This is an introductory course on the aesthetics and history of cinema, approached from the crossroads of the present; a moment in which, beyond the crisis being experienced by the very concept of history as a totalising narrative, real suspicion is spreading about the ordering of diachronic time and the idea of progress. Specifically, the subject questions whether it is even possible to chart the history of cinema from our own time. And it does so in the hope that it is, or in other words, with the aim of telling the (hi)stories (plural) that together make up the history of cinema.  In a more general sense, it is also a subject about time, pure and simple.  Throughout the first two decades of the 21st century, the categories that have traditionally be used to structure a hundred years of cinema, all of which are based on stylistic dichotomies (classicism vs. modernity) or teleological parameters, have been called into question by the different movements of revisionist historiography that often transcend the cinematographic. Cultural studies, affective theories, media archaeology, the analysis of reception, cultural materialism, ecocriticism and gender and postcolonial studies are just some of these critical approaches. Historians have added the word ‘turn’ to their vocabulary (the affective turn, the archival turn, the materialist turn), graphically demonstrating the need to rethink the linear and evolutionist approach that has traditionally been adopted in relation to cinema. 

However, from localised places of resistance, collectives and minorities focused on microhistory and subaltern histories, alternative narratives from below, critical stances that oppose academic hegemony and university sufficiency have arisen.  How, then, can we approach the narrative of film history without automatically rejecting our heritage or falling into the trap of denialist cynicism, an exogenous and scientistic perspective, or a simple lack of curiosity? To what extent should the narrative of film history in a film school also be the narrative of our own memory? Are we part of that history we reject? In this sense, this subject on time in cinema is also a subject on our time in cinema. 

With the aim of addressing the possibility of history not only theoretically but also from an applied perspective, the subject proposes a dialogue-based methodology featuring divergent yet complementary voices throughout the different sessions. The idea is to construct a paradoxical and plural history that is open, rhizomatic, nonlinear, carnivalesque and metamorphic. In this sense, we will follow the path laid down by Nicole Brenez when she warned that ‘cinema never ceases to tear itself apart, to deepen its fractures, to vary the powers of the discontinuous and its double, to work on the caesura and to allow defection to work.’

ZineFabrika provides a theoretical and practical approach to film curating, with a special focus on the relationship between curators and the various structures and institutions that make up the cultural and film ecosystem. The subject will feature practical sessions in which students will share their experiences in different institutional contexts and work collectively to define relationship strategies with entities such as public and private institutions, festivals, film libraries, foundations, archives and other key players in the cultural landscape. Possible career paths will be analysed, as well as the differences between working as an independent curator and working within an established structure.

ZineFabrika will also be a space for supporting individual projects. Industry professionals will be invited to lead specific workshops focused on concrete aspects of curating, so that students benefit from first-hand guidance on their ideas, methodologies and curatorial interests. This dimension seeks to strengthen the link between reflection and practice and help students develop their projects in dialogue with professionals working in the field.

The subject is targeted at those who wish to explore the dynamics of film curating in greater depth and gain insight into how to navigate and collaborate with the structures that support film exhibition and dissemination.

Archives differ in terms of their identity-based characteristics and the context surrounding them, something that inevitably impacts how the collections are managed. This subject analyses the different variables affecting audiovisual archives and the methodologies they apply. We will discuss current standards and debates regarding how to manage material, ranging from its conservation and manipulation, to exhibition rights and accessibility, bearing in mind each institution’s specificities and possibilities. The course aims to provide the keys to enabling students to adapt to different situations in the world of archives and to gain the skills required to design and activate a strategic management plan for a collection. This subject is common to both the Film Preservation and the Film Curating itineraries.

El buen amor is a theoretical and practical subject focusing on writing about cinema. It is divided into three sections: the first will present some ideas linked to critical writing, the description of images and sounds, the definition of concepts and the use of basic bibliographic tools; the second will be dedicated to essays, chronicles and interviews; and the third will focus on the working materials that emerge from curatorial and critical projects, as well as the publication of books, catalogues and other works on film. 

This subject requires a great deal of reading, writing and debate both in and outside the classroom. Before classes start, the teacher will contact students to begin the joint reading and writing exercise that will be carried out in the first part of the syllabus and to provide them with the relevant reading materials.

