"Third Cinema, Third Worldism and the Anthropocene"

"Third Cinema, Third Worldism and the Anthropocene" with Angelos Koutsourakis

Summary 

Coined in 1969 by the Argentinian filmmakers Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, the term Third Cinema refers to films that posed an alternative to Hollywood and European cinema and confronted histories of colonial violence in the Global South. In this talk, I argue that Third Cinema’s call for films that facilitate decolonisation on a political and cultural level resonates with debates on the need to reevaluate history and decolonise the Anthropocene discourse. Popularized by Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer in 2000, the Anthropocene concept suggests that humans have turned into geological agents who radically reshape the eco-system. Environmental humanities scholars have taken issue with the very term Anthropocene (it literally translates into the age of humans) as blaming humanity for the eco-crisis obscures histories of violence, labour and resource extraction rooted in colonial/racial oppression that produced environmental/climate damage. The ultimate aim of the talk is to  explore the ways that Third Cinema theory and critique can productively intervene in the current Anthropocene debates.

Bio

Angelos Koutsourakis is Professor in Film and Cultural Studies at the Centre for World Cinemas and Digital Cultures, University of Leeds. He is the author of Kafkaesque Cinema (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2024), Rethinking Brechtian Film Theory and Cinema ((Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018), Politics as Form in Lars von Trier (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013) and the co-editor of Cinema of Crisis: Film and Contemporary Europe (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,2020), and The Cinema of Theo Angelopoulos (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015).

Venue:
The Wardrobe, 6 St Peter's Square, Leeds LS9 8AH

Event Running Time:
Doors 6pm
Introduction: 6:25pm
Lecture: 6:30pm
Q&A: 6:15pm
Mix & mingle with other attendees 6:25pm
Wrap up 6:45pm

Food:
If you plan on eating at the venue, we recommend arriving as early as possible so the kitchen can get your order out before the talk starts.

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