Join us for a workshop on “Studying American Film History”
offered by Roy Grundmann, associate professor of Film Studies at Boston University,
and Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Graz, Austria,
on Wednesday 21 May 2025 at 18:00 at Thessaloniki TechLab.
The workshop is offered in the context of Dr. Grundmann’s Intercountry Lecturing Award,
granted by Fulbright Foundation Greece for his participation in the international symposium titled
“The Past and/in the Future of Cinema” (https://www.new.enl.auth.gr/cinema/)
organised by the Department of American Literature and Culture,
School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Participation in the event is FREE
Workshop abstract
American cinema began in the 1890s and is now in its third decade of the twenty-first century. During this 130-year period, the medium film has undergone numerous mutations and so have the modes of production and industries that have made films in America. For students of American film, this presents certain challenges not the least in terms of determining the nature of American film history. This workshop revolves around the following questions: What is film history? What is the historian's task? How do students of film history think it could/should be taught? Is the film history of what we call America confined to films made within the U.S.? How do we account for transnational influences, immigrant labor, off-shore production, etc.? Is American film history only about the opposition between Hollywood and Independent Film? To what extent is this even a clear-cut opposition and what other modes of production and forms of media should be taken into consideration? What role does the archive play in the historian's approach? Given the archive's ubiquitous presence and instant accessibility, is there even a need for historians? Following a brief introduction, the workshop will raise these questions and try to address them in a discussion forum.
Address: Thessaloniki TechLab, Tsimiski 136, 54621
Time: 18:00, email: thessamspace@eduact.org, mariapoulaki@enl.auth.gr
