Parallax Views: Lecture by Thomas Elsaesser on The Cinema of Abjection: Politics and Ethics of European Cinema

As globalization has marginalized Europe geopolitically and migration is dividing the Union internally, European cinema has also had to give ground internationally. According to film historian Thomas Elsaesser, this situation offers a unique opportunity for filmmakers to rethink Europe’s political values as well as its cinematic ethics. Elsaesser suggests that both come together when films neither offer a critique nor suggest a solution to Europe’s dilemmas, but instead provide ‘thought experiments’. These often feature protagonists who suddenly find themselves marginalized or ostracized, but who are willing to inhabit their abject position and push it to the point where living division differently becomes a possibility. 

Mon 30 Jan, 15:00, de Doelen Arcadis Zaal, free admission