Seminar 5: Thinking in Images
Seminar 5: Thinking in Images
In association with the Sydney Film Festival
June 2005
Cinema is often regarded as a form of entertainment, as an artistic representation of the world, or as a source of visual and narrative pleasure. We often talk of the power of cinema to open up new horizons, to enable us to experience the world of a character or milieu, or to create fictional worlds that we can enter as though into a dream. Whether in narrative cinema, experimental film, or in documentary, the power of the cinematic image to expand our horizons of experience is undeniable.
Cinema, however, can also be understood as a way of thinking in its own right: as a way of posing questions, exploring ideas, and transforming our experience. Cinema can be a way of forcing us to think, and to think differently, all through the use of sound and image. Film theorists and philosophers have often drawn upon films to illustrate various theories or ideas, from psychoanalysis and semiotics to theories of gender and personal identity. The more challenging question is whether film is less a vehicle for ideas than an independent medium for thinking in visual and narrative terms. How does cinema “think” in images? What can films explore that other artistic media fail to capture? Can films be “philosophical” in their own right? How do films speak to our lived ethical, social, and cultural concerns?
This seminar will explore these questions from a variety of perspectives, drawing upon the experience and expertise of filmmakers, writers, philosophers, and directors. The aim is to open up a dialogue exploring the possibilities of cinema as a medium for thinking in sound and images.
Download a copy of the program
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