I seldom miss Twitter but it was generally quite fun during #Eurovision. Some brilliantly bonkers stuff this year.
Jemma Saunders (Penny)
@jemsaunders1.bsky.social
Film & TV placement person by day, audio-visual PhD student researching Birmingham's representation on screen by night (both UoB). Videographic criticism, documentary, TV, history, locations, employability... and being a Mum.
Yay! A Birmingham Symphony was just selected by Cannes International Film Week via FilmFreeway.com!
Film Festivals, Screenplay Contests, Submissions
Enter the world's best film festivals and screenplay contests. FilmFreeway makes it easy to discover, submit and get tickets to thousands of events.
filmfreeway.com
Screen Stars Dictionary - entry #40: Naomi Watts, by @kathleenloock.bsky.social: vimeo.com/1181900385
Naomi Watts. Screen Stars Dictionary. By Kathleen Loock (Leibniz Universität Hannover)
Screen Stars Dictionary Entry on Naomi Watts by Kathleen Loock
vimeo.com
My short film 'A Birmingham Symphony' is streaming today and tomorrow as part of Doc.London Documentary Film Festival - please check it out if you have a spare 12 minutes! Score by the brilliant Oscar Vinter. www.doclondon.org/streaming #documentary #practiceresearch #citysymphony #birmingham
Streaming: 24 March - 23 April 2026 | Doc.London Documentary Film Festival
Annual documentary film festival featuring work from around the world by up and coming artists, showcasing innovative independent cinema with all selected films inviting viewers to learn and ponder.
doclondon.org
Fragments is heading to the BAFTSS conference in April and we'd like to invite you to take part in our 'Playful Parameters' videographic interlude. Find the instructions to our short (and hopefully) fun videographic exercise at the link below. 9th April deadline fragments.video/reels-a-play...
Our 4th Collection of experimental videographic practice is now live. This themed collection comes courtesy of Alan O'Leary, comprising outtakes from his videographic project 'Men Shouting: A History in 7 Episodes' and featuring a response letter by Will Knowles. Find it all here fragments.video
Can confirm I love a letter! Check out this lovely reflection from Leo and if you have any thoughts, drop us a line. Postcards also welcome.
Fragments - A Journal of videographic form and method@fragmentsjournal.bsky.social · 7mo agoWe now have a letters page (who doesn't love getting a letter). Our first letter comes courtesy of Qinran (Leo) Wang, a PhD candidate studying at the University of Birmingham. Thank you Leo for your letter, and we hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we did. fragments.video/letters/
One of my favourite video essays from the last year - so cool (and terrifying!)
Cormac Donnelly@cormacrestrike.bsky.social · 8mo agoI finished this video essay in June 2025 and included a flash frame of the Doomsday clock showing 89 seconds to midnight. And now it's out of date... vimeo.com/1074720429
"The presence of the filmmaker here is felt deeply through the use of a handheld camera (in this case a Tyco kids video camera)." John Bradburn's fragment published as part of our 3rd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/11/13/d...
Thanks to @benspatz.bsky.social for inviting me to talk about @fragmentsjournal.bsky.social this afternoon, alongside thought-provoking presentations from Ben, @ellwrig.bsky.social and Oscar Vinter on 'video ways of thinking'. Lovely to see colleagues excited about audiovisual research!
"At once commenting, reflecting, reinforcing, and completing each other, propelled along by a perfectly chosen accompaniment" Joel Blackledge's fragment published as part of our 3rd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/08/27/t...
Call for Applications! Ways of Undoing invites videographic makers, scholars, and artists to apply to one of three intensive, week-long residential workshops (St Andrews 2026 | Vancouver 2027 | Tokyo 2028). Funded accommodation & board provided. Deadline: Feb 1, 2026 waysofdoing.com/ways-of-undo...
🚨 THE VIDEO JAM IS BACK! 🚨 📅 January 16–18, 2026 To celebrate five years of The Essay Library, we'll be coming together once again to create video essays in 48 hours. Learn more + join: theessaylibrary.com#jam
A very short winter film project in response to Chris Snow's book 'On a train home with the Sun in my eyes). (See @mapsanddiagrams on Instagram) vimeo.com/1151243688
#onatrainhomewiththesuninmyeyes
Inspired by Chris Snow's 'On a train home with the Sun in my eyes' (2025) aka Maps & Diagrams https://mapsanddiagrams.co.uk/ Filming and editing…
vimeo.com
"Sarah uses the adjective ‘uncanny’ at the end of her description, and her subtle deployment of ‘the sound of hand cream’ is instrumental in creating this feeling." @horror-scholar.bsky.social's fragment published as part of our 3rd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/08/27/e...
Lovely to be invited to vote in the @sightsoundmag.bsky.social best video essay poll again this year! And thanks to @colleenlaird.bsky.social for giving a mention to @fragmentsjournal.bsky.social and the brilliant Cheezit Timeline.
