What Are Theory Films? On the Visual Afterlife of Theory as Text

In my ongoing research project that I’d like to discuss with the group, I am proposing that there is such a thing as a “theory film”, i.e. non-fictional films that are neither documentary films, essay films, nor merely experimental or art films. A theory film, I argue, theorizes invisible matters through the images at hand and so establishes the non-textual side of what has been called the “history of theory” (Philipp Felsch). I will pose this thesis by discussing with you a few scenes from films by the German film maker Harun Farocki and by walking you through how Farocki adapts textual procedures such as close reading, contextual analysis, and critical commentary into a theoretical discourse of images. I’ll end with an outlook about how this “theory as moving image” might outdo its textual counterparts and by naming a few other examples of “theory films”, thus hopefully opening up my presentation for a wide discussion.