On Jan. 26, the MSU Film Collective was restarted following a one-year break after members lost their space because of construction in Wells Hall. The group, which consists of a mixture of MSU faculty members and both graduate and undergraduate students, holds free public screenings Thursdays from 8-11 p.m. in room B122 of Wells Hall.

Each screening starts with an introduction about the film being shown, such as the historical context and information on the director, from either a graduate student or professor who also leads the discussion about the movie after it is shown.

This semester MSU undergraduates have the option to either join the group recreationally or to enroll in the collective as a one-credit proseminar — this semester titled “What Moves in Motion Pictures?” — which requires the students to attend all the film showings and to participate actively in discussions.

“This is around a series (with) an idea of movement in cinema — what moves and how cinema registers that or plays with that kind of idea,” said English graduate student Hannah Allen, who is assisting with the collective’s presentations.

Dunne said there are many older people in the class who have intelligent insight about the films being shown.

“It’s really interesting because they see stuff in the movies that you would never see by yourself,” Dunne said “It’s really great because it kind of shows you that there really is something deeper in there, you just don’t see it by yourself.”

The first movie the group watched this semester was “Decasia: The State of Decay,” by director Bill Morrison, an experimental film made entirely from decaying film stock and set to haunting symphonic music, said Justus Nieland, an English professor who teaches in the Film Studies program.

“What you’re seeing is film actually deteriorating before your eyes,” Nieland said.

Dunne found the film very difficult to watch because of the state of the footage.

“It’s kind of like ‘Fantasia’ except really messed up and disturbing,” Dunne said. “It makes you feel really uncomfortable, and it’s like an hour and a half of that.”

Nieland said the films chosen, such as “Decasia: The State of Decay,” are meant to give students exposure to less familiar films.

“We want to give (students) access to more and find a way to give them a language — or vocabulary — to talk about that,” Nieland said. “We just want to build among the students an appetite for love
of film.”