[SydPhil] Cinematic Ethics 3 Symposium: Documentary Film and Ethical Experience, MGSM Conference Centre, Macquarie Uni, May 18-19

Tue May 16 09:22:21 AEST 2017

Cinematic Ethics 3 Symposium: Documentary/Non-Fiction Film and Ethical Experience

Two Day Workshop/Symposium, Thursday May 18 & Friday May 19, 2017

MGSM Conference Centre <https://www.executivecentres.mgsm.edu.au/macquarie-park/location>
Macquarie University <http://www.mq.edu.au/about/contacts-and-maps/maps>, North Ryde, Sydney

Despite the flourishing of work in recent decades on the intersection between film and philosophy, contemporary theorists have focused mostly on varieties of fictional narrative film. Less attention has been paid to one of the most creative and dynamic areas of global cinema: documentary and non-fictional film.

This third Cinematic Ethics workshop, organised by Dr Robert Sinnerbrink as part of his ARC Future Fellowship project, is dedicated to exploring the intersection of ethics and documentary, examining how documentary raises and examines important ethical questions and political problems through creative forms of filmmaking. Moving beyond documentary theory’s traditional focus on ethical issues pertaining to film production, practice, and reception, the participants in this workshop explore the ways in which contemporary documentary and non-fiction film can use all the potentials of the cinematic medium to elicit complex forms of moral-ethical experience. Documentary, we aim to show, can thereby open up powerful new ways of thinking through the idea of cinema as ethics.

The workshop will preceded (on Wed May 17, 4pm-6pm) by a screening plus discussion of Kathryn Millard’s award-winning documentary, Shock Room<http://shockroomfilm.com/>, a critical examination of the famous Milgram psychological experiments, showing how they are more dubious than we think (we're not as blindly obedient to authority and willing to inflict pain on others as the experiment suggested). Filmmaker and academic Kathryn Millard will present on the film during the workshop itself.

Shock Room Film Screening: Wed May 17, 4pm-6pm Drama Studio, Y3A building, room 187, Macquarie University

A schedule of speakers is reproduced below. All welcome!

Cinematic Ethics 3 Symposium: Documentary/Non-Fiction Film and Ethical Experience
May 18-19, 2017
MGSM Conference Centre<https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/MGSM+Executive+Hotel/@-33.7716252,151.1140736,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6b12a612cd8129af:0x24a601b2b6bb8cd6!8m2!3d-33.7716252!4d151.1162623>, MGSM Building, Theatre 101, MQ University

Thursday May 18

Coffee: 9.30
Intro to Workshop 9.55
10am-11.00 Prof. Thomas E. Wartenberg (Mt Holyoke College), ‘Can Documentaries Reelise Philosophy: The Act of Killing and the Banality of Evil’
11.00am-11.30 morning tea
11.30am-12.30 Dr Robert Sinnerbrink (MQ), ‘The Act of Witnessing: Cinematic Ethics in The Look of Silence’

12.30pm-1.30 Lunch

1.30pm-2.30 Prof. Kathryn Millard, ‘Documentary Re-Enactment; Aesthetics and Ethics’
2.30pm-3.30, Mr Robert Blanchet (University of Zurich/MQ), ‘Wrong but understandable: Empathizing with fictional and documentary characters on the level of action and motivation’

3.30pm-4.00 Afternoon tea

4.00pm-5.00 Mr Adam Daniel (Western Sydney University), ‘Inside the Open Image: Virtual Reality Cinema as a Medium of Ethical Experience’

Friday May 18

Coffee 9.30
10.00-11.00 Dr Libby E. Saxton (Queen Mary University London), ‘The Face of the Crowd: Iconic Photographs and Documentary Ethics’
11.00am-11.30 morning tea
11.30-12.30 Dr Belinda Smaill (Monash Uni), ‘Refiguring the Human in Documentary’s Ethical Encounter: Animals, the Anthropocene and the Non-fiction Moving Image’

12.30pm-1.30 Lunch

1.30pm-2.30 Dr Susan Potter (Uni of Sydney), ‘Bill Cunningham New York: A Public Life’
2.30pm-3.30 Dr Ilona Hongisto (MQ), ‘Sweeping Changes in Eastern Europe: The ethics of the documentary frame in Gerd Kroske’s Kehraus-trilogy (1990–2006)’

3.30pm-4.00 Afternoon tea

4.00pm-5.00 Dr Mathew Abbott (Federation University, Ballarat), ‘Authenticity and Objectivity in Grey Gardens: Notes on the Ethics of Observational Documentary’
5.00pm—5.15 Concluding discussion & event wrap-up

Dr Robert Sinnerbrink

Senior Lecturer & Australian Research Council Future Fellow

Department of Philosophy  |   Level 7, W6A Building
Balaclava Rd
Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia

T: +61 2 9850 9935  |  F: +61 2 9850 8892 | robert.sinnerbrink at mq.edu.au<mailto:robert.sinnerbrink at mq.edu.au>

Staff Profile<http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/department_of_philosophy/staff/robert_sinnerbrink>

Academia Page<https://mq.academia.edu/RobertSinnerbrink>

New Book: Cinematic Ethics<https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138826168>

[Macquarie University]<http://mq.edu.au/>

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