Check out all our upcoming events and activities

UvA Film Club Screening
Jun
19

UvA Film Club Screening

Today from 18:00-21.00 hrs, the UvA Film Club will host their final screening of the academic year in HVL/BuzzHouse’s Co-Working Space! This week's film is Caro Diario (Dear Diary, 1993, dir. Nanni Moretti), with an introduction by Fatme Hawarin and Martina Furlan.

The search for meaning. The search for direction. The search for health. On my Vespa. The islands. The doctors. These are the three chapters of Nanni Moretti's latest film, a lighthearted but fundamentally tragic odyssey narrated by the director in the form of diary entries. Shot in a deliberately simplistic fashion to evoke an almost home-movie amateurism, the film opens with a solitary Moretti on his Vespa, exploring the deserted streets of Rome in summer. His dream, he tells us as he ruminates on houses, neigborhoods, and historic sites, is to be able to dance.

In chapter two, Moretti leaves Rome to explore the Aeolian Islands off Sicily, searching for an atmosphere that will allow him to write the screenplay of his latest film. At Lipari, Moretti finds only confusion, noise, and traffic. On another island, the director finds a society centered around and ruled by a group of children. The third chapter, "The Doctors," is the most realistic, and by far the most unnerving. Beginning with a scene from his final chemotherapy treatment, Moretti weaves the tale of his increasingly desperate meanderings through the medical purgatory of Rome, where dozens of myopic doctors prescribe a myriad of medicines and treatments for a persistent itch that only after months is diagnosed as Hodgkin's Disease.

Caro Diario, a somewhat desultory film, is held together by Moretti's wit, his self-effacing personality, and by his singular ability to conjure both joy and sadness out of the surreal.

Text from The New York Times Movie Guide, 1994.

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Workshop: The Ethics of Humanitarian Communication
Jun
14

Workshop: The Ethics of Humanitarian Communication

Join us on 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟰𝘁𝗵, from 10.00-12.30 for a (free!) 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 on decolonial criticism and participatory storytelling in NGO communication on Latin America in the Kulturbunker in Cologne. Hosted by 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 and the 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺), this interactive workshop will explore how to decolonize language and to adopt co-creation in storytelling in international NGO communication across Latin America.

Also join us on 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟯 at 𝟭𝟴.𝟬𝟬 for the 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 of the celebrated Colombian documentary 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 (Alma del desierto, 2024) in arthouse cinema 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 in 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗲!

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘅 𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Date: Saturday, June 14, 2025

Time: 10.00-12.30 (doors open: 9.45)

Venue: Kulturbunker, Köln-Mühlheim

Address: Berliner Str. 20, Cologne

Extra: With introductions by Mission Positivity and HuCom

Extra: With a screening of a 10-minute rough cut screening of a Mission Positivity documentary

Registration (pay-what-you-can-entry): https://bit.ly/workshop-ethics-humanitarian-communication-14-06-2025

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 is a Cologne-based non-profit organization dedicated to fostering positive change through humanitarian aid, education, and community empowerment. Founded by Celine Böhr, the organization operates with the belief that compassion and unity can drive meaningful, sustainable impact. 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 supports a diverse range of initiatives across different regions, including documentary support in Columbia. The 10-minute rough cut screened at this workshop is part of a documentary filmed in February 2025 by Jacob from Watson Earth Production. This film explores what it means to be rich in the mountains of rural Colombia, far from the pace of urban life and conventional ideas of success. Through personal interviews, intimate moments, and stunning visuals of daily life, it opens a window into ways of living - and ways of valuing life - that may surprise, move, and challenge us. For more information, visit missionpositivity.org.

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺

The 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺) is an Amsterdam-based non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Amsterdam committed to better communication on international solidarity. They consider representation and discourse as integral to the production of the Global South and see the communication on (the needs of) so-called 'developing' nations and peoples by government, industry, NGOs and the media in the Global North as part of the problem of (the failure of) international cooperation and humanitarian aid and worldwide issues of poverty, inequality and injustice. In other words, they do not consider humanitarian communication as a means to an end, but as part and parcel of the end itself. 𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺 organizes awareness events, notably the Humanitarian Communication Awards and the Humanitarian Communication Thesis Prize, and provide international cooperation and humanitarian aid organizations with solicited and unsolicited advice on how to do their humanitarian communication (strategies) better, meaning, more ethical, inclusive and equitable. In addition, they organize, host and participate in various workshops and other events throughout the year, including this exciting workshop in Cologne. For more information, visit humanitariancommunication.org.

