July 18–19, 2014

LAUGHTER AT WORK – THE POLITICS OF HUMOUR IN FILM

How can humour be used to negotiate the filmmaker’s position regarding the film’s subject to make a social or political conflict evident? How does humour affect the filmic form in particular when blending documentary and fiction?

For the two-day workshop fellows invite French filmmaker and critic Jean-Pierre Gorin to discuss what creates humour in film, who laughs at what and why.

Date: July 18, 2014, 10:00 Uhr

Duration: July 18–19, 2014

Location: Akademie Schloss Solitude

How can humour be used to negotiate the filmmaker’s position regarding the film’s subject to make a social or political conflict evident? How does humour affect the filmic form in particular when blending documentary and fiction?

For the two-day workshop Laughter at Work – The Politics of Humour in Film the fellows Andreas Bolm, Manuel Ferrari, Peter Müller, Lisa Rave, and Alex Reynolds invite French filmmaker and critic Jean-Pierre Gorin to discuss what creates humour in film, who laughs at what and why. The idea for the workshop originates in the claim that humour is an underrated or too often neglected political approach in filmmaking and very rare in contemporary art film.

To stimulate the discussion, Jean-Pierre Gorin and the fellows have selected films and sequences that will be shown over the workshop’s duration.

Jean-Pierre Gorin is a French filmmaker, professor and critic. Together with Jean-Luc Godard he founded the Dziga Vertov Group in 1968. The group’s films have long been recognized as seminal to the period of radical filmmaking of the late sixties and early seventies, and are historically significant for their re-examination of film idioms and practices as ideologically and politically structured. In 1975, Gorin joined the faculty of the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). His particular and very personal take on narration led him to shoot three documentaries in and around San Diego, which make up his so-called Southern California trilogy: Poto and Cabengo, 1978; Routine Pleasures, 1986; and My Crasy Life, 1991. His work has been shown in major film festivals and art venues both in Europe and the US, and has been internationally reviewed and discussed in film and art journals.

The workshop is organized within the framework of the program art, science & business and is part of the series »Chronicles of Work IV«.

The workshop will be held in English. It is open to the public, but the number of participants is limited. Please register in advance by sending an e-mail to Sophie Ehrmanntraut: set@akademie-solitude.de.

REGISTRATION FEE: 20 € (catering rate)

WORKSHOP PROGRAM

FRIDAY, July 18, 2014, 10 am–6 pm