Return of the Visual Culture seminar

The first Visual Culture seminar of the 2022/2023 academic year will take place on September 22 at 6.30 pm via Zoom. “Not the truth perhaps of the facts, but their enchantment” is the theme to be discussed by Andréa C. Scansani, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil).

“The image in cinema, in the vast majority of cases, is presented in a transparent, discreet, and sober way. It is elaborated in favour of a narrative that reigns sovereign, and any emphasis given to its particularities may interrupt the desired fruition of the ideas concatenated in the work. Its submission to the world of stories is undeniable and, understandably, convenient. However, even if its matter is not explicit, which would sully its crystalline and servile character, it is on it that the history of cinema is built. It is on it (matter) that the cinematographic gestures (camera and actor movements, scenery, colours, textures, etc.) are inscribed in the film, and it is through it that its kinetic force is transported. A plastic matter, whose malleability becomes an instrument of creation and which, throughout the history of cinema, has been explored in the most diverse ways. Thus, we introduce the analysis of a small and forgotten Paraguayan film, El pueblo (Carlos Saguier, 1969). It escapes the genre classifications and enjoys free transit between the fields of documentary and fiction, between facts and beliefs, and between material temporalities and spiritual timelessness. Dealing with the history of a country marked by repeated wars that leave it a “great catastrophe of memories” (Roa Bastos) the film suggests a synthesis of a non-linear, cyclical time. It is an elaborate cadence of overlapping layers of time in a past-present-future sculpted in the earth, in the dry skins and bare feet that draw the volumes of this body called cinema”, summarizes Andréa C. Scansani.

The seminar will be moderated by Martin Dale, a researcher at the Communication and Society Research Centre.

Andréa C. Scansani holds a BA in Cinema from the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP), with a specialisation from the Budapest Film and Drama Academy (Szinház-és Filmmüvészeti Föiskola, SFF), Hungary. Master in Multimedia from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and PhD from the Audiovisual Media and Processes Program of the University of São Paulo (PPGMPA/USP) with a study period in Paris 3 (Sorbonne Nouvelle), France. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Cinema course at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). Her research is currently focused on Latin American and Caribbean cinemas, with an emphasis on Paraguayan filmography. She has broad academic and professional experience in the cinematographic image, with publications on image theory, photography, cinematography, and Latin American cinemas. She is a member of the research groups, certified by CNPq, Cinematografia Expressão e Pensamento (GPCEP) and Mídias, Afetos, Artes e Resistência (MAAR).

Martin Dale holds a PhD in Communication Sciences from the University of Minho, a BA, and MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the Oxford University, and a Thouron Scholar on the MA in Communication from the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania, USA. He teaches in the areas of film and audiovisual. Producer and director of documentaries and promotional films. Has worked as a consultant for the BBC, ICA, RTP, Tobis, and the Ministry of Culture. Expert and evaluator for the European Commission under Horizon2020. He published two books on the film industry, “Europa, Europa” (1992) and “The Movie Game” (1997). He is a journalist for the American film magazine, Variety, and a professional translator of academic, legal, cultural, and contemporary art texts.

This seminar aims at promoting a space for debate on the visibility regimes of contemporary culture. The initiative intends to bring together researchers who will address the various forms of image production and their role in communication processes.

[Posted: 20-09-2022]