French Literature Reviews - 2026
Érik Bullot, Cinéma vivant
Other Literary Studies
At a time when the projectionist is slowly fading from our memories and films are scattered across our portable screens, the dream of an imaginary cinema is resurfacing. It is perhaps unnecessary to summon heavy machinery to make a film. A flash in the night, a fleeting spark, a beating of wings, a sound wave—these are all living films that unleash the powers of cinematography. Beneath the pressure of our eyelids, the dance of phosphenes sparks a kaleidoscope of abstract and colorful visions.
The filmmaker sees with their skin and transmits images telepathically. A cinema without wires or electricity. Let us close our eyes to write the phantom history of cinema. Let us claim for the seventh art the right to be judged solely by its dreams. The film appears and disappears like a star whose luminosity outlives its extinction.
Érik Bullot creates films that straddle the line between artist's film and experimental cinema. He currently teaches cinema at the National School of Art in Bourges. His numerous essays on cinema include: Sayat Nova (Yellow Now, 2007), Renversements 1 et 2. Notes sur le cinéma (Paris Expérimental, 2 vol. 2009-2013), Sortir du cinéma (Mamco, 2013), Le Film et son double (Mamco, 2017), Roussel et le cinéma (Nouvelles Éditions Place, 2020), Cinéma Roussel (Yellow Now, 2021), and L’Attrait des ventriloques (Yellow Now, 2022).
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An article on this work can be read on en-attendant-nadeau.fr:
"Cinema Without Cinema", by David Azoulay (published online March 11, 2025).
In Cinéma vivant, Érik Bullot offers an original reflection on what an alternative, anthropological approach to cinema might look like. He envisions an imaginary, living cinema grounded in the recounting of scientific, poetic, or artistic experiences.
The concept of an imaginary cinema reflects a broader tradition within experimental film that seeks to decouple the medium from its industrial and mechanical constraints. This approach aligns with historical avant-garde movements that prioritized the subjective, internal vision of the filmmaker over the physical apparatus of the camera, suggesting that the essence of film may reside in the mental processes of the viewer or the fleeting nature of light and sound rather than in fixed, projected images.
Érik Bullot creates films that straddle the line between artist's film and experimental cinema. In Cinéma vivant, he reflects on what an alternative, anthropological approach to cinema might look like, envisioning an imaginary, living cinema grounded in the recounting of scientific, poetic, or artistic experiences. Readers interested in the intersection of experimental film and theoretical inquiry may find this exploration of alternative, living cinema a relevant contribution to the field.