Fyrirlestur um nýlendumál, kvikmyndir og fagurfræði

Dr. Leigh Mercer, við University of Washington í Seattle, heldur opinn fyrirlestur um nýlendumál, kvikmyndir og fagurfræði sem hún nefnir The Spectacular Erasure of Social Critique in the film Palmeras en la nieve [Pálmatré í snjónum, 2015].

Haldið í Auðarsal (023) í Veröld, mánudaginn 4. nóvember kl. 15:00. Fyrirlesturinn fer fram á ensku. 

Um fyrirlesturinn:

The premiere of Fernando González Molina’s Palmeras en la nieve raised expectations that Spain’s colonial history in Equatorial Guinea would finally receive the film treatment it deserved, since, as cinema critic Esteban Ramón has noted, “la historia de los colonos españoles en Guinea Ecuatorial era un nicho de ficción prácticamente vacío.” Critics praised the film’s luxurious cinematography and mise-en-scène, with Jonathan Holland from The Hollywood Reporter noting that “visually, this has to be one of the most spectacular Spanish films ever made, largely on account of the location, which is rendered with crystal clarity by Xavi Giménez whether at the level of a leaf or a sweeping aerial shot, whilst cannily bathing the earlier scenes in a nostalgic golden hue.” However, the prioritization of pictorial spectacle stands at odds with