This subject offers EQZE students on the Film Curating and Film Preservation itineraries the opportunity of taking on an exploratory role (researcher and curator) within film and audiovisual archive practice, bearing in mind the three (always intertwined) tenses of cinema: the past, linked to memory; the present, linked to action; and the future, linked to planning and foresight. This philosophical and methodological proposal aims to prompt students to think about historical and contemporary cultural and political problems from the perspective of the conceptual framework offered by the concepts of profanation (Giorgio Agamben), the creative act (Gilles Deleuze) and the political ontology of the image (Ariella Aïsha Azoulay). The aim is to observe, reflect on and question the 'ritual' uses of archives in order to then subvert them through critical and/or playful practices. From this perspective, students taking the subject are invited to question their own practices and ideas and view them as potential spaces for resistance. This subject is common to both the Film Preservation and the Film Curating itineraries.

This subject explores the spatial, social and institutional dimensions of cinema, analysing how moving images are shaped by—and in turn actively shape—the environments in which they are exhibited, circulated and experienced. It views cinema not only as an architectural or theatrical space, but as a social, political and curatorial one that is sensitive to its historical contexts and audiences.

Starting from the emergence of film as a social form in the early 20th century, the subject charts its development through diverse exhibition contexts—from travelling cinemas and community screenings to gallery installations and international festivals. Students will explore the many different histories, practices and geographies of cinema, including formal and informal, physical and digital, and local and transnational spaces.

This subject adopts a theoretical-practical approach to the cataloguing of audiovisual works and associated documentary processes. Where can we find reliable information?  How should we manage the issue of copyright? Why is the unitary concept of a work losing ground to perspectives based on versions and manifestations? Since the beginning of film at the close of the 19th century, right up until the emergence of video at the beginning of the nineteen-seventies, all audiovisual works were shot in photochemical format and it was in this same format that they were both distributed and conserved. Technological changes have always destroyed some materials and rendered other inaccessible due to the obsolete nature of the devices required to reproduce them. From this perspective, the definition of new standards poses certain challenges for preservation, while at the same time facilitating documentation and cataloguing processes. The identification and classification of works and their various versions in standard and substandard formats constitute a key practical part of this subject. This subject is common to both the Film Preservation and the Film Curating itineraries.

This subject focuses on the school’s cinema theatre as the object of its study and academic practice, with the aim of triggering a collective process of reflection on theatre screenings. The subject analyses issues linked to distribution, the screening market and communication, while at the same time setting students a practical task, that of leading the school’s film club. Moving beyond questions linked merely to programming, the subject therefore proposes a real-life exercise that encompasses aspects linked to communication, technique and production. It also introduces students to the key technical aspects of analogue and digital screening, providing practical training to complement the conceptual exploration. The cinema theatre therefore becomes an experimentation lab for students on the Film Curating course.

The subject Poetics and Politics of film Curating: Cinema, Practices, and Perspectives introduces film curating as a critical, situated, and evolving practice shaped by historical, institutional, and cultural forces. Rather than presenting a fixed model, the course invites students to explore curating as a method of research, selection, mediation, and presentation — a practice rooted in care, critique, and inquiry. 

Through seminars, case studies, and guest sessions, students engage with curating as a way of creating shared spaces of experience, meaning, and reflection, where films are not only shown but reimagined. Emphasizing intuition, dialogue, and lived experience, the course examines how programming can challenge dominant narratives, reframe silenced histories, and shape new relations between works and publics. Curating is approached as a relational act that traces how films circulate across cultural and political terrains, opening up cine-geographies that engage the world critically and emotionally.

Film history and film criticism are disciplines that are constantly engaged in a creative and critical process of rewriting. Filmmakers and critics do not create from scratch—their work is always, consciously or unconsciously, a response to previous artistic manifestations. In recent years, audiovisual essays have become a prominent example of this critical rewriting. In this subject we will establish relationships between different audiovisual essay formats and different periods, trends and ideas in film history and criticism. The subject also includes a practical exercise.

The Observatory  provides a space for training, practice and research in sound. It starts from the zero degree of listening to deny the existence of silent cinema, explore the impact of technology, the sound design of gestures and everyday objects, radio art, sound ethnography, sound art... In addition to pre-established themes, it can also adapt to the specific needs of group members at any time, linking into practical work and projects under development.