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Finissage Acting in the World of Conflict
Jun
13

Finissage Acting in the World of Conflict

Today from 18:00-19.30 hrs, the finissage of the exposition ‘Acting in the World of Conflict’, organized by Jang Kapgen and Barbora Labudová, takes places in the Co-Working Space! The expo will be open from June 11 to 13, between 17:00 and 20:00, in the adjacent Flamingo Room. On Wednesday, June 11, from 19:00-21:00 hrs, the expo’s finissage takes places, also in the Co-Working Space. All expo events are free of charge and open for all to join, but please register for the vernissage and finissage via this form.

‘ACTING IN THE WORLS OF CONFLICT’ | VERNISSAGE | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11 | 19:00-21:00

With a special screening of Zinema (2024), Ukrainian documentary about Russian propaganda in cinematography, and an aftertalk with the producer (Trigger warning: the film depicts blood, violence, racism, and anti-semitism, and mentions sexualized violence)

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‘ACTING IN THE WORLS OF CONFLICT’ | FINISSAGE | FRIDAY, JUNE 13 | 18:00-19:30

With mini-lectures on the question: Faced with a constant stream of negative news, how can we turn this negativity into pro-activity? With as guest speakers: Alexander Gubsky (Publisher of Moscow Times), Dora Melkonyan (Grassroot Support for LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers in the Netherlands) and Lynn Clemens (psychologist).

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Soul of the Desert (Special Screening)
Jun
13

Soul of the Desert (Special Screening)

Mission Positivity x HuCom: Soul of the Desert (Special Screening)

Join us on 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟯 at 𝟭𝟴.𝟬𝟬 for the 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 of the celebrated Colombian documentary 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 (Alma del desierto, 2024) in arthouse cinema 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 in 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗲! The screening is organized by 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 and the 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺), and will contain an 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 as well as a screening of the 𝟭𝟬-𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗰𝘂𝘁 of a documentary Mission Positivity is currently working on.

And also join us on 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟰𝘁𝗵, from 10.00-12.30 for a (free!) 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 on decolonial criticism and participatory storytelling in NGO communication on Latin America in the Kulturbunker in Cologne!

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘅 𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺: 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 (𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴)

Date: Friday, June 13, 2025

Time: 18.00 (doors open: 17.45)

Venue: Filmpalette (Cinema 1)

Address: Lübecker Straße 15, Cologne

Film: 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 (Alma del desierto, 2024, 87')

Year: 2024

Director: Mónica Taboada-Tapia

Duration: 87'

Language: Wayúu/Spanish with English subtitles

Country: Colombia and Brazil

Extra: With an introduction by Mission Positivity and HuCom

Extra: With a screening of a 10-minute rough cut screening of a Mission Positivity documentary

Tickets: https://bit.ly/soul-of-the-desert-13-06-2025

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁

𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 (Alma del desierto, 2024) is a poignant Colombian-Brazilian documentary directed by Mónica Taboada-Tapia. The 87-minute film chronicles the journey of Georgina Epiayu, a 70-year-old transgender woman from the Wayúu Indigenous community in La Guajira, Colombia. After losing her identification documents in a transphobic attack, Georgina embarks on a quest to obtain official recognition of her gender identity, a pursuit that also involves reconnecting with her estranged siblings who don’t speak Spanish and barely survive on the fringes of the opaque Colombian bureaucratic system. Through Georgina's story, 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 delves into themes of gender identity, Indigenous rights, and the challenges posed by bureaucratic systems. The documentary stands as a testament to resilience and the enduring fight for identity and justice within marginalized communities.

𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁 premiered at the Giornate degli Autori section of the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where it was honored with the 2024 Queer Lion Award. The jury commended the film for its powerful portrayal of complex issues such as gender identity, ethnicity, citizenship, and civil rights, highlighting Georgina's dignified and stoic 45-year struggle for official recognition. Beyond Venice, Soul of the Desert has been showcased at numerous international festivals, including IDFA in Amsterdam, DOC NYC, and the São Paulo International Film Festival. It has also received accolades such as Special Mentions at LesGaiCineMad in Madrid and the Rome International Documentary Festival, as well as the Arrecife Coral Award at the Havana.

