Video Essays have earned more and more attention over the last years in cinephile circles. Unlike classical (written) film criticism or theoretical essays they allow for a direct integration of a film's images and sounds into an engagement with a work, instead of trying to describe them or evoke their impact through words. The Video Essay shares with the film its means of articulation. In April 2016 the Film Museum dedicated three evenings to the work of Kevin B. Lee, showing a selection of the over 250 works he had done in that field. Prior to this the Film Museum has tried to integrate Video Essays into their Edition Filmmuseum DVD series. Through this, films from our collection could be contextualized – may that be in the form of pointing out special moments in a film, discussing its restoration or establishing historical reference points. These DVDs have also often served as material for Video Essay-seminars at the university, promoting yet more Video Essays to be made. A selection of these Video Essays is gathered here and will be updated continually.
