NECSUS #Intelligence
Necsus: European Journal of Media Studies Spring 2020 #Intelligence in now online. With a special section on Artificial Intelligence and media, edited by Ruggero Eugeni and Patricia Pisters. See here for the issue.
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
6 June 2020 EYE Film Museum
The French actress Delphine Seyrig impressed as the lead in Jeanne Dielman, the film that was Chantal Akerman’s breakthrough. The filmmaker, who died in 2015, would have turned 70 today. In a tribute to Akerman, University of Amsterdam Professor of Film Studies Patricia Pisters focuses on the life and work of Seyrig, a major feminist figure in the 1970s who directed a number of feminist films. Watch the registration here via the EYE website. Or directly via Vimeo here.
FLOW on COVID-19 / #FrontlineMessages
One of the most striking media effects during the corona crisis an increase of both interpersonal social media and mass media such as national broadcasting. In The Netherlands the news and talk shows on public television have not had as many viewers since decades. At the same time new hybrid forms emerge. While television crews are not or very little allowed into the ‘war zones’ of the corona crisis where the battles are taking place, one of the solutions is to invite nurses, doctors, and other people in the frontline to send their own video blogs about the situation. Public broadcaster BNN/VARA has created an interface to upload personal videos from those whose work is crucial in these extraordinary times. #FrontlineMessages (#Frontberichten) is broadcasted every night and offers unique documents of and insights into the effects of the crisis. While the streets are empty and the world seems to stay on hold because of Covid-19, the phone video messages show the impact of this invisible fiend.
Critics Choice VI: On Collectivity - Atlantique
During the International Film Festival Rotterdam (22 January - 2 February 2020) Mati Diop's
beautiful film Atlantique (2019) was shown. See here for a trailer. Dutch release 13 February 2020.
As part of the Critics Choice program I made a video essay for this film that can be watched here.
See for the full Critics Choice program, curated by Dana Linssen and Jan Pieter Ekker,
Little Joe's 'Mad Scientist'
Jessica Hausner's reinvention of Frankenstein as a female scientist in a very different world than
Mary Shelley's original one. Deliciously eerie and smart. The trailer is here.