My thesis experimentally submits Olafur Eliasson’s — what I dub — watery projects frame ongoing motion or changeability similarly to the cinematic image, particularly the selected projects Big Bang...Show moreMy thesis experimentally submits Olafur Eliasson’s — what I dub — watery projects frame ongoing motion or changeability similarly to the cinematic image, particularly the selected projects Big Bang Fountain (2014), Still River (2016) and Fog Assembly (2016), yet transgress the customary image. I ask how to transgressively read the projects by their cinematic potential, or, how to analyze how constructed watery splashes, melting ice cubes or evaporating foggy clouds amplify the viewer’s sense about temporality, and space and self-existence. I set my experiment against a cinematic backdrop constructed by multiple considerations and analyses on Anthony McCall’s ‘solid light film’ series (1973 - 1975). My thesis experimentally demonstrates the cinematic potential productively inquires into the selected watery projects.Show less
This thesis focuses on human rights film festivals, in particular Movies that Matter Festival (MTMF) – a relatively small yet significant human rights film festival based in the Netherlands....Show moreThis thesis focuses on human rights film festivals, in particular Movies that Matter Festival (MTMF) – a relatively small yet significant human rights film festival based in the Netherlands. Alongside the festival itself, I investigate the MTMF 2019 film program and the process of film programming leading to its creation. As a film festival with a focus on human rights issues, one can expect MTMF to attempt a varied and all-encompassing approach to its selection of themes and films. Although MTMF does not centre its film programming (and consequently its film program) to gender and genre inclusivity, it is precisely this that offers an opportunity for the study of gender and genre. In this thesis, I examine how MTMF, and specifically the film programming undertaken in 2019, draws on recent developments in contemporary human rights theory in order to implement inclusivity and diversity. As I shall establish, inclusivity and diversity are pillars of both critical film festival studies and human rights film festivals. To achieve this goal, I have organized this thesis into three main chapters. In the first chapter, I study the significance of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1948) to human rights theory and human rights film festivals today. Moreover, I investigate the fundamental theoretical concepts from human rights theory that apply to the field of human rights film festivals. In the second chapter, I closely examine 50502020 Pledge for Gender Parity and Inclusion in Film Festivals (2018) and study the MTMF 2019 film program from the perspective of gender and genre. I question the impact a film programmer’s, as well as filmmaker’s gender, may have on a film, especially given that the majority of films released in both commercial and art-house cinemas present the male gaze, as I shall demonstrate. I end with a third chapter that offers a close analysis of the process of film programming, an area which my research reveals to be sadly under-examined by film festival scholars. Here, I delve into the methods and power structures of film selection, deriving from film programmers’ presupposed ideas of on what a human rights film and a human rights film festival could be.Show less
De populariteit van Scandinavische films en series is in de afgelopen jaren aanzienlijk gegroeid. Een genre dat opvallend vaak terugkomt is de Scandinavische misdaad, ofwel de Nordic noir. Zoals de...Show moreDe populariteit van Scandinavische films en series is in de afgelopen jaren aanzienlijk gegroeid. Een genre dat opvallend vaak terugkomt is de Scandinavische misdaad, ofwel de Nordic noir. Zoals de naam al aangeeft, leent dit genre elementen uit de klassieke, Amerikaanse film noir. Vervolgens worden typisch Scandinavische ingrediënten aan de mix toegevoegd wat een unieke, herkenbare stijl oplevert.Show less
This thesis is to be aimed at exploring how the heterogeneity of time is represented in some contemporary Chinese films, namely, Crosscurrent (Chang Jiang Tu, 2016) by the Chinese director Yang...Show moreThis thesis is to be aimed at exploring how the heterogeneity of time is represented in some contemporary Chinese films, namely, Crosscurrent (Chang Jiang Tu, 2016) by the Chinese director Yang Chao (6th January 1974- ), Kaili Blues (Lu Bian Ye Can, 2015) by the Chinese director Bi Gan (4th June 1989-), and Stray Dogs (Jiao You, 2013) by the Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang (27 October 1957-). The thesis will analyse how this respectively corresponds with each film’s theme, which regards either the personal or the social and national predicament related with the economic and social development, in order to explore the possible positive effects these films may have on the individual and societies by provoking the spectator’s imagination of time.Show less
Welk beeld van de natuur hebben we? Welke waarde kennen we het toe? Hoe moeten we met de natuur omgaan? In het opkomende veld van filmstudies en ecokritiek kijkt deze thesis naar natuurbeelden in...Show moreWelk beeld van de natuur hebben we? Welke waarde kennen we het toe? Hoe moeten we met de natuur omgaan? In het opkomende veld van filmstudies en ecokritiek kijkt deze thesis naar natuurbeelden in hedendaagse animatiefilms als Finding Nemo, Happy Feet, Over the Hedge, Bee Movie, WALL-E en The Lorax. Middels een ecokritische benadering wordt in twee uiteenzettingen betoogd dat de nadruk in deze animatiefilms minder ligt op de tegenstelling tussen natuur en cultuur (en de daaruit voortvloeiende verheerlijking van natuur), maar meer op de wijze waarop natuur en cultuur samenvloeien. In plaats van deze ‘kinderfilms’ te bestempelen als lichtvoetig, bewijzen ze hun doeltreffendheid om complexe ecologische vraagstukken te stimuleren, om bepaalde ideologieën aan te moedigen of te bekritiseren en om de relatie tussen mens en natuur te demonstreren.Show less
