Earlier this year, CICANT’s Early Visual Media Lab (EVML) hosted a guest lecture by Leen Engelen (LUCA School of Arts and FilmEU Centre of Excellence ImHerit), titled “History and Practice of Early Amateur Film Formats: The Case of Pathé Kok and Pathé Baby”.
The session, aimed at PhD students in Media Arts and Communication, offered an in-depth exploration of the technical and social history of early 20th-century amateur cinema, focusing on key developments in small-gauge film formats and their role in shaping non-professional film practices.
A distinctive feature of the lecture was its hands-on component. Beyond theoretical discussion, participants engaged directly with historical projection equipment, operating analogue projectors and handling 9.5mm film reels. This practical experience allowed students to better understand the materiality of early cinema and the sensory dimensions of analogue moving-image technologies.
By combining historical analysis with experimental practice, the session reinforced EVML’s commitment to media archaeology as both a research field and a pedagogical approach, offering students direct engagement with the technologies that shaped the history of moving images.