Newsletter no. 8 — May 2025

Falling Asleep in Images

On May 9^th, as part of the 92^nd Acfas Conference, cinEXmedia will present a colloquium titled “S’endormir en images : l’impact des contenus audiovisuels sur le sommeil et les rêves” (“Falling Asleep in Images: The Impact of Audiovisual Content on Sleep and Dreams”), at the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) in Montreal.

As audiovisual content—ranging from TV series to TikTok videos—takes up an ever-larger place in our daily lives, this interdisciplinary event will explore its effects on falling asleep, sleeping, and dreaming. Bridging neuroscience, media studies, and psychology, the event will invite participants to consider the calming, even therapeutic, use of certain images at bedtime. It’s a unique opportunity to reflect on how screens shape our nights.

The event is organized by Santiago Hidalgo, director of the partnership, in collaboration with Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre and Thomas Carrier-Lafleur. Doctoral student Pauline Sarrazy also contributed to its planning. Read more in this article by Olivier Du Ruisseau, and click here to register (in French only).

Photo: Roland Godefroy (Wikimedia Commons) | The Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, in Paris, France

Cut/Generate: Editing and the Challenge of AI

Researchers affiliated with cinEXmedia participated in the conference “Couper/générer. Le montage à l’épreuve de l’IA” (“Cut/Generate: Editing and the Challenge of AI,” in French only), held from April 24^th to 26^th at the Maison de la Recherche of the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, in Paris, France. The event was organized by the Laboratoire International de Recherches en Arts and the Institut de recherche sur le cinéma et l'audiovisuel, in collaboration with the Institut Universitaire de France.

The conference brought together researchers, practitioners, and artists to explore a central question: What are the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for the concept and practice of editing? Among the participants were cinEXmedia founder André Gaudreault, research professional Marie-Odile Demay, postdoctoral fellow Anna Kolesnikov, and doctoral student Tanzia Mobarak. Read more in this article by William Pedneault-Pouliot.

Photo: Félix Caraballo | Laurent Guido, during his conference at the Université de Montréal in April 2025

Automatic Phantasmagorias

Laurent Guido (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), a cinEXmedia co-researcher, gave a talk at the Université de Montréal, on April 1^st, as part of the Distinguished Lectures series of the Canada Research Chair in Film and Media Studies. His presentation, “Fantasmagories automatiques : entre scènes et écrans, capter le rythme entraînant du corps-spectacle” (“Automatic Phantasmagorias: Capturing the Enchanting Rhythm of the Performing Body Between Stage and Screen,” in French only), explored parallels between early cinema and recent developments in AI.

According to him, this technology has “surpassed utopian and dystopian fantasies” to raise “more fundamental questions about what it actually is and who is authorized to control it.” In an era where public discourse increasingly focuses on technology, “the long history of machine learning offers a way both to contextualize AI and to reflect on the broader history of media,” he argued. Read more in this article by Olivier Du Ruisseau.

Quebec Sleep Research Network

The cinEXmedia partnership has recently partnered with the Quebec Sleep Research Network, co-directed by neuropsychologist Nadia Gosselin, to benefit from its members' expertise on a variety of health science issues. Read more in her profile by Sophie Leclair-Tremblay.

Call for Proposals

The Canada Research Chair in Opera Creation has issued a call for proposals for the conference “Subverting Sonic Conventions: The Languages and Non-languages of Clowns”, to be held February 5^th–7^th, 2026, in Montreal. Organized in parallel with the premiere of Clown(s), by Ana Sokolović at the Opéra de Montréal, the event invites researchers and artists to explore the sonic, gestural, and linguistic dimensions of clown performance across time, cultures, and artistic disciplines. Proposals, in French or English, can take the form of traditional papers or alternative formats (performances, screenings, workshops, etc.) and must be submitted by June 20^th, 2025.

MÉDIIAS Retrospective

cinEXmedia co-presented, along with other cultural partners, the annual retrospective (in French only) of the Mouvement des étudiant·es de l’interactivité, de l’image animée et du son (MÉDIIAS), on April 26^th, at the Théâtre Outremont, in Montreal. The event celebrated the most remarkable student projects of the year—films, video games, screenplays—with awards presented by industry professionals.

