The Cinematic Essay

Lettre de Sibérie, Chris Marker, 1957, 62’

Dimanche à Pekin, Chis Marker, 1956, 22’
Description d’un combat, Chris Marker, 1960, 60’
Sans soleil, Chris Marker, 1983, 104’
News From Home, Chantal Akerman, 1977, 88’
Riddles of the Sphinx, Laura Mulvey & Peter Wollen, 1977, 92’
Diary 1973-1983, David Perlov, 1983, 312’
Notebook on Cities and Clothes, Wim Wenders, 1989, 81’
New York, N.Y., Raymond Depardon, 1986, 10‘
Les glaneurs et la glaneuse, Agnes Varda, 2000, 82’
Walden, Jonas Mekas, 1969, 180’
Lost, Lost, Lost, Jonas Mekas, 1976, 180’
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, J. Mekas, 2000, 288’
Vakantie van een filmer, Johan van der Keuken, 1974, 39’
Lumumba, la mort d’un prophète, Raoul Peck, 1990, 69’
Masculin Féminin, Jean-Luc Godard, 1966, 110’
La chinoise, Jean-Luc Godard, 1967, 99’
2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle, Jean-Luc Godard, 1967, 90’
Le gai savoir, Jean-Luc Godard, 1969, 95’
Caméra-Oeil, Jean-Luc Godard, 1967, 11’
Içi et ailleurs, Jean-Luc Godard & Anne-Marie Miéville, 1976, 53’
France Tour Détour Deux Enfants, Jean-Luc Godard & Anne-Marie Miéville, 1977, 312’
Scénario du film Passion, Jean-Luc Godard, 1982, 54’
Notre musique, Jean-Luc Godard, 2004, 80’
Histoire(s) du cinéma, Jean-Luc Godard, 1988-1999, 228’
Film Socialisme, Jean-Luc Godard, 2010, 111’
Adieu au langage, Jean-Luc Godard, 2014, 71’

Further viewing:

Nuit et Brouillard, Alain Resnais, 1955

Toute la mémoire du monde, Alain Resnais, 1956
F is For Fake, Orson Welles, 1974
Vlaanderen in vogelvlucht, Jef Cornelis, 1976
Rijksweg N1, Jef Cornelis, 1978,
Journeys from Berlin/1971, Yvonne Rainer, 1980
So That You Can Live (For Shirley), Cinema Action, 1981
Nicaragua: Voyages, Marc Karlin, 1985
Ein Bild, Harun Farocki, 1983
Reassemblage, Trinh T. Minh-ha, 1982
Rock My Religion, Dan Graham, 1984
Imagining October, Derek Jarman, 1984
Deutschlandbilder, Hartmut Bitomsky & Heiner Mühlenbrock, 1984
Soft and Hard, Jean-Luc Godard & Anne-Marie Miéville, 1985
Handsworth Songs, John Akomfrah, 1987
Le Fond de l’air est rouge, Chris Marker, 1977
Das Kino und der Tod, Hartmut Bitomsky, 1988
Testament, Black Audio Film Collective, 1988
Twilight City, Reece Auguiste, 1989
Bilder der Welt und Inschift des Krieges, Harun Farocki, 1989
Surname Viet Given Name Nam, Trinh T. Minh-ha, 1989
Introduction to the End of an Argument, Jayce Salloum & Elia Suleiman, 1990
Videogramme einer Revolution, Harun Farocki & Andrei Ujica, 1992
Blue, Derek Jarman, 1993
Voyage à Paris, Jef Cornelis, 1993
JLG/JLG, autoportrait de décembre, Jean-Luc Godard, 1994
Schnittstelle, Harun Farocki, 1995
Arbeiter verlassen die Fabrik, Harun Farocki, 1995
Brussel, scherven van geluk, Jef Cornelis, 1995
From the Journals of Jean Seberg, Mark Rappaport, 1995
Travelogue 5: Déjà-vu, Stefaan Decostere, 1995
Lessen in bescheidenheid, Stefaan Decostere, 1995
Robinson in Space, Patrick Keiller, 1997
The Old Place, Jean-Luc Godard & Anne-Marie Miéville, 2000
Los Angeles Plays Itself, Thom Andersen, 2003
El film el mafkoud, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, 2003
Otolith I, The Otolith Group, 2003
Devenir, Loredana Bianconi, 2004
November, Hito Steyerl, 2004
Sahara Croniclke, Ursula Biemann, 2009
The Forgotten Space, Noël Burch & Allan Sekula, 2010
In Free Fall, Hito Steyerl, 2010
The Lebanese Rocket Society Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, 2013
How Not to be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational.MOV File,, Hito Steyerl, 2013
The Thoughts That Once We Had, Thom Andersen, 2015
Le livre d'image, Jean-Luc Godard, 2018

http://www.essayfilmfestival.com/ (contemporary titles)

https://letterboxd.com/qpulm/list/essay-films/ (extensive overview)

Further Reading:

The Essay Fillm. Dialogue, Politics, Utopia.

E. A. Papazian & C. Eades (Ed.)
Wallflower Press, 2016.

The Essay Film. From Montaigne, After Marker.

Timothy Corrigan
Oxford University Press, 2011

The Personal Camera. Subjective Cinema and the Essay Film.

Laura Rascaroli
Wallflower Press, 2009

Godard and the Essay Film. A Form That Thinks.

Rick Warner
Northwestern University Press, 2018

The Migrant Image. The Art and Politics of Documentary during Global Crisis.
T.J. Demos
Duke University Press, 2013