CFS Talk: Dr Aida Vallejo (University of the Basque Country): ‘The Festival Ecosystem as Documentary Breeding Ground’. University of St Andrews (Scotland)
November 3 , 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm
This event is free and open to the public.
Organizers: Prof. Dina Iordanova, Centre for Film Studies
Venue: Byre Theatre- Studio
The Festival Ecosystem as Documentary Breeding Ground
This paper offers an overview of film festivals which have included documentary film in their programs (be they specialized: IDFA, HotDocs, DokLeipzig, Visions du Réel; thematic: Sundance, Jean Rouch, Margaret Mead; or A-list/generalist: Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Toronto), to reflect on how their selection procedures have contributed to the new conceptions of the genre, widening its definition and opening it to creative approaches historically associated to fiction and experimental film. Using such prominent documentaries as Être et avoir (To be and to have, Nicolas Philibert, 2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore, 2004), or Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel, 2012) as case studies, Dr Vallejo will reflect on the evolution of the incorporation of documentary film in the festival programs, through the reconstruction of their festival careers, giving new insights into the mutual influence of text and context in the development of contemporary film cultures.
About the speaker:
Dr Aida Vallejo works as adjunct professor in Media Studies at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). Her expertise relates to creative documentary and film festivals, and currently works in the edition of two edited collections: Documentary Film Festivals and Film Festivals and Anthropology. She has carried out fieldwork in several countries, mostly across Europe. Aida is the founder and coordinator of the Documentary Work-group of the European Network of Cinema and Media Studies (NECS). She is currently working on a research project that investigates the presence of documentary at film festivals from a global and historical perspective.