On the Ruins and Margins of European Identity in Cinema: European Identity in the Era of Mass Migration

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The increased mobility of large groups of people from outside and inside Europe has influenced the socio-geographical fixity of a continent of nation-states, putting in question both the concepts of ‘national identity’ and ‘European identity’. The purpose of this conference is to reflect on contemporary debates around the concepts of ‘Europe’ and ‘European identity’ through an examination of European films from 2000 to the present dealing with various aspects of globalization (the refugee crisis, labor migration, the resurgence of nationalism and ethnic violence, international tourism, neoliberalism, transnational commodification, post-colonialism, transnational capital etc.) in order to reflect on the ambiguities and contradictory aspects of the figure of the migrant and the ways in which this figure challenges us to rethink core concepts such as European identity, European citizenship, justice, ethics, liberty, tolerance, and hospitality in the post-national context of ephemerality, volatility, and contingency that finds people looking for firmer markers of identity. 

Convenors

• Prof. Temenuga Trifonova, LE STUDIUM / Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow
  FROM: Department of Cinema and Media Arts, York University of Toronto - CA
  IN RESIDENCE AT: InTRu (Interactions, Transferts, Ruptures artistiques et culturelles), University of Tours - FR
• Prof. Raphaële Bertho,
  InTRu (Interactions, Transferts, Ruptures artistiques et culturelles), University of Tours - FR

Slideshow

Confirmed speakers

• Prof. Daniela Berghahn, Royal Holloway University of London - UK
• Prof. Thomas Elsaesser, Columbia University - US
• Prof. Elizabeth Ezra, University of Stirling - UK
• Dr Mary Harrod, University of Warwick - UK
• Dr James Harvey, Independent Scholar
• Dr Mariana Liz, University of Lisbon - PT
• Dr Dorota Ostrowska, Birkbeck University of London - UK
• Prof. Sandra Ponzanesi, University of Utrecht - NL
• Prof. Delphine Robic-Diaz, University of Tours - FR
• Prof. Camil Ungureanu, Pompeu Farbra University - ES

PRACTICAL INFORMATIONS

• List of recommended Hotels in Tours

Conference programme

Tuesday April 2^nd 2019

• 14:30    Welcome coffee & registration
• 15:00    Official Opening
• 15:15    Prof. Sandra Ponzanesi - Colonial Ruins: The Mediterranean Crisis in Postcolonial Cinema
• 16:00    Prof. Temenuga Trifonova - European Identity in Cinema in the Age of Neoliberal Globalization
• 16:45    Coffee break​
• 17:00    Dr Dorota Ostrowska - Homes and Borders: Film Programmes of European Documentary Human Rights Film Festivals Dedicated to the Migrant Crisis (2015-2016)
• 17:45    Prof. Delphine Robic-Diaz - The Migrant Crisis through Children Narratives in European Animated Short Films
• 19:00    Dinner
• 20:30    Public Lecture in French: Prof. Raphaële Bertho & Mathieu Pernot - Incarner les migrants: un questionnement artistique, éthique et politique

Wednesday April 3^rd 2019

• 08:30    Welcome coffee
• 09:00    Prof. Daniela Berghahn - Diasporic Families and the Production of Locality in European Cinema
• 09:45    Dr James Harvey - Who – and What – Needs a Part?: Global Crises in John Akomfrah’s 21^st Century Gallery Films
• 10:30    Coffee break
• 10:45    Dr Mariana Liz - Thinking Europe from the Margins and through Marginal Cinema: The Case of The Nothing Factory (Pedro Pinho, 2017)
• 11:30    Prof. Camil Ungureanu - The First Time as Farce, the Second Time as Tragedy: Romanian Cinema, Immigration, and the West
• 12:15    Lunch
• 14:00    Prof. Elizabeth Ezra - Out of Bounds: The Spatial Politics of Civility in The Square (Ruben Östlund, 2017) and Happy End (Michael Haneke, 2017)
• 14:45    Dr Mary Harrod - From Post-National Mobility to Post-Human Fluidity: Migrant Identities and Social Responsibilities in Personal Shopper (Assayas 2016) and Happy End (Haneke 2017)
• 15:30    Coffee break
• 16:00    Prof. Thomas Elsaesser - Enlarging the Context at a Time of Diminishing Relevance?
• 17.30    Conclusions