This year we are about to dive in a rather unusual academic experience. We have definitely learnt some lessons from the past lockdown, but we are still figuring out how to teach, learn, share, think, question, and interact in new ways, far too often mediated by screens. As the new academic year begins, the SELCS/CMII film club is set to come back on a weekly basis. Launched last May, this multidisciplinary film club has created a digital space to watch and discuss films. It’s a space of connection from the distance, an open window to other places and times, and a grounded cultural community in a digital form.

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We’re looking forward to our next film for the SELCS/CMII Film Club, Alamar / To the Sea (dir. Pedro González Rubio, 2009), to be introduced by Debbie Martin.

Debbie writes: “To quote one of its reviews, Alamar is a ‘sun-kissed dream drift’ of a film, a luminous and magical journey to the threatened marine environment of Mexico’s Chinchorro Reef. So, if you’re longing for a break from Covid-imposed confinement, you might enjoy this film! It’s also an interesting film for thinking about questions of cinematic pleasure, slowness and immersive aesthetics, as well as the boundaries of documentary.”

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O Homen e a Mancha by Brazilian dramatist Caio Fernando Abreu (1948–1966), translated by Elton Uliana, as The Man and La Mancha

This month’s meeting at Out of the Wings (26/06 Friday @3pm London time) will be featuring a play by the Brazilian writer Caio Fernando Abreu, translated by our alumni Elton Uliana. The project has the support of Luís Artur Nunes, director of the first production of the play in Brazil (1996), as well as of a multimedia dramatic reading of the text in 2016 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Abreu’s death, and Marcos Breda, who was in cast of both productions (Nunes and Breda are the organizers of “Caio Fernando de Abreu: Teatro Completo”, 1997) – the Zoom meeting is open to the public, for registration and details please email info@outofthewings.org.

From Out of the Wings; “Will we be tilting at windmills next week? Join us June 26 for our monthly meet. We discover ‘O homem e a Mancha/The Man and La Mancha’, a Brazilian reimagining of Don Quixote by Caio Fernando Abreu, translated into English by @eltonuk Elton Uliana. Email info [at] outofthewings.org for details.”

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By SELCS Language Co-ordinators (Marie Fournier, Anne Grydehøj, Helga Hlaðgerður Lúthersdóttir, Joana Jacob Ramalho, Christina Massaccesi, Marga Navarrete, Mazal Oaknín, Dagmar Paulus, Christine Sas)

Some students may feel that the lockdown has bereft them of essential face to face contact time with peers and tutors to develop fluency and gain a better understanding of the languages they study. We have all been adjusting to these changing times and finding our way around this conundrum too and would like to invite you all to think creatively and share with each other how you have been practising your Danish, Dutch, French, German, Icelandic, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Swedish, this vast array of fascinating languages on offer in SELCS!

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The UCL SELCS Brazilian Translation Club carries on online! Rewatch our virtual translation club discussion about the short story ‘O benfeitor de Santa Clara’ by Décio Zylberstajn with guest translator Larissa Jordão from 26 May 2020.

The Brazilian Translation Club is a series of workshops in which students, translators, and enthusiasts of Brazilian literature meet to discuss the translation of a selected contemporary Brazilian short story. It is a partnership between Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva, Associate Professor in Brazilian Studies, Department of Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies, UCL, and Nara Vidal, writer, and owner of Capitolina Books. In each workshop, a different member reads out their translation and leads the discussion. The sessions are fun and very productive. Anyone who translates from and into Portuguese or has some knowledge of the language is welcome.