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 is a Cologne-based non-profit organization dedicated to fostering positive change through humanitarian aid, education, and community empowerment. Founded by Celine Böhr, the organization operates with the belief that compassion and unity can drive meaningful, sustainable impact. 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 supports a diverse range of initiatives across different regions, including documentary support in Columbia. The 10-minute rough cut screened at this event is part of a documentary filmed in February 2025 by Jacob from Watson Earth Production. This film explores what it means to be rich in the mountains of rural Colombia, far from the pace of urban life and conventional ideas of success. Through personal interviews, intimate moments, and stunning visuals of daily life, it opens a window into ways of living - and ways of valuing life - that may surprise, move, and challenge us. For more information, visit missionpositivity.org.

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺

The 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺) is an Amsterdam-based non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Amsterdam committed to better communication on international solidarity. They consider representation and discourse as integral to the production of the Global South and see the communication on (the needs of) so-called 'developing' nations and peoples by government, industry, NGOs and the media in the Global North as part of the problem of (the failure of) international cooperation and humanitarian aid and worldwide issues of poverty, inequality and injustice. In other words, they do not consider humanitarian communication as a means to an end, but as part and parcel of the end itself. 𝗛𝘂𝗖𝗼𝗺 organizes awareness events, notably the Humanitarian Communication Awards and the Humanitarian Communication Thesis Prize, and provide international cooperation and humanitarian aid organizations with solicited and unsolicited advice on how to do their humanitarian communication (strategies) better, meaning, more ethical, inclusive and equitable. In addition, they organize, host and participate in various workshops and other events throughout the year, including this exciting event in Cologne. For more information, visit humanitariancommunication.org.

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Vernissage Acting in the World of Conflict
Jun
11

Vernissage Acting in the World of Conflict

Today from 19:00-21.00 hrs, the vernissage of the exposition ‘Acting in the World of Conflict’, organized by Jang Kapgen and Barbora Labudová, takes places in the Co-Working Space! The expo will be open from June 11 to 13, between 17:00 and 20:00, in the adjacent Flamingo Room. Then, on Friday, June 13, from 18:00-19:30 hrs, the expo’s finissage takes places, again in the Co-Working Space. All expo events are free of charge and open for all to join, but please register for the vernissage and finissage via this form.

‘ACTING IN THE WORLS OF CONFLICT’ | VERNISSAGE | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11 | 19:00-21:00

With a special screening of Zinema (2024), Ukrainian documentary about Russian propaganda in cinematography, and an aftertalk with the producer (Trigger warning: the film depicts blood, violence, racism, and anti-semitism, and mentions sexualized violence)

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‘ACTING IN THE WORLS OF CONFLICT’ | FINISSAGE | FRIDAY, JUNE 13 | 18:00-19:30

With mini-lectures on the question: Faced with a constant stream of negative news, how can we turn this negativity into pro-activity? With as guest speakers: Alexander Gubsky (Publisher of Moscow Times), Dora Melkonyan (Grassroot Support for LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers in the Netherlands) and Lynn Clemens (psychologist).

Sign up

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This Is Not Chinatown: Rough Cut Screening
May
27

This Is Not Chinatown: Rough Cut Screening

This Tuesday, May 27, 2025, from 19.00-21.00 hrs (with drinks from 21.00-22.00 hrs!), the Alumni Circle Media Studies, in collaboration with the UvA research project Chinese Selfies in Europe, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), Research Centre for Migration (ARC-M), Centre for Urban Studies (CUS), Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication (HUCOM), and BuzzHouse UvA, will host a rough cut screening of the documentary This Is Not Chinatown: The Experience of Chinese Students in the International Student City of Amsterdam in VOX-POP. With an introduction before, and panel discussion after, the film featuring UvA researchers Maggi Leung, Linde Luijnenburg, Rui Wuang and Emiel Martens. 

The event also marks the departure of Daisy van de Zande as Chair of the Alumni Circle for Media Studies.
 
