the last eight years it has amassed an archive of over 200 short films and over 1200 subscribers from around the world. Film Geographies also collaborates with other disciplines with joint calls highlighting the importance of building networks for film practitioners and researchers within and without the academy. The mostly short films are collected via two annual calls attached to major geography conferences. The online platform screens film online and in cinemas and organises filmmaking training workshops. I argue that the origins of the platform on the margins of the discipline, and diverse elements of the Film Geographies platform, have created much needed accessible film space for geographers to make films, watch films and debate film and filmmaking, enabling participants to shape and influence a range of film-focused and practice-led contributions to the discipline.

Keywords

• Filmic geographies, inclusivity, film as method, place-based filmmaking, filmspace