Sight and Sound magazine@sightsoundmag.bsky.social · 9mo agoNow in its ninth year, our annual poll, organised by by Jiří Anger, Veronika Hanáková, Kevin B. Lee and Occitane Lacurie, showcases a record 255 vital video essays, nominated by 72 international voters www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
Our 3rd Collection of experimental videographic practice is now live. 12 fragments (from nine creators). Read our editorial and view them all here fragments.video
Wrote a case study about placements, employability and the MA Film & Television for the University's Education in Practice Journal - check it out here: education-in-practice.co.uk/saunders-j-2...
Saunders, J. (2025) ‘Built-in, not bolt-on: embedding employability in postgraduate study. A Film and Television placement module case study’
Abstract This case study reflects on the embedded ‘Placement and Training’ module that has been an integral part of the MA in Film and Television: Research and Production at University of Birmingha…
education-in-practice.co.uk
Péter Lichter and Bori Máté's fragment shows "just how much the definition of a fragment can be stretched". Read their extended exploration of the making of the film and watch it as part of our 2nd collection of fragments. Find our more here fragments.video/2025/07/28/t...
I absolutely need to find a way of watching this. Delighted to hear it opens with a caption 'which sets out exactly where we are and what is happening without the need for a lot of dialogue and showing rather than telling'. Excellent. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Robin Hood review – Sean Bean gifts us the most gloriously bad TV offering of the year
It ticks every box you could wish for in your olde worlde trash: Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham, faerie smut … and not a bad wig in sight! Hurrah!
theguardian.com
The reason the Right are so invested in the myth that the arts have no value isn’t because the arts don’t generate wealth (they do); it’s that studying the arts teaches people to imagine better ways of judging the value of an idea than by counting how much money it makes…
Every time I watch this I'm weirdly intrigued by how much water gets in the bag... @bolddecade.bsky.social
Fragments - A Journal of videographic form and method@fragmentsjournal.bsky.social · 11mo ago"is it a humorous piece? Disturbing? What is the broader context from which this fragment comes? Will it feature in the final essay film or, like the damp loaf, is it now to be discarded?" @bolddecade.bsky.social's fragment in our 2nd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/06/19/s...
"In Joel’s piece (and his description) I enjoy the idea of returning to a ‘safe’ videographic space, in this case the supercut, though one which is less ‘cut’ and more ‘blend’." Joel Blackledge's fragment published as part of our 2nd collection. Read more here fragments.video/2025/07/03/t...
"There is something in its constructed-ness that seems to demand a normative reading of the video, i.e., what it is saying about this character—the wrestler—and how he is treated by the film and by himself." @arielavissar.bsky.social's fragment in our 2nd collection. fragments.video/2025/06/19/t...
Finally saw The Sound of Music on a big screen for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago, and it was glorious. Cinema trips are few and far between post-parenthood! #JulieAndrews
Jemma Saunders (Penny)@jemsaunders1.bsky.social · 12mo agoIn honour of Julie Andrews' 90th birthday tomorrow (and indeed, the 60th anniversary year of #TheSoundofMusic), here's the Screen Stars Dictionary entry I made a couple of years ago. 'Voice'. #JulieAndrews #MaryPoppins #voice #videoessay @arielavissar.bsky.social vimeo.com/828949634
In honour of Julie Andrews' 90th birthday tomorrow (and indeed, the 60th anniversary year of #TheSoundofMusic), here's the Screen Stars Dictionary entry I made a couple of years ago. 'Voice'. #JulieAndrews #MaryPoppins #voice #videoessay @arielavissar.bsky.social vimeo.com/828949634
Julie Andrews. Screen Stars Dictionary. By Jemma Saunders (University of Birmingham)
This is "Julie Andrews. Screen Stars Dictionary. By Jemma Saunders (University of Birmingham)" by JOURNAL OF AUDIOVISUAL ESSAYS on Vimeo, the home for…
vimeo.com
"The physical recreation of a footage bin...from magazine clippings combines with the carefully arranged Cheezit timeline and other elements to be entirely familiar as an editing space" Benedetta Andreasi's fragment published as part of our 2nd collection. Read more fragments.video/2025/06/25/c...
“Wondersludge” is a sketch for a scene in my upcoming VR essay film. It’s presented here, in all its DIY glory. I no longer have the butcher knife.
Fragments - A Journal of videographic form and method@fragmentsjournal.bsky.social · 12mo agoOur 2nd Collection of experimental videographic practice is now live. 9 fragments (from eight creators) ranging from 35 seconds to an hour. fragments.video
Very happy to have contributed a (35-seconds-long) fragment to the 2nd collection of @fragmentsjournal.bsky.social, alongside fragments by @drdanobrien.bsky.social, @bolddecade.bsky.social , @ursmusically.bsky.social, and others!
Fragments - A Journal of videographic form and method@fragmentsjournal.bsky.social · 12mo agoOur 2nd Collection of experimental videographic practice is now live. 9 fragments (from eight creators) ranging from 35 seconds to an hour. fragments.video