This Is Not Chinatown (Rough Cut Screening and Panel Discussion)
Date:            Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Time:           19.00-21.00 hrs (with drinks from 21.00-22.00 hrs)
Venue:          VOX-POP (BG3, Binnengasthuisstraat 9, Amsterdam)
Film:             This Is Not Chinatown (2025)
Panelists:     Maggi Leung, Linde Luijnenburg, Rui Wuang and Emiel Martens
Language:    English
Registration: https://bit.ly/film-screening-this-is-not-chinatown (for free!)

About This Is Not Chinatown
This Is Not Chinatown is a short documentary (2025, 30’) exploring the experience of six Chinese students living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Meet Jinming, Yuyang, Patrick, Xinyu, Yuyue and Lixiang while they are sharing their personal stories with us. How do they think, feel and go about their daily lives in the international student city of Amsterdam, where nationalism is on the rise and Chinatown does not seem Chinatown?
 
The number of international students at Dutch universities has been growing rapidly in the past ten years. By the early 2020s, more than 120.000 students from abroad were enrolled in universities across the Netherlands, making up about 15 percent of the country’s total student population. The city of Amsterdam, home to two universities, hosts the largest number of international students, about 20.000. While the majority of these students hail from other European countries, particularly Germany, Italy and Romania, an increasing number comes from China. 
 
Chinese students have become one of the largest groups of international students in the Netherlands, and the largest group from outside Europe. Currently, over 6.000 Chinese are studying in various Dutch cities, many of them in Amsterdam. How do these students experience the city? What challenges do they encounter while adapting to life in Amsterdam? How do they navigate living, studying, working and socialising in the city? How do they maintain their cultural identity far away from home? And do they feel at home in Amsterdam?
 

About the panel discussion

The panel will discuss the documentary from the variety of perspectives brought by the following panelists:
 

  • Maggi Leung is Professor of International Development Studies and and Chair of the Governance and Inclusive Development research group at the University of Amsterdam. Her main research interests are: opportunities and challenges of migration (with a focus on related injustices, racialisation and activism), ‘global China’ and its impact on global development, as well as climate-related challenges and adaptations among urban outdoor workers.

  • Linde Luijnenburg is Assistant Professor of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She researches representations of migration and postcoloniality in European film and literature, and includes film productions into her research.


  • Rui Huang is a PhD candidate at the Department of European Studies of the University of Amsterdam. She investigates what she describes as ‘Citizenship Experiments’ within Chinese communities in Europe.

  • Emiel Martens is Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Film Studies at the University of Amsterdam, one of the Founding Directors of the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication (HUCOM), and one of the Board Members of the Alumni Circle Media Studies. As a film scholar and practitioner, his work explores cinematic representations of (post)coloniality, tourism, migration, and other mobilities.

About Chinese Selfies in Europe
The UvA research project Chinese Selfies in Europe project seeks to understand how do these ‘new’ Chinese migrants practice citizenship and cultural belonging across the EU. How do they articulate belonging? How do they use digital platforms to inform and organize themselves? How do they culturally articulate diversity? With the Chinese government’s strict lockdown measures during the Covid19-pandemic and the subsequent white paper protests, a new generation of Chinese left the country. Many of them found their way to new homes across Europe. At the same time, new forms of local migration networks and diaspora organisations evolved during that time. These migrants find new ways of expressing themselves, politically and culturally. This project follows an inter- and transdisciplinary approach to the endlessly informative and varied context of (new) Chinese migration to Europe, to gain a better understanding of the rich and complex world of Chinese migration to Europe today.
 
About the making of This Is Not Chinatown
The film project This Is Not Chinatown is supported by the Amsterdam Research Centre for Migration (ARC-M), Centre for Urban Studies (CUS), Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication (HUCOM) and Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA). The production has been largely funded by UvA's Urban Studies Seed Grant XL (Dec. 2021), which resulted in a collaborative research and documentary project developed by migration scholars Maggi Leung and Özge Bilgili, film scholar-practitioner Emiel Martens, and filmmakers Philip du Plessis and Elsie Vermeer, and the (then) student assistants Aly Amer, Yanbo Hao and Yiwen Wang.

