THU, December 6, 12-6 pm | Columbia University, Room 1501, International Affairs Building
FRI, December 7, 2-6 pm | RCINY – Auditorium
Back from Utopia. Human Rights and Cinema
in Post-Communist Societies
An International Conference sponsored by Columbia University’s East Central European Center, the University of Bucharest (Faculty of Political Sciences), and RCINY.
The two-day conference brings together academics, activists and filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe who focus in their scientific and artistic endeavor on human rights after the fall of communism.
Political science and political philosophy sometimes fail to grasp the complex human aspects embedded in a society. Film can help compensate that. That is why the event combines theoretical discourse on post-communism with its illustration by means of cinematographic discourse.
(Image: „The Death of Mr. Lazarescu”)
Conference program:
Thursday, December 6
12:00 -12:30 Welcome address: John Micgiel, Corina Suteu, Iulia Motoc
Introduction
Professor J. Paul Martin (Columbia University): „Human Rights in East Central Europe\”
Nick Danziger (photographer, writer, EUIC Venice): „Human Rights and Cinema: a new field of study?’’
12:30 Taxidermia, directed by Gyorgy Palfi, 91 minutes
2:00 Coffee Break
2:15 Solidarnosc, Solidarnosc…, various directors, 113 minutes
4:00 Coffee Break
4:15 Panel Discussion
Chair: Dr. Yuri I. Shevchuk (Columbia University)
Ewa Turczynska (Independent Motion Pictures): „The Making of Solidarnosc, Solidarnosc…”
Dr. Lauri Malksoo (Tartu University): „Soviet Past and Human Rights in Estonian Film”
Professsor Ruth Wedgwood (John Hopkins University; UN Human Rights Committee): ’’The transformation of Human Rights in Eastern Europe: a UN Human Rights Committee’s Perspective”
Dr. Ivan Sanders (Columbia University): “Gyorgy Palfi and Contemporary Hungarian Cinema”
6:00 Reception
Friday, December 7
2:15 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, directed by Cristi Puiu, 153 minutes
3:45 Panel Discussion
Chair: Paul Kahn (Yale University)
Alex Leo Serban (‘’Dilema veche’’ journal): „Collecting Stories: Romanian Cinema’s New Wave in Cinema”
Dr. Doru Paul (Weill Cornell University, Respiro Magazine): „An Inconvenient Truth: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and Medical Care in Post-Communist Romania”
Dr. Filon Morar: (‘’22’’ journal, diplomat): „Neither angels nor devils: in the pursuit of lost humanity’’
Chair: Corina Suteu (Romanian Cultural Institute New York)
Violeta Krasnic (Witness International): „Human Rights Advocacy and Cinema”’
Dr. Mona Momescu (Columbia University, Ovidius University): „The East and the Rest in Post-communist Cinema”
Dr. Maria Zanichelli (University of Parma): „Postcommunist cinema: is there a place for a philosophy of human rights?”
5:45 Concluding Remarks, Professor Iulia Motoc (University of Bucharest, UN Human Rights Committee)
6:15 Reception
Presented films:
Andrzej Wajda & others: „Solidarnosc, Solidarnosc…” (Poland, 2005)
György Pálfi: „Taxidermia” (Hungary, 2006)
Cristi Puiu: „The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” (Moartea domnului Lazarescu) (Romania, 2005)
Thursday, December 6, 12-6 pm
Columbia University
Room 1501, International Affairs Building
420 West 118th Street, NYC
Friday, December 7, 2-6 pm
RCNY – Auditorium
200 E 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
FREE ADMISSION
For more information contact mmm2120@columbia.edu & icrny@icrny.org