Mission
To provide a venue for video essay and other found footage filmmakers to exhibit their work to an online audience, and a platform through which filmmakers can receive donations for publicly exhibiting their work.
How It Works
In partnership with Recycled Screenings, filmmakers select a work they have made, new or otherwise unavailable elsewhere online, to screen for an agreed upon amount of time (no more than one month, with two weeks as the suggested minimum) at the Recycled Screenings website. The work will be embedded on the Recycled Screenings website via the filmmaker’s own video sharing platform, with Vimeo being the preferred method.
In addition to the film, the filmmaker will also take part in a 20-30 minute recorded video interview centered on the work, which will then be uploaded to The Video Essay Podcast YouTube channel. The video will be embedded at the Recycled Screenings website below the featured film and remain on the podcast’s YouTube channel after the exhibition has ended. A short curator's statement will also accompany both the video and the screening.
Donations
It is increasingly difficult for video essayists and filmmakers, particularly those outside of academia, to earn a living through their work. Often, work online gets posted for free. While money is not the primary motivator for much of this work, filmmakers deserve an opportunity to raise funds by having their works publicly shown and shared.
Recycled Screenings does not offer a screening fee, but it will also not charge anyone to watch the film or the interview. Instead, the screening page will include an option to purchase a voluntary ticket/make a donation that will go directly to the filmmaker, and another option to make a donation to Recycled Screenings. Any funds raised by Recycled Screenings will go directly back into the program, either in paying future screening fees, maintaining the website, providing a stipend to guest curators, etc.
Curation
Recycled Screenings is curated by Will DiGravio, who since 2019 has hosted The Video Essay Podcast, interviewing dozens of filmmakers, scholars, and critics about their work. The aim of Recycled Screenings is to continue the work of The Video Essay Podcast, which has been involved in curatorial efforts like the Black Lives Matter Video Essay Playlist and programs at the Cary Comes Home Festival, by creating a platform that puts various found footage works in dialogue with one another. In addition to the podcast, Will DiGravio also writes the monthly newsletter, Notes on Videographic Criticism, and works as a freelance film critic and essayist. Learn more about him and his work via his website.