![Whale picture from a textbook from the film Vive la baleine [Three Cheers for the Whale]](https://www.filmmattersmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/FM-12.1_1_art_Walkur_1.png)
Film Matters: Please tell us about your article that is being published in Film Matters.
Abby Walkur: My article—“Three Cheers for the Essay Film”—utilizes esteemed scholar Timothy Corrigan’s essay film model to explain how famous French essayist Chris Marker’s Vive la baleine epitomizes the essay film mode.
FM: What research and/or methodologies do you incorporate in your article?
AW: In my article, I study how Timothy Corrigan defines the essay film and analyze how Vive la baleine adheres to this definition. For support, I draw from a few other noteworthy film scholars to elaborate upon this definition and further categorize Vive la baleine as the quintessential essay film (again, based on Corrigan’s interpretation).
FM: Describe the original context for/when writing this article while an undergraduate student.
AW: I wrote this article during a summer online course in a Studies in Global Cinema course that examined short French cinema. I had several history courses left to satisfy my Film Studies major requirements and, after COVID-19 canceled my Germany study abroad program, I jumped at the opportunity to learn more while stuck indoors in my beach town!
FM: How has your department and/or institution supported your work in film and media?
AW: The UNCW Film Studies Department has provided me with innumerous avenues to explore any and all areas of film. As someone who has no idea what they want their future to be, this has been the single most helpful tool I could have asked for in my education.
FM: How has your faculty mentor fostered your advancement as a film scholar?
AW: Dr. Tim Palmer has repeatedly challenged me to chart new territory as a film scholar. In his courses, his passion is infectious and he thinks outside of assignments. Nothing is about a grade or satisfying a requirement, but rather creative expression and real-world impact.
FM: How has the Film Matters editorial and publication process impacted the development/evolution of your article?
AW: My article came to a full stop upon the completion of the course in which I wrote it. The Film Matters publication process reinvigorated my passion for essay film and Vive la baleine—one of my all-time favorite films—to the benefit of my article.
FM: What audience do you hope to reach with your Film Matters article and/or what impact do you hope it has on the field of film studies?
AW: I hope that my Film Matters article reaches fellow production-minded undergraduate students in film and motivates them to dabble in scholarship. I’m a firm believer in the best filmmaking being educated filmmaking—whether through higher education or not. I also hope that it elevates essay film, a significantly underappreciated cinematic mode in my eyes.
FM: What are your future plans?
AW: I have no idea! And, as a senior in my last semester, that’s terrifying. But I take comfort in knowing that two things will stay the same: I’ll be learning a lot and binge-watching films as much as I can.
Author Biography
Abby Walkur is a senior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where she is majoring in Film Studies. She tends toward production, feeling most at home on set, but has a great appreciation for scholarship because of her insatiable curiosity and profound lifelong passion for film.
