WS104: Questionable Cinema
Summer at the Trash Stratum
Originally scheduled to run in August 2026, this course was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. *** 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 be watching 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. The course consists of four weekly screening sessions, roughly 90-120 minutes long, depending on the length of the film chosen, and as many campfire sessions for open discussion. All sessions 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 Students will:Format
Why Take This Course?
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.