WS104: Questionable Cinema
Summer at the Trash Stratum
This course starts August 4, 2026.
Join Phil Ford and JF Martel, co-hosts of Weird Studies, for a four-week series devoted to the cinema of questionable taste. We’ll watch films that are weird, excessive, dumb, vulgar, or surreal, whether accidentally or on purpose, and we’ll be digging every frame. There is an art to watching trash-stratum movies—not in the ironic “so bad it’s good” way, but in the spirit of Jack Smith: “corniness is the other side of marvelousness.” “Questionable” can mean dubious, but it might also mean “something that invites questions,” and that’s what we’re after.
Each Friday, a film will be announced—it may be a horror b-movie, a cult oddity, or an obscure independent production—along with instructions on how to watch it, whether for the first time on Tuesday evenings with the group, or beforehand, for added context. Then, on the Tuesday following the announcement, we’ll watch the selected film together, with JF and Phil running a live commentary, as one does when watching bizarro cinema with friends. Neither host will know ahead of time which films the other has chosen. But you can be sure that their selections will come together as they always do—synchronistically, unexpectedly, and astonishingly. Count on the conversation veering into philosophy and esotericism, with no shortage of out-of-nowhere tangents, all in the spirit of Weird Studies.
Finally, on the Thursday following each screening, a “campfire session” will let participants weigh in, bringing their own questions, ideas, and favourite examples of questionable film to the unfolding conversation.
We hope you’ll join us in August for four weeks of exquisite bad taste, and a voyage into the heart of the weird cinematic.
Format
The course consists of four weekly Lecture Halls (“screenings”), roughly 90-120 minutes long, depending on the length of the film chosen, and as many Office Hours (“campfire sessions”) for open discussion. All meetings take place over Zoom via the Weirdosphere learning platform. The course includes a dedicated feed where the instructors and students can post thoughts, share links, and engage in discussion between Zoom sessions.
Important Note: Participants are responsible for securing their own ability to watch/stream all films. Guidance will be provided to locate films that are harder to find.
How to Join the Tuesday Screenings
- Get ready to start the movie on your DVD/Blu-ray or streaming platform. Availability of selected films will be announced ahead of time so that participants can secure their own license for viewing.
- Join the Zoom Meetings on Tuesdays, August 4, 11, 18 and 25, at 8 p.m. EDT / 5 p.m. PDT.
- When we’re ready, Phil or JF will count down: “3… 2… 1… Play.” On “play,” everyone presses play at the same time and the Questionable Cinema experience begins!
Schedule
The course begins on Tuesday, August 4, and ends with a final group discussion on Thursday, August 27.
Lecture Hall sessions will take place on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern. These sessions will be recorded. Office Hours sessions will take place on Thursdays at 8 p.m. Eastern. Like the Lecture Halls, these sessions will be recorded.
All the recorded sessions will remain available to registered students after the course concludes, in video and audio format.
Homework
The course is structured around viewing and discussing cinema. We suggest watching each film before the group screenings since JF and Phil will be talking over the film during these sessions.
Why Take This Course?
Students will:
- Enjoy the unique frisson of watching “B” movies with companions, ask exploratory questions, and probe the art form more generally for its understated value.
- Engage directly with J.F. and Phil in weekly discussions, exchanging questions and ideas with both the instructors and fellow students over Zoom.
- Gain access to recordings of all lectures and discussions in both video and audio format.
- Participate in an ongoing conversation by posting, sharing, and exchanging direct messages with the instructor and other students on the Weirdosphere platform.
- Join an online learning community inspired by Weird Studies, gaining discounts on future Weirdosphere courses and access to past offerings.
Instructor Bio
J.F. Martel is a Canadian author, filmmaker, lecturer, and cultural critic known for his work on the arts, philosophy, and the uncanny. With a background in film production and an interest in metaphysics, Martel explores the intersections of creativity and the ineffable, challenging conventional boundaries of understanding. He is best known for his book Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, which argues for the intrinsic value of art beyond commodification and utilitarianism. Martel’s writings often appear in various publications, where he discusses the spiritual and existential dimensions of culture. As a filmmaker, he has directed several documentaries and short films. Through his work, Martel invites audiences to reconsider their perceptions of reality and embrace the mysteries that lie beneath the surface of the workaday world. He co-hosts the Weird Studies podcast with the music historian Phil Ford.
Phil Ford (Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 2003) is an associate professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has also taught at Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin. His work has dealt especially with postwar American culture and music (jazz, pop, film music, the avant-garde), as well as sound, musical performance, philosophies of experience, and the intellectual history of counterculture. He is the author of Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture (Oxford University Press, 2013) and has published essays in Representations, Journal of Musicology, Musical Quarterly, and elsewhere. He was the founder and lead writer for the blog Dial ‘M’ for Musicology, which ran from 2006 to 2018, and nowadays co-hosts an arts and philosophy podcast, Weird Studies, with philosopher J. F. Martel. His current work concerns magical and contemplative styles of thought, feeling, and experience in various contexts, musical and otherwise.