Abstract: Interdisciplinary, as a method of conducting research, has acquired a ‘buzzword’ status across academic channels in recent years. As noted by film scholar Masha Salazkina, it is a term that is found with “monotonous regularity” in calls for papers, job descriptions, academic programs and funding applications (2015). In this context, interdisciplinarity methods of research are often carried out as a matter of import and export; terminology is borrowed from across disciplines by scholars and is then applied in an analytical fashion to whatever case study is at hand. In this article, I will present two case studies that catapult us into the terrain of ‘interdisciplinarity as practice’, a method of research that I differentiate from the ‘import/export’ model. The notion of interdisciplinarity as practice is my expansion of Gayatri Spivak’s conception of theory as practice. In an interview in e-flux Spivak recounts her experience of translating Jacques Derrida’s Of Grammatology. As she remarks, “But one thing I’ve never done is apply theory. Theorizing is a practice. It becomes internalized. You are changed in your thinking and that shows in your work” (2016). Spivak speaks to the possibility of transformation that can arise from one’s encounter with scholarly work. As my case studies demonstrate, interdisciplinarity, if carried out as a practice, is transformative for all parties involved. One case study in this article centres on a cross-disciplinary constellation that can be forged between cultural geographer Doreen Massey, film and television scholar Karen Lury and filmmaker Patrick Keiller. The second case study focuses on the longstanding relationship between cultural studies luminary Stuart Hall and filmmaker John Akomfrah, both before and after his time as a member of The Black Audio Film Collective. Through these case studies, I will posit the notions of encounter and affinity as two chief components of interdisciplinarity as practice. The encounters between scholars and filmmakers across both case studies are durational in nature and as such, move beyond a mere application of concepts within cross-disciplinary framework. Furthermore, I will argue that Massey’s signature notion of ‘space as becoming’ as well as Hall’s famed concept of ‘identity as becoming’ bear certain affinities to the essay film as form, particularly in its execution by Keiller and Akomfrah respectively. As I will demonstrate, these case studies illustrate the intellectual promise of the interdisciplinary exchange. This promise concerns the recognition of points of convergence as well as divergence that are capable of yielding critical insights across disciplinary divides. As such, these examples teach us something about how interdisciplinary work needs to be conducted while also demonstrating the constraints that makes executing such work difficult within institutional contexts.