THE ORIGIN STORY

We first conceptualized FILM FUTURA during the heat of summer 2020.

It was a moment of unrest across the United States and around the world as millions came together (after months cooped up courtesy of mandatory COVID-19 stay-at-home orders) to demand accountability for state-sanctioned injustice.

It was also a special moment of activation for us as we were reunited in NO EVIL EYE CINEMA’s homebase of Columbus, Ohio to capture the protests across the city for our documentary short film, They Won’t Call It Murder. Despite our immediate task of strategizing around the safety of shooting a film as young black documentarians within police-infested protests under city-wide curfews and in the middle of pandemic … we were still brimming with ideas on how to best shape our microcinema.

While NEEC has always oriented itself as ½ original film programming and ½ accessible educational workshops with a hyperfocus on in-person socio-cinematic experiences,we had to adapt to our collective new reality under lockdown.

Thankfully, we also built a steady foundation as an irregular nomadic microcinema that could sustain itself within the digital realm. Inspired by the intense moment of political activation, we began brainstorming new ways of growing our then one-year old organization to explore methods of cinematic education.

Thus FILM FUTURA was born.

The dream of cultivating an alternative satellite film school that takes a decolonizing approach to profiling the PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE of film history, practice, and radical cinematic possibilities began to take shape as we grew our team to actualize this major endeavor.

We were honored to host a group of forward thinking film practitioners to challenge the traditional dissemination of scholarship and discourse within FILM FUTURA’s multidisciplinary structure. And most importantly, trust the experimental process of our school alongside the students who helped shape it.

While we have meticulously designed the syllabus to reflect a singular perspective of film education with the participation of our amazing invited educators and panelists, our international student cohort is what made FF ‘21 what it was and laid the foundation for the future of our educational programming. Our students assist in making this a respectful and engaging mutual knowledge exchange and for that, we will forever be indebted to them.

While FILM FUTURA was originally conceived as a standalone pedagogical experiment, we’re excited to announce our new structure of SHORT TERM COURSES that allow for an extended and deeper analysis of decolonial cinematic education that we hope to implement in 2023 and beyond. 

Thank you for being a part of this next step with NEEC. Onwards! 

IN TRUST AND EVERGREEN SOLIDARITY,

Ruun Nuur & Ingrid Raphaël

NO EVIL EYE CINEMA Co-Conspirators

CHECK OUT OUR SHORT TERM COURSES FOR SPRING – SUMMER 2023