%0 Journal Article %A Taylor, Andrew %T Writing with images: The Film-Photo-Essay, the Left Bank Group and the pensive moment %D 2014 %J Journal of Screenwriting, %V 5 %N 1 %P 59-84 %@ 1759-7145 %R https://doi.org/10.1386/josc.5.1.59_1 %K film-photo-essay %K digital film-making %K screenwriting %K documentary %K photography %K writing with images %I Intellect, %X Abstract This article is focused on the film-photo-essay form. The first part of the article is a narrative account of my experiments ‘writing with images’ in the early and mid-2000s, using (the then) new digital tools to make film-photo-essays. My account reflects on how the change from analogue to digital affected my approach to photography, film-making and writing with images. I then look at the case study of Siberia (2009), an illustrated script that was written following my experimentation with the film-photo-essay form. The second part of this article is a more general enquiry into the film-photo-essay form and work that combines cinema and photography. I discuss the contemporary interest in work that falls on a spectrum between photography and cinema; often referred to as ‘still/moving’. I then focus on the ‘Left Bank Group’, whose work often combined cinema, photography and the literary and philosophical essay. Examples from the ‘cine-writing’ of Alain Resnais, Agnes Varda and Chris Marker highlight how Raymond Bellour’s idea of the ‘pensive moment’ is apt in relation to their work. I argue that still/moving forms allow more space for audience interaction and emotional response than conventional narrative cinema; and in a world saturated with information and cluttered with images, there is an important place for new pensive hybrid art forms. %U https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/josc.5.1.59_1