Maine North Woods Film Workshop

July 24 – July 27

Maine North Woods Film Workshop with Tamer Hassan and Armand Yervant Tufenkian

Medium / technique: collaborative filmmaking, handmade emulsion, alternative analog processes, place-based filmmaking, eco poetics, environmental humanities

Experience Level: Some analog filmmaking and/or photography experience preferred 

*This Workshop will take place at the AMC Gorman Lodges located in the 100 mile wildness of the North Woods*

One hundred and seventy years ago, Henry David Thoreau left Concord in Massachusetts for Bangor and the backwoods of Maine, from where he would go on to climb Katahdin, eventually publishing his account of the trip in his book The Maine Woods.

Taking this as a reference point, the workshop participants will collectively make a film over the course of three days in the Maine Woods: shooting, editing, and projecting 16mm film on location. We will learn how to make a film emulsion in the field, use handmade processes, and develop film with the cycles of the new moon. 

Thoreau was writing at the same time as the Hudson River School and was influenced by Romantic landscape painting in the United States, which many today still reference when they think of landscape. Whereas this instilled an individualism and the tradition of picturing the world in a state of inspiration, this workshop will explore how we can perceive nature through material and social processes. 

In addition to making a film, we will discuss how writers and other artists with connections to the area have conceived of nature, and the possibilities for alternative ways of viewing and expanding landscape a century and a half after writing The Maine Woods.

Tamer Hassan and Armand Yervant Tufenkian make films that explore how ways of seeing are embedded in particular social and historical contexts. They are particularly interested in how people perceive their environment and material culture and how seeing alongside these traditions may have a reparative effect. They have been collaborating for over 15 years, since meeting as undergrads in Maine. Their films have shown at festivals and venues worldwide including Viennale, Cinéma du Réel, Lincoln Center’s Art of the Real, Thailand Biennale, Courtisane and Punto de Vista. They have taught filmmaking at CalArts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SUNY Binghamton, Parsons School of Design, and UC-San Diego.

Lodging and Meals

This unique workshop will take place at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Gorman Chairback Lodge. All participants will be in shared bunk houses. Breakfast and Dinner will be at the dinning hall on site, with lunches packed each day to take on local hikes as part of the workshop. These are rustic off grid cabins with gas lamps for lighting, wood stoves for heat, and very limited electricity. There is no cell service or wifi on site.

Workshop Fee: $1,050.00

The workshop begins with Dinner at 6pm July 24th and ends after breakfast on July 27th at 11am. It includes lodging, meals, tuition and materials.

Deposit of $500 due now with the final payment processed by April 15th.

*There are no day student or single room options for this workshop.