Often occupying a space between feature and doc, fact and forgery, polemic and poem, the essay film has long been a square peg among cinema’s round holes. Quite how to define it is a challenge worthy of Jean-Pierre Gorin, Jean-Luc Godard’s collaborator on some of the most combative examples of the form, made when both men were part of the Dziga Vertov Group at the end of the ’60s and in the early ’70s.

The filmmaker and professor will be on hand for the opening weekend for “The Way of the Termite: The Essay Film,” a series he curated for TIFF Cinematheque (it runs to Dec. 3). Besides such key Dziga Vertov works as Ici et ailleurs, selections include oft-neglected curios in the careers of mighty auteurs (e.g., Orson Welles’ fiendishly tricky F for Fake, Luis Buñuel’s scabrous proto mock-doc Las Hurdes), Toronto and North American premieres of new additions to the genre (e.g., the debut film by Filipino wunderkind Raya Martin and the final effort by the team of Straub/Huillet) and a few of the greatest films ever made. (All hail Chris Marker’s Sans soleil, pictured, and Alain Resnais’ Nuit et brouillard.) More intellectually stimulating fare awaits you — no, there won’t be an exam. 

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