Launched in 2015 by Birkbeck Institute for Moving Image, the programming of The Essay Film Festival aims to provide a focus for the current global expansion of this type of film, which is understood as a hybrid form that brings together elements of documentary and experimental filmmaking into a highly personal and often politically engaged mode of expression. Some classic exponents of the essay film are Humphrey Jennings, Harun Farocki, Patrick Keiller and Agnes Varda. The Events section of the site contains information and resources about past and present editions of the festival, including video and audio recordings of events, photographs, articles and other documents, which are of special value for anyone who is interested in this engaging mode of filmmaking. The Audio Archives present Interviews, Q&As with prominent film theorists such as Thomas Elsaesser and Peter Wollen, and filmmakers including Pierre Creton, Jocelyn Saab, Joao Moreira Salles and Thom Andersen.