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[UPDATE, 4/24/2017: So, wow: this video essay has gone supernova, thanks to Vimeo “Staff Pick”-ing it. As of today, The AV Club, Gizmodo, io9, Boing Boing, Films for Action, and Konbini have all done write-ups about it. Thanks to all!]

[UPDATE, 4/17/2017: I’m flabbergasted and humbled to report that Vimeo has named this video essay as one of their coveted “Staff Picks.” I really wanted more people to watch this one in particular — it’s as though they read my mind! But, in fact, they have honored this work in a way that far exceeds the wildest hopes I had for it. Thank you so much to Meghan Oretsky, the whole curation team at Vimeo, and the kind soul (or souls) who nominated the video essay!]

[UPDATE, 4/16/2017: I’m both very happy and grateful that Filmscalpel, which also offered a generous reflection about my “Spielberg and Surveillance” video essay, has written a lovely piece about this video essay. You can read it here. Thank you so much, Filmscalpel!]

I’ve got a new article, my first for the venerable New Politics magazine, at their website. The title is “The ‘Inescapable Need and Possibility’ of Third Cinema”. In it, I talk about the radical, global filmmaking movement known as “Third Cinema”; its adherents in the United States; and what might be learned from their work at this particular moment in time. If you’re actively thinking about film as a form of cultural resistance, you might just be interested in this.

You can read the whole thing here.

As a contributor to Nonfics, I participated in their year-end poll. The results are in, and you can check them out right here.

Individual ballots aren’t included, and I won’t share mine. However, I will say that documentary fans should make it a point to see Karl Marx City, The Work, and Starless Dreams. The 2017 docs that you’ve heard about are very fine indeed, but it was this year’s comparatively less ballyhooed titles that really stayed with me.

I had the enormous pleasure of appearing as a guest this week on episode 21 of Neil Hopkins and Chris Foster’s wonderful new Docs Factor Podcast. We discussed Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott’s 2003 documentary adaptation of Joel Bakan’s book The Corporation. It’s a favorite of mine, and one of the films I mention on the “Influences” page of this site.

You can listen to the episode here, or with whatever app you use for podcasts. (Don’t forget to subscribe to the show while you’re at it!)

Also, if you haven’t seen The Corporation, I should point out that Achbar and Abbott have made it freely available to watch on YouTube. Get hip to it.

We just got the news that our proposal has been accepted, so I’m happy to share: I’ll be co-facilitating a workshop with my good friend Dr. Vicki Callahan as part of the 2018 Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Annual Conference here in Toronto. Our workshop topic will be “In the Mix: The Collaborative Video Essay in Theory and Praxis.” If you’re planning to attend the conference, I do hope you’ll make some time for our workshop.

For more information, visit cmstudies.org.

I’ve got an interview with Laura Dunn, director of the new documentary Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry, over at Nonfics. Laura’s first theatrically released feature, 2007’s The Unforeseen, not only boasted Robert Redford and Terrence Malick as executive producers but also garnered rhapsodic reviews, an Independent Spirit Award and television distribution on both PBS and the Sundance Channel. Special screenings of Look & See are currently taking place around the country, and it’s now available on Netflix U.S. as well.

Take a look at out our conversation here.

I’ve got a new article, my first for Culture Matters, up now at their website. It’s my political reading of Christopher Nolan’s critically-acclaimed new film Dunkirk. In the piece, entitled “Dunkirk: Keep Calm and Carry On?”, I discuss the moral obligations of the artist, the World War II combat genre, and the potential for a “truly radical flowering” of progressive film culture.

You can read the whole thing here.

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[UPDATE, 5/16/2017: I’m humbled by the rhapsodic write-up that this video essay just received from H. Perry Horton of Film School Rejects. He writes that “The Dark Knight Resists” is “the best, most poignant, most salient video essay I have seen thus far this year… Fisher has crafted a hauntingly captivating line of thought that will change the way you see these films, their director, and indeed the world surrounding you. There are things you should watch, and there are things you need to watch. Fisher’s video, without a doubt, belongs at the top of the latter category.” Horton is video content editor for FSR and its very popular Twitter feed @OnePerfectShot, where he also shared this video essay. In addition, he previously wrote a lovely reflection on another of my video essays, “Spielberg and Surveillance”. From the bottom of my heart: thank you, Perry.]