“The essay film might realise a greater purpose than existing as a trendy label, or as cinema’s submission to high-toned and half-defined literary concepts. Instead, the essay film may serve as a springboard to launch into a vital investigation of knowledge, art and culture in the 21st century, including the question of what role cinema itself might play in this critical project: articulating discontent with its own place in the world.”
- From accompanying essay in Sight and Sound
“A video essay manifesto for the video essay.” – Peter Monaghan, Moving Image Archive News
Discussed at length in Film Studies in Motion: From Audiovisual Essay to Academic Research Video by Thomas van den Berg and Miklós Kiss