This course, which takes place the first four modules, seeks to confront students with the nature of their film and the methodology of approach. Where does your film come from? What is it about? What emotion is it trying to arouse? Can it be told in images? How does the author want the spectator to feel at the end of the screening? From these and other issues, the course is intended to initiate – or get back to, in some cases – the processes of reflection and development of the work process that will culminate in the film. The course basically focuses on three points: first, working with the Starting Point or origin of the film as the soul of the creative journey; second, the need to expand the scope of this journey from concrete elements capable of adding complexity and depth to the film and, finally, the concreteness of the project from the writing stage.

Words are worn out, sunk under the weight of unconscious use. They come and go in a lazy drift, victims of inattentive use and learned inertia. This subject invites you to set fire to that dull tumult of dry words. It aims to rescue them from indifference, open them up, one by one, and place them in a text. But to do this, we must first cultivate a certain degree of linguistic craftsmanship. It is not about waiting for inspiration to strike, but rather about writing a lot and reading even more. Genius, the muse, pneuma, or the duende, as Lorca would say that ‘mysterious power that everyone feels and no philosopher can explain’, cannot be taught and has no instructions manual. Yet, as Baudelaire observed it ‘obeys, like hunger, like digestion, like sleep’. Therefore, the only way to reach it is through work, process, practice: immersing oneself in the technique, so that when it arrives, it finds fertile soil. 

Igniting the word is therefore about observing with open senses, searching for the precise word, the exact phrase, the necessary image. It is, in essence, a writing workshop that uses the ignited word to summon emotion.

Making a botanical film is above all a work of patience and affection. Taking as a starting point the methods of film without a camera and some tricks of the amateur gardener, we will create a collective filmic herbarium, from the collection of specimens to their projection.
 
This workshop is aimed at people from all backgrounds who want to explore alternative methods of filmmaking. Cinebotanicals are, after all, accessible proposals that allow the reuse of filmic support materials and tools to give rise to a piece whose control always remains in the hands of nature itself.

Using a case study format, this course engages students with complicated contemporary artworks in order to understand the primary issues and emerging strategies for the conservation of media art. Artists use a wide variety of audiovisual formats and technologies to create complex installations that are fascinating to study. Examples range from artworks using obsolete components like TVs (cathode ray tubes) to multi-channel synchronized works, works using game engines or custom code, or works that pull data from the Internet. These artworks typically contain many interrelated parts that must be deciphered and documented to ensure the artwork will function in the future in a manner that is faithful to the artist's vision.

The course combines curatorial and conservation perspectives in the study of several artworks held in the collection of a local contemporary art museum. Students research exhibition histories, consult institutional files, examine an artwork's component parts, and discuss the artworks with museum staff. In the process, a great deal will be learned about the interpretation, care, and conservation of artworks in museums and archives.

This workshop looks at the production of home-made photochemical emulsions. Although it is based on film archaeology, it explores many contemporary creative questions. It is a workshop for those interested in the history of materiality, although it will also appeal to filmmakers curious about film not just as a means of storing their ideas, images and soundtracks, but rather as a material that actively forms and distorts these ideas, images and sounds.

The last stage in the gradual acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities linked to the processing of photochemical films. The subject introduces students to the techniques and workflows of a professional laboratory through the practical handling of specific technologies for developing (16 mm colour and black and white), colour correction and copying. By acquiring these practical skills, students also help maintain inter-generational knowledge of the film culture and industry that would otherwise be lost. Furthermore, those on the course can assume responsibility for processing the film materials generated at the school, thereby keeping the EQZELab service active.

This subject focuses on the audio-visual of artist in the context of the Basque Country. It takes as its starting point the fluid relationships of the moving image and the displacements between cinema and artistic practices, especially those that take places in the art system: museums, art centres and galleries, or in the outskirts of the cinema itself. Based on a series of case studies, viewings, outings and guests, the subject examines the local landscape of audio-visual creation.

Right from the very beginning, cinema has always been a colour medium, and many different processes have been developed to add a touch of colour to black and white images. From chemical tints and tones to manual painting, the development of Technicolor and modern emulsions, film has always used colour as a means of artistic expression. In this workshop we explore the original colour of film and the aesthetic possibilities that these techniques offer to filmmakers and artists.