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More cinema, por favor!

By lorenacervera, on 7 October 2020

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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In praise of the SELCS Film Club

By eloiserichardson, on 24 July 2020

Count Orlockdown

The SELCS lockdown film club has been an unexpected and wonderful product of what has been a challenging time.

I’ve found that writing an MA dissertation in lockdown is at times quite a lonely thing to be doing, which is part of the reason why i joined the club (the other reason is that I really, really, really like films).  It’s been an invaluable opportunity to discuss my interests with academics across the department.

Over the weeks, the film club has introduced me to a variety of films I might otherwise never have stumbled across, and each voice in each discussion adds a unique perspective.  During the lockdown, the escapism provided by film and television has taken on greater significance. (This is not always positive – Alamar (2009) contains such vivid and beautiful footage from the Banco Chinchorro coral reef that I, sitting frowning at the rain in London, was consumed with jealousy.  Watch with caution.)

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Film Club: Barbara (dir. Christian Petzold, 2012)

By Christine E Sas and mererid.davies, on 17 July 2020

BarbaraBarbara (2012), a feature film by German film-maker Christian Petzold, is set in East Germany in the early 1980s. Praised as an “an elegant drama based on human and political dilemmas” (The Guardian), the film tells the story of a talented doctor who runs afoul of the authorities when she applies for an exit visa to emigrate to the West. Stripped of her position at the prominent Charité hospital in East Berlin, she gets transferred to a small provincial clinic near the Baltic Sea but remains under constant surveillance by the Stasi …

Barbara will be introduced by Katharina Forster. View the film here (link to BoB), at your convenience. If you’d like to join us for a lively and very informal discussion of this film at 4pm on Tue 21 July, on Microsoft Teams, please join the Film Club here.

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Film Club: Alamar / To the Sea (dir. Pedro González Rubio, 2009)

By mererid.davies and Christine E Sas, on 8 July 2020

AlamarWe’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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Film Club: Rhosyn a Rhith / Coming Up Roses (dir. Stephen Bayly, 1986)

By Christine E Sas and mererid.davies, on 2 July 2020

Coming Up RosesDear all,

Thank you so much to everyone who has attended and / or presented a film at the above this summer.

It’s been really great so far, with over 60 staff and students joining (including some from SSEES, who are very welcome). We’ve had a lively discussion each week and explored all sorts of films. We are looking forward now to next week and our seventh film, Rhosyn a Rhith / Coming Up Roses (Stephen Bayly, 1986), kindly suggested and introduced by Ruth Austin. Please join us here if you’d like to, either regularly or occasionally, on Tuesdays at 4pm (view the film here any time in advance at your own convenience – this is a link to BoB).

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Film Club: Marleen Gorris, A Question of Silence, 1982 (30 June)

By Christine E Sas, on 29 June 2020

Stilte

A female psychiatrist is appointed by a judge to evaluate three women who, strangers to each other, have each confessed to the murder of the same man. Their rage toward and hatred of their male-dominated society is gradually understood by the psychiatrist, who begins to question her own nature.

“A Question of Silence is a fluent reminder of the cinema’s ability not only to please us with the eloquence of formal, optical arrangements and conventional scenarios, but to critically alter the moments of our lives: to connect the suggestions in the movie theater’s darkened interiority with the exteriority of public life. And in doing so, it is another step in the welcoming of female spectators into the audience of men.” – Barbara Kruger

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SELCS/CMII Film Club: Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964 (2 June 2020)

By Christine E Sas, on 1 June 2020

Les Parapluies de CherbourgDear students,

I’m excited to announce our film for the SELCS/CMII Film Club this week, which will be Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Jennifer Rushworth will be on hand to introduce and lead an informal discussion about this film on Microsoft Teams next Tuesday (see below also for changed timings and arrangements). Jennifer writes:

Join us to discuss Jacques Demy’s 1964 classic film Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). This gorgeous film, with music by Michel Legrand, is sung throughout and features a dazzlingly young and beautiful Catherine Deneuve in love and with some difficult decisions to make.

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Online Film Evening: Run Lola Run (26 May 2020)

By Christine E Sas, on 22 May 2020

Run Lola RunDear colleagues,

We hope you are keeping safe and well as far as possible. We’re writing to let you know of a new idea, which is to create a regular online film viewing for / with students.  Dutch Studies initiated a weekly film evening in term 3 and are now joining forces with German, whilst hoping this could become an all-SELCS/CMII event in the weeks to come, provisionally up to the end of Term 3, if students take it up. The aim is, rather like the SELCS Summer Book Club which is such a great idea, to see if this is something via which we can continue to engage and keep in touch with our students (for my own part I am hoping to learn lots too 😊).

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Eerste Nederlandse online filmavond (met pre-film praatje en discussie achteraf), Dinsdag 5 mei 2020 om 7pm

By Christine E Sas, on 29 April 2020

Antonia

Beste allemaal,
We hopen dat het goed gaat met jullie in deze tijden van zeer beperkte bewegingsruimte! Het derde trimester is, virtueel, weer begonnen en het Dutch Department nodigt je van harte uit voor onze eerste Nederlandse filmavond, gepland op dinsdagavond 5 mei om 7 pm.
Dit is het plan:
  • We komen samen op Team ‘Koffieuurtje’ op Microsoft Teams voor een ‘Pre-film’ praatje om 7 pm
  • We kijken allemaal naar de film ‘Antonia’ via de website van het UCL Language Centre: https://resources.clie.ucl.ac.uk/home/sac/dutch/films (je logt in met je UCL credentials)
  • Vervolgens praten we na en wisselen gedachten uit over de film, weer via Teams.
Hieronder vind je een synopsis van de film Antonia (‘Antonia’s line‘ in het Engels): https://www.filmvandaag.nl/film/194-antonia. Ons idee is om elke dinsdagavond gedurende het derde trimester een Nederlandse filmavond te houden.
Tot dan! Veel groeten,
Linda, Christine, Hans, Reinier en Uli