*cancelled* Reunifying Revolutionary Space?: Crossing Symbolic Borders in Three 21st-Century Cuban Films

This event has been cancelled

A public lecture with guest speaker Fehimović (Newcastle University) as part of the Borders and Bodies research theme at the School.

Abstract

Viva Cuba (Juan Carlos Cremata 2005), Habanastation (Ian Padrón 2011), and Conducta (Ernesto Daranas 2014) represent a new development in Cuban film: the emergence of children not only as target audiences of national cinema but also its protagonists. It is striking that in all three of these films, the narrative and cinematography pay close attention to the young stars’ movement through national and especially urban space. Moreover, in all three works, the children’s crossing of spatial and symbolic boundaries conjures up a certain diagnostic and reparative magic, so that these narratives have been seen as simultaneously exposing uncomfortable truths and proposing symbolic, moral, and affective solutions to collective, national problems. By looking more closely at the relationship between these young bodies and the spaces they traverse, this paper will start to unpack some of the internal inconsistencies of these narratives, which seem, on the surface, to espouse a return to or rebirth of Revolutionary values.

Biography

Dr Dunja Fehimović is Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at Newcastle University. Her research interests include national identity, nation branding, cosmopolitanism, and Caribbean cinemas. She is the author of National Identity in 21st-Century Cuban Cinema: Screening the Repeating Island (Palgrave Macmillan 2018), and, with Dr Rebecca Ogden, Branding Latin America: Strategies, Aims, Resistance (Lexington 2018). With Professor Rob Stone, she is the co-editor of the annual Screen Arts issue of the Hispanic Research Journal.

Simultaneous Translation

The event will be delivered in the medium of English. You are welcome to ask questions in the medium of Welsh during the QandA session. If you intend to do this, please contact mlang-events@cardiff.ac.uk by Thursday 1 November to request simultaneous translation. Please note that 10% or more of those planning to attend will need to request this provision in order for it to be sourced and will be subject to resource availability.

Registration

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