Archive

Seriousness in cinema and its realisms: from the ethical to the aesthetic dimension

Filipe Martins

RESEARCH SEMINAR OPEN CLASSES
NOVEMBER 19TH OF 2024, 2PM
ROOM 34 EP.1 – ESAD.CR

The fundamental duality of cinema – which combines the innate realism of the technical device (in Bazin’s terms) with the ability to tell stories, invent worlds, entertain or produce art – irresistibly invites us to ask the question about its seriousness. In what sense can we say that cinema is serious? What makes us take a film seriously and recognise its relevance, even if we know it’s pure fantasy? What allows us to determine that one cinematographic work is more serious than another? What is seriousness in cinema? The answers are difficult, not only because the cinematographic device has different uses, but also because there are different forms of seriousness. In this open class, I will distinguish and analyse two fundamental dimensions of seriousness in cinema: ethical seriousness and aesthetic seriousness.

Filipe Martins is film director, researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Porto and professor at the University School of Media Arts and Design (ESMAD/IPP), where he directs the MA in Cinema and Photography. His filmography includes works in the fiction and documentary genres, selected and awarded at several international film festivals. Co-director and programmer of the Family Film Project – Archive, Memory and Ethnography International Film Festival, which takes place annually in Porto, Portugal, since 2012. PhD in Communication Sciences (UM) and post-doctorate in Philosophy (FLUP). Author and editor of several books on film studies, narrative, and aesthetics.