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Crossing Borders with Jonas Mekas
23 October 2019
In January 2019 Jonas Mekas crossed the ultimate border at the age of 96. Throughout his life, he had traversed many other physical, metaphorical and semantic borders. From his Lithuanian birthplace up to Manhattan in New York, where he lived most of his life, Mekas crossed (and even transgressed) languages, territories, media forms and aesthetic… continue reading.
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Editor's Note, 113.
22 October 2019
Welcome to ViewFinder Issue 113: Migration and Borders Last issue we explored notions and representations of masculinity in cinema and media, which was received very well and provoked some interesting discourse. The theme for this issue is Migration and Borders. It seems an obvious choice given the current state of play in the United Kingdom… continue reading.
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Laura Mulvey's Afterimages: On Cinema, Women and Changing Times
22 October 2019
This article first appeared in ViewFinder 113 The excited anticipation generated in the world of film studies by the publication of a new book by Laura Mulvey is significant. Mulvey’s name is synonymous with the discipline of film studies, her canonical polemic ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, published in Screen in 1975, one of its… continue reading.
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Archives for Education: The Refugee Experience
22 October 2019
The theme of migration and borders is just one of the areas explored in a free archival resource I've developed with the BFI and BBC Archive for student filmmakers in higher education. The Archives for Education project makes available 39 documentaries from the BFI National Archive and BBC Archive for creative reuse on course-related projects… continue reading.
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Changing the Story: Child Migrant Films
9 October 2019
Over 50% of people displaced in the world today are children (under 18) but rarely do the media or political discourse address the magnitude, complexity and diversity of their experiences. All too often child migrants are classified as vulnerable or victim and without agency or along such binary classifications as innocent or evil. The website… continue reading.
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"The phantom lady of interwar European cinema" - Franciska Gaal
9 October 2019
Austrian film critic Michael Omasta describes her as “the phantom lady of interwar European cinema”, thus emphasising the fact that the erstwhile popular European star Franciska (alternatively 'Franziska') Gaal is mostly forgotten today (Omasta, 2016). Between 1932 and 1936, however, Gaal was a celebrated star of nine popular German-language sound films. All of them were… continue reading.
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Icepops: copyright education, music and games
9 October 2019
On the 26th June 2019 the University of Edinburgh hosted the second Icepops conference and we were grateful to Learning on Screen for being one of the sponsors of the event. Icepops is the ‘International Copyright-literacy Event with Playful Opportunities for Practitioners and Scholars’ and was devised by me and Chris Morrison. When we first… continue reading.
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Jill Cragie — Film Pioneer
9 October 2019
Jill Craigie (1911-1999) was a British filmmaker who wrote, produced and directed a number of films between the 1940s and late 1950s. Craigie secured a foothold in the British film establishment and was able to make innovative films that criticised the mores of British culture. Rooted in a socialist tradition that emphasised education and widening… continue reading.
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Enemies: A Love Story
9 October 2019
The day I went to see Enemies: A Love Story, the cinema was so full, there were no seats left. My friend and I sat on the steps that went down the centre of the screening room. It didn’t seem to be like a bad place to be – we had a good view of… continue reading.
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Animating Rights: Bristol Refugees
9 October 2019
It all began with a problem. Bristol Refugee Rights, where I worked as a volunteer, wanted to make a video about the plight of its members, refugee and asylum seekers from all over the world. But, if their faces were seen and recognised, there could be serious consequences for their family or friends back home.… continue reading.