Seminar series "Decolonial Cinema" with Pary El-Qalqili

Seminar description

Cinematic canonizations shorten and transmit knowledge in a naturalizing and authoritarian way. In the seminar „Decolonial Cinema“ we will question omissions and gaps in such a hegemonic understanding from the perspective of Third World Cinema, L.A. Rebellion and (Black) queer feminist cinema. The development of a decolonial film history and theory is linked to a critical questioning of power relations behind one’s own film practice (narratives, dramaturgies, aesthetics, etc.). One of the central questions of the seminar would be how to decolonize one’s own gaze and desire.

In addition to viewing films, we will deal with concepts such as the „male gaze“ (Laura Mulvey), „white gaze“ (Frantz Fanon), „oppositional gaze“ (bell hooks), „genocidal gaze“ (Elizabeth R. Baer) in order to decipher and name degrading as well as dehumanizing gaze regimes. The re-perspectivization of film history is accompanied by the reading of manifestos such as „Toward a Third Cinema“ (1969), „For an Imperfect Cinema“ (1969) and „The Aesthetics of Hunger“ (1965) or texts by Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Saidiya Hartman, Grada Kilomba, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Gloría Anzaldúa, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis, and Julia Kristeva.

Regular attendance and reading is required!

When & Where?

Every Thursday (26.05 – 14:07) from 17:00 . 20:30 in the filmArche Foyer – open for everyone!

Dates: 05/26, 06/02, 06/09, 06/16, 06/23, 06/30, 07/07 and 07/14/22

Pary El-Qalqili

Pary El-Qalqili is a director and writer, based in Berlin. She studied Directing at the University of TV and Film Munich. Her first feature documentary THE TURTLE`S RAGE was released in German cinema in 2012 and won several awards on international film festivals, such as the Best Film at Dubai International Film Festival, the Aljazeera Golden Award, the Newcomer Prize at Vision du Réel as well as the Newcomer Prize at the Duisburg Filmweek. Her short film NEIGHBOURS was nominated for the German Critics Award 2019. F

or her artistic work she received several scholarships (Berlin-Scholarship of the Academy of Arts Berlin, a research fund from Robert Bosch Foundation, the Gerd Ruge Scholarship and the Artists Programme of the City of Berlin). She was a member of the jury of the Artists Programme of the City of Berlin, the Duisburg Filmweek, the Freedom Prize at Berlinale. She co-founded the initiative #nichtmeintatort, a platform for feminist and intersectional film critique. She is teaching courses about the decolonal filmhistory and theory and offering practical film workshops for youth.

Contact: paryelqalqili@gmail.com