"Rarely has the cinema needed so much to be imagined" - Chris Marker
“Despite all our desperate, eternal attempts to separate, contain and mend, categories always leak.”" - Trinh T. Min-ha
Welcome.
The Institute for the Public Sphere (TIPS) is the greater network facilitating
our flagship
open-access
cine-essay project,
The Public Sphere Cine-Essay Archive (PSCEA).
PSCEA is made possible through the funds raised by four additional entities.
Greetings, welcome to The Institute for the Public Sphere, a multimedia research institute for critical film & video production, exhibition, and distribution. Content derives from the collaborations of filmmakers, theorists, videographers, autodidacts, and artists. We produce and distribute philosophically-informed collage and compilation-based essay films as well as masterclass-style documentary course videos, dubbed "cine-essays" and "docu-tutorials", respectively.
In addition to assisting in the production of cine-essays and docu-tutorials, Public Sphere helps with multi-platform exhibition and distribution for both. Cine-essays are available for the public to rent and docu-tutorials are discoverable by students on multiple video course platforms, as well as the Public Sphere website. In addition to subscription & rental access, we also host an open-access virtual study hall and a mini-cine-essay series known as TIPS (for The Institute for the Public Sphere), that is available on our YouTube channel.
Everyone is invited to submit work to this project. We will launch the platform when we have amassed at least thirty cine-essays and at least ten docu-tutorials.
OPENING SHOTS FILM FESTIVALSummer & Winter online film festival for cine-essays of all kinds. Grand prize of $1000 and three smaller prizes of $100. 52 entries ultimately accepted for each festival, including feature films and short films alike. No fee for initial application.
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLYCurated collection of cine-essays that rotates out twice per year. Only 52 films are shown simultaneously, in order to focus all participant's attention on a common set of films. Membership required either annually or monthly.
