ACTA UNIV. SAPIENTIAE, FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES, 16 (2019) 103–126 DOI: 10.2478/ausfm-2019-0006 Shadows Illuminated. Understanding German Expressionist Cinema through the Lens of Contemporary Filmmaking Practices Gerald Saul University of Regina (Canada) E-mail:
[email protected] Chrystene Ells Director, Moxie Films, Regina (Canada) E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract. The article looks at German Expressionist cinema through the eyes of contemporary, non-commercial filmmakers, to attempt to discover what aspects of this 1920s approach may guide filmmakers today. By drawing parallels between the outsider nature of Weimar artist-driven approaches to collaborative filmmaking and twenty-first-century non-mainstream independent filmmaking outside of major motion picture producing centres, the writers have attempted to find ways to strengthen their own filmmaking practices as well as to investigate methods of re-invigorating other independent or national cinemas. Putting their academic observations of the thematic, technical, and aesthetic aspects of Expressionist cinema into practice, Ells and Saul illustrate and discuss the uses, strengths, and pitfalls, within the realm of low-budget art cinema today. Keywords: Expressionism, cinema, filmmaking, authenticity, interdisciplinarity. In this paper, Gerald Saul and Chrystene Ells discuss – on the basis of their creative experience – how analytical knowledge of German Expressionist film movement and its aesthetic and conceptual tropes, as well as production practices, can inspire contemporary independent filmmakers. German Expressionism has deeply influenced the visual language of cinema, and though many of the methods of subjective storytelling, pioneered by the Expressionists have been incorporated by contemporary storytellers, the etymology of these cinematic tropes is still not widely understood.