Student Art

These artworks are based on personal dreaming experiences which have intrigued me since my childhood. In fact, doing a little research, I learned that the science of dreams has been scarcely explored and only few experiments have been carried out on individuals. However, these investigations still do not answer the main question which numerous psychologists ask themselves: “Why do we dream ?”

Since I am unable to pursue the investigations due to my lack of knowledge and tools, I decided to record all my dreams and then analyze them. Hence, these artworks are inspired by experiences in a dream state which helped me to produce them.

I use a specific software which is based on acrylic pouring methods. This program allows me to create various pieces of work with a hypnagogic dimension without using specific materials.

- Thomas S.

High Quality Alternatives to Netflix

- Nikolai T.

As subscription-based services assert dominance over the entertainment sectors, one should choose wisely which platforms to invest money and trust in.

My generation, born after 2000, has seen many processes of consumption change. Buying albums on CDs has been substituted by buying single songs on iTunes, and then by paying 9.99$/month for access to all music available. Buying books to learn the practice of meditation was changed into an annual 69.99$ payment to Headspace. Apple today is even offering to create an internet without ads that people will have to subscribe to and pay annual payments for. Even driving cars became a shared subscription-based service. The industry that perhaps has been transformed the most is the film industry.

Most of us are loyal Netflix users, paying up to 17.99$/ month for that family 4k HD subscription. However, Annette, an Amazon Prime produced film which won le prix de la mise en scène this year at the Cannes Film Festivals, has shown us that Netflix is facing competitors in its field, and perhaps we should review our opinions on Jeff Bezos. Aside from Apple TV and Amazon Prime, we have also witnessed an emergence of other, more interesting, “off-hollywood” streaming services, such as Criterion Channel and MUBI (each 10.99$/month). Both platforms present many more opportunities to educate their audience on the art of filmmaking than any major streaming platforms. They do so by providing archived interviews with the directors, critical reviews, and meticulous analyses. While Criterion serves more as ‘an archivist of filmmaking’, focusing on the past slightly more than on the present, MUBI constantly supports new films being made and promotes them on their platform. Having watched over a hundred films and interviews on both platforms, I will try to explain what makes them so great and unique over “cash-money” competitors such as Netflix.

Quality

“Quantity over quality” – said a fool. The first question that one must ask themself when choosing a streaming platform is what outcomes are you hoping for? If you’re looking for quality films selected for you by professional teams of filmmakers, MUBI and Criterion are for you.

Everyday MUBI team selects the “Film of the Day”, that relates to previous films in the chain. MUBI promotes independent filmmaking, including films from all different countries and has created subtitles for every film in at least 10 languages. This gives members a multicultural view of cinema, especially when compared to platforms like Netflix, where most featured films are of Hollywood origin and have subtitles in three or four languages. Moreover, nearly every film on MUBI has been recognized by several festivals outside of Cannes: Berlin, Sundance and Venice film festivals prize winners are all there.

As for the Criterion Channel, let’s just take an example of François Truffaut’s second full-length feature film: Tirez Sur Le Pianiste. After watching 92 minutes of this beautiful French noir, you have an opportunity to watch the full film over again with commentary with Peter Brunette (professor of film studies at Wake Forest University and the editor of a book on Tirez Sur Le Pianiste) and Annete Insdorf (director of undergraduate film studies at Columbia University). This sort of knowledge is not available anywhere aside from Criterion Channel and is worth every penny of the subscription, especially when hundreds of different fullfilm commentaries of this type are taken into account