The Video Essay is a joint project of MUBI and FILMADRID International Film Festival. Film analysis and criticism found a completely new and innovative path with the arrival of the video essay. The limits of this discipline are constantly expanding; new essayists are finding innovative ways to study the history of cinema working within images. With this non-competitive section of the festival, both MUBI and FILMADRID will offer the video essay format the platform and visibility it deserves. The seven selected works will premiere online from June 5 through June 11, 2023, on MUBI's online publication Notebook. The selection was made by the Notebook editors and FILMADRID.
VR: Mysteries of the Horizon by Philip Józef Brubaker
Steven Spielberg’s 2022 autobiographical film The Fabelmans introduced the world to John Ford, as played by David Lynch, a veteran director who gives young Spielberg a crucial piece of filmmaking advice: “Where’s the goddamn horizon?!” As I embarked on a long-awaited trip to Death Valley, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Ford. But his advice was met with a cinematic catch-22 when it came to filming in VR 180.
While Ford expressed disdain for framing the horizon in the middle, I encountered obstacles that prevented me from composing along the rule of thirds, which meant my first forays into virtual reality were exploratory, to put it kindly. This playful video essay riffs on the significance of photographing the horizon, with examples from the filmographies of Spielberg, Lynch and Ford to support this now-ubiquitous admonishment from the legendary picture-maker. Ford’s celluloid lesson is not wholly applicable to VR, but as I juxtapose this contemporary format with the traditional films of my heroes, the wonder of cinematic discovery is shared.—Philip Józef Brubaker