Workshop Series on Filmmakers - Andrzej Wajda

Come join us to pay tribute to....

Andrzej Wajda, the late Polish filmmaker

Workshop details:
Tuesday 28 March 2017
6.15 pm – 10 pm 
Meeting Room, School of Economics Castlecliffe
The Scores, KY16 9AR St Andrews, Scotland 
Includes as showing of: ASHES AND DIAMONDS (1958)

Andrzej Wajda was a titan of a filmmaker whose visual range spanned iconography that went far beyond the country it represents, locating his work within the global socio-political discourse surrounding the turbulent history of the Twentieth century and specifically the volatile experience of his native Poland.

His politically engaged films often focused on the tribulations of working class life under authoritarian conditions. Globally, Wajda is possibly best-known for ASHES AND DIAMONDS (1958), part of his war trilogy, which references the Warsaw Uprising and its aftermath. We will show the film, with an introduction of the war trilogy by Prof. Dina Iordanova of the Department of Film Studies.

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This will be followed by presentations offering an insight into Wajda’s other influential films – from EVERYTHING FOR SALE (1969) and THE WEDDING (1973) to KATYN (2007) and WALESA: MAN OF HOPE (2013), as well as, of course, MAN OF MARBLE (1977) and MAN OF IRON (1981).

Acclaimed poet and author John Burnside – who is also Professor of Creative Writing at St Andrews – will approach his interest in Wajda from a unique angle, involving the fate of ASHES AND DIAMONDS star, Zbigniew Cybulski, as featured in his most recent novel.

With original contributions and video essays by Rohan Crickmar and Tomasz Hollanek.

Workshop Series on Filmmakers at St Andrews

Abbas Kiarostami

KIAROSTAMI AT ST ANDREWS

Institute for Global Cinema and Creative Cultures,

University of St Andrews

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

School I, 17:00 – 21:00

Abbas Kiarostami, the most notable auteur of contemporary Iranian cinema who passed away in July 2015 at 76, is fondly celebrated by global cinephiles for his aesthetics, visual poetry and humanistic politics.

His films draw from history, sociology, anthropology, geopolitics, religion and philosophy. Masterpieces like Where is My Friend's House? (1987), Close-up (1990), and Through the Olive Trees (1994) – to name just a few -- are regarded worldwide as some of the most important works of cinema.

We invite you to spend an evening viewing and discussing Kiarostami work. The director’s films necessitate keen attention because of the superb dialectics between local and global. His portrayal of a concrete (Iranian) history, culture, and politics is structured in a way that expands the experteintial horizons to the universal.

It is this transformative potential of Kiarostami’s films that earned him a most notable position in the annals of cinema.

For the event, we chose to show the Palme d'or winning Taste of Cherry (1997): a philosophical masterpiece and a marvelous example of film craft.

A video essay that builds on sequences from Kiarostami’s films and other aspects of his versatile artistic legacy will also be screened.

Programme:

17:00 – 17:10 Welcome address and introduction to the “Workshop Series on Filmmakers at St Andrews” by Prof. Dina Iordanova, Director, IGCCC.

17:10 – 17:45 Professor Jean-Michel Frodon, ‘The oeuvre of Kiarostami: A Personal Tribute’

17:45 – 19:20 Screening: Taste of Cherry (1997, Iran,  Abbas Kiarostami, 95 minutes)

19:20 – 19:40 Tea Break/ Display of Shorna Pal’s video essay on Kiarostami

19:40 – 20:15 Two brief presentations by Shorna Pal (on ceating the video essay) and Sanghita Sen (on the Koker trilogy)

20:15 – 21:00  Discussion, moderated by Dina Iordanova and Jean-Mchel Frodon

Related recent research:

Frodon, Jean-Michel. The Kiarostami effect. Honar va cinéma n°3. Tehran. March 2016. Pp 68-75.

OUR NEW WORKSHOP SERIES

KIAROSTAMI AT ST ANDREWS is the inaugural event in a series that will see the presentation of other similar events where we will dedicate a single evening to the work of a recently deceased single personality from global cinema.

Forthcoming workshops will be dedicated to WAJDA AT ST ANDREWS (March 2017) and PURI AT ST ANDREWS (April 2017).

Conceived and curated by the Institute of Global Cinema and Creative Cultures (University of St Andrews) the series will celebrate the artistry of those whose names are synomymous with global film.

Along with film enthusiasts who like to go beyond the mainstream, we will get together to view and discuss the work of the masters whilst their charismatic presence is still fresh on our minds.

And whilst the focus will be on the films of one filmmaker, actor or other creative personality, we will invoke examples that will keep in check the context of transnational film culture, in which global cinema appears and thrives.

The workshops will be lead by Professor Dina Iordanova, alongside personalities such as Prof Jean-Michel Frodon, Prof. John Burnside, and others, and involving contributions from our wonderfully global student cohort.

The sessions will be loosely structured around screenings, short presentations, videos, provocations, and interventions. Everybody will have the chance to take part.

Public Workshop: Explaining Terrorism

The Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), Europe's oldest centre for the study of political violence and part of the School of International Relations is presenting a Public Workshop, "Explaining Terrorism", focusing on the work of Professor Martha Crenshaw of Stanford University, which will be held on 19th April 2012 between 2 pm and 5.30 pm in Lower College Hall. All are welcome!

Participants will be Professor Martha Crenshaw, Professor Richard English, Dr Gilbert Ramsay, Professor Louise Richardson and Dr Tim Wilson.