Experimental Documentary GLE Course 2026

This week, we came up with the foundation of our experimental documentary. We built a concept around researching a certain community through the perception of home. We made a google doc as well to write down any potential ideas within the group, as well as assigned our roles, tagged all of our information, and started looking into specific communities. We really want to find a community that not only can we in Chicago go out and film and experience, but also our partner in Brno to be able to go to a similar community with Czech Republic and document it to add more depth to our film. Personally, I view the local hardcore/punk scene in Chicago to be my home. Between filming shows, music videos, running radio, helping book shows, etc. I have made a core amount of friends at these shows and find them to be my home. Exploring this would be cool to research the start of certain venues and their history as well as filming avant garde scenes within these spaces.

This week, we brainstormed in class what we wanted to focus on for our final film, and have been communicating outside of class about roles, our film, and our plan for our group going forward. In class, those of us that were in person liked the idea of a film that blends personal memories of home with the plant life that is native to / familiar in our homes. We discussed this later all together with our other group member, who is abroad, and brought up the possibility of including the difference in seasons and plant life between The States and Czechia as a point of our film. We haven't yet finalized all of our roles, but we're planning to do that in the next class, as well as come up with a more solid plan for our film going forward.

This week we finalized our groups and met together to brainstorm ideas for our project. Unfortunately, since we weren’t able to meet as a full group we did not come up with a concrete plan. Instead we came up with three rough different ideas outlined below.Our goals for this next week are to meet with our fifth member to decide which direction to take, and outline a plan for our project. The first idea we had was to explore belonging through architecture within Chicago and Brno. Different spaces are physically built for different purposes, and consciously or not, are designed in ways that welcome some people while inhibiting others. Our second idea was to look at belonging through a colonial lens using a combination of found footage and footage shot by us. Brno has gone through many occupations, which we assume would have most likely shaped the identities of the people there, whereas in Chicago, we are the settlers, which has resulted in flattened and erased identities. Our third idea...

On Thursday morning, our team met on zoom to brainstorm our documentary, re-introduce ourselves, and bounce ideas around face-to-face. Instead of trying to force a concept for the film, we started by talking about our shared experiences as young adults and college students preparing for the future. Despite coming from different backgrounds, regions, and countries, we found common ground, with each of us expressing a strong desire to travel, explore multiple careers and passions, and avoid being confined to a single life path. At the same time, we also all admitted to craving stability, and fearing the uncertainty that comes with endless possibility. Our contradictory relationships to freedom and security became a recurring topic in our conversation, and at one point, Kryštof asked whether any of us “felt trapped.” We acknowledged that we’ve all felt frustration with the current political climate in our respective countries and have imagined moving or spending extended time abroad. Ulti...

This week was very preliminary, we met outside of class to discuss/decide what idea we should go with. We decided on a main idea and are finding ways to merge our other ideas into this one. Discussed using interview and integrating that with other footage. We were interested in using stories of folklore/stories passed down within the family to discuss the different recipes that recipes that remind us of home and things within cooking we do to remedy homesickness. We assigned roles, and decided to take a non hierarchical position on director/creative lead. We will work collectively on creative decisions and will place emphasis on working together throughout the process.