MONTHLY READING + DISCUSSION GROUP EXPLORING CINEMA + CINEMATIC PRACTICE THROUGH WRITTEN WORDS

A monthly reading + discussion group, Thought on Film aims to promote critical thought around film product and practice through community-based discussion. Open to the public, Thought on Film fosters the close reading of texts confronting issues in contemporary, cutting-edge cinematic practice and philosophy.

As part of Safe Assembly’s Afternoon School program, February’s meeting will feature the Graham McFee and Alan Tomlison’s essay “Riefenstahl’s Olympia: Ideology and Aesthetics in the Shaping of the Aryan Athletic Body,” originally published in 1999 in the International Journal of the History of Sport.

Using as texts Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia films, and related aspects of Triumph of the Will, McFee and Tomlinson explore how forms of representation, which record and relay historical moments, are retrospectively understood on the basis of a mixture of deference and irreverence, and judged in terms of particular political or aesthetic dynamics. Considering the fact that Riefenstahl’s films were made as part of the Nazi propaganda machine yet function as important moments in the history of cinema, Thought on Film will examine how political mechanisms can function in art works and vice versa. Contemplating the retrospective evaluation of Riefenstahl’s films as documents of the 1936 Summer Olympic games, we will imagine a speculative history of this, Vancouver’s Winter Olympic moment, through the artistic responses that are just now taking shape.

Experimenting with the form of reading groups and their discussions, this month’s selection will be read out loud by participants. No pre-reading required!

If you have any questions about Thought on Film, please do not hesitate to contact Programs Manager + Curator cheyanne turions at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

THOUGHT ON FILM XXV
reading Graham McFee and Alan Tomlinson's essay "Riefenstahl's Olympia: Ideology and Aesthetics in the Shaping of the Aryan Athletic Body"
Presented as part of Safe Assembly's Afternoon School program
VIVO Media Arts Centre [1965 Main Street]
Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 2pm
Free