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UvA Film Club Screening
May
22

UvA Film Club Screening

Today from 17:00-20.00 hrs, the UvA Film Club will continue their weekly screening in HVL/BuzzHouse’s Co-Working Space! This week's film is Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975), with an introduction by Prof. Jacob Engelberg.

The reputation of Saló, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) precedes it. The final film by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, made shortly before his murder, Salò’s controversies around its stark depiction of torture, violence, and humiliation have reverberated across the five decades since its release. Salò relocates the Marquis de Sade’s tale of a group of libertines’ meticulously systematised quest for the acme of sexual excess to the short-lived fascist puppet state from the final years of WWII, the Republic of Salò. In this historical context, Pasolini recasts Sade’s libertines as Italian statesmen who orchestrate the kidnapping of a group of teenagers. With the help of a team of henchmen and a coterie of experienced sex workers, the statesmen play out their final months of impunity, subjecting their abductees to various forms of torturous degradation.

50 years since Salò’s release, we find ourselves in a time of rising fascism in many global contexts. Reviewing the film in today’s world perhaps allows for a reflection on how fascist politics both mobilises and manages desire, what Judith Butler has recently called the “fascist passions” that animate contemporary far-right forms of collective fantasy. Beyond Salò’s reputation for the difficulty of its viewing, we might, instead, consider its value as a means of working through issues around power, domination, violence, and desire.

Salò’s enduring power lies in its stark presentation of the violence to which humans can subject one another and in its refusal to grant the spectator a comfortable distance from what we witness. Instead, we are made complicit in the statesmen’s actions, entering the subjective space of their destructive desires, where we might be horrified to find a capacity for cruelty that lies in us all. One of Salò’s most smarting provocations is to be found in its refusal to cast the fascist, the torturer, the collaborator as icons of inhuman evil. Instead, we must confront these figures’ very humanity, a humanity we share.

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Podcast Recording
May
20

Podcast Recording

Today from 9.00-13.00 hrs, a group of students will be recording a podcast as part of an assignment for the course Beyond the Borders of Europe: Diaspora and Migration in the Beehive Studio!

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Podcast Recording
May
16

Podcast Recording

Today from 14.00-17.00 hrs, a group of students will be recording a podcast for an assignment for the course ‘Beyond the Borders of Europe: Diaspora and Migration’ in the Beehive Studio!

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UvA Film Club Screening
May
15

UvA Film Club Screening

Today from 17:00-20.00 hrs, the UvA Film Club will continue their weekly screening in HVL/BuzzHouse’s Co-Working Space! This week's film is UVA FILM CLUB X UVA GREEN OFFICE: Short Films by Jodie Mack + Arts and Crafts Workshop (Jodie Mack, 2009)-2012 - with an introduction and workshop by Martina Furlan. This event is in collaboration with the UVA Green Office as part of their Slow Fashion Week initiative!

Fast fashion is one of the largest contributors to the environmental crisis. Dictated by mega corporations functioning on exploitative labor relations and defined by trends of overproduction and overconsumption, fast fashion creates unimaginable amounts of textile waste and facilitates a lack of self-sufficiency in its consumer base. To combat this, we present you with Slow Fashion Week!

During Slow Fashion Week, we aim to challenge the trends of overconsumption and overproduction that have become commonplace in our lives, learn more about the impact of fast fashion on the planet and how we can battle this effect both as consumers and producers, and, of course, learn more about how we can become self-sufficient in our wardrobes!

In this collaboration with UVA Film Club, we are screening a selection of short films by Jodie Mack. Jodie Mack is an experimental filmmaker and animator who makes stop motion animations with fabrics, recycled textiles and everyday objects. Her films “unleash the kinetic energy of material remnants of domestic and institutional knowledge to illuminate the relationship between decoration and utility. Straddling the boundary between rigor and accessibility, her cinema questions how we ascribe value to things” (https://jodiemack.com/information).

These films will be accompanied by with an arts and crafts workshop in which the people attending can bring their own (textile) crafts and knit, crochet, embroider during/before/after the films. There will be materials provided but please feel free to bring your own!

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Event Planning Session
May
14

Event Planning Session

Today from 15:00-18:00 hrs the Flamingo Room will be used by Media Studies students for an information session for their upcoming event at Ma'Dam (on May 16) for our social awareness team and last essential updates before the event.

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