TECHNÈS Digital Books

In recent years, researchers affiliated with cinEXmedia and the Laboratoire CinéMédias have been involved in major digital publishing projects. Two of these were recently completed. Rémy Besson, scientific coordinator for the TECHNÈS partnership, oversaw the republication and online release, via the Érudit platform, of some thirty sections of the Encyclopedia of Film Techniques and Technologies (2018–2024) in digital book format. Meanwhile, Marnie Mariscalchi, CinéMédias’s publications coordinator, continues to oversee additional publishing projects, with more releases expected soon.

Two major events also marked the culmination of these initiatives. On April 29^th, during the FIAF Symposium 2025, the final edition of Encyclopedia and the digital books were launched at the Cinémathèque québécoise. The following day, a study day (in French only) on cinema and technology was held at the Université de Montréal.

Visual Archive Practices

The CÉRIUM, in collaboration with the Intermedial Research Centre on Arts, Letters and Techniques (CRIalt) and cinEXmedia, is organizing a summer school from May 26^th to 31^st at the MIL campus of the Université de Montréal. Titled “Pratiques des archives visuelles : intermédialité, décolonialité et creation” (“Visual Archives Practices: Intermediality, Decoloniality, and Creation,” in French only), the summer school offers a valuable opportunity to explore various modes of archive mediation, focusing particularly on their visual and sonic dimensions (cinema, contemporary art, exhibitions, photography).

Photo: Amélie Philibert (Université de Montréal) | The artist-researcher Chedly Boughedir

Cinema, AI, and Comics

Doctoral student Chedly Boughedir, under the supervision of André Gaudreault and Philippe Marion, explores the concept of "glitch" in comic books created with the help of artificial intelligence. Through his research-creation project, which also incorporates autobiographical elements, he blends comics and audiovisual media. Read his profile here, written by Olivier Du Ruisseau.

Screenwriting Poetry

Pauline Sarrazy focuses on “screenwriting poetry,” in her PhD thesis under the supervision of Isabelle Raynauld. Her research aims to demonstrate the poetic specificity of the screenplay, approaching it as a way to “guide the sensitive reception of the work,” as it contains both the staging and the “soul” of the film. She recently won first prize (in French only) in the Université de Montréal’s local Three Minute Thesis competition and will represent the university at the national final during the 92^nd Acfas Congress. Read her profile here, by Sophie Leclair-Tremblay.

Rethinking Domestic Violence on Screen

Criminologist Anne-Marie Nolet, who studies violence against women, examines how survivors experience cinematic depictions of domestic violence. Already an associate professor at the Université de Moncton, she is expanding her expertise by completing a master’s degree in film studies at the Université de Montréal. Alongside Marthe Cousineau and Santiago Hidalgo, and with cinEXmedia’s support, she plans to conduct a study on the sensitive reception of films addressing domestic violence. Read her profile here, written by Sophie Leclair-Tremblay.

Photo: courtesy of Cadavre Exquis | An image from the program (d')Après Painlevé, by Éric Thouvenel, presented at La lumière collective on April 24, 2025

The Art of Scientific Cinema

On April 25^th–26^th, the Université de Montréal hosted "L’art du cinéma scientifique : archives, dispositif, spectacle" (“The Art of Scientific Cinema: Archives, Devices, Spectacle,” in French only), two study days on scientific films. The event, co-led by André Habib, Micheline Cambron, Nino Gabrielli, Louis Pelletier, Aleksandra Kaminska, and Annaëlle Winand, was preceded by a screening night at La lumière collective, on April 24^th.

A Lecture by Matteo Treleani

On April 15^th, cinEXmedia, in collaboration with the Interuniversity Research Centre on Digital Humanities, hosted a lecture by professor and semiotician Matteo Treleani (Université Côte d’Azur) at the Université de Montréal’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library, on the circulation of images in the digital age.

Winter Programming of the OCQ

The winter programming of the Observatoire du cinéma au Québec (OCQ) once again offered many discoveries. From January 28^th to April 22^nd, major guests such as Catherine Martin, Chloé Robichaud, and Simon Larochelle met with Université de Montréal film students. Find out more on the OCQ page of the CinéMédias website.

Program Au-delà des frontières

The program "Au-delà des frontières" (“Beyond Borders,” in French only), led by Claudia Polledri, continued this winter with two special screenings. On March 20, Laurent Maurice Lafontant, president of the Massimadi Foundation promoting LGBTQ+ Afro arts and cultures, gave a lecture. On April 22^nd, Olga Kobryn (Université Paris Cité) presented a lecture and film screening, accompanied by a musical performance by Mauve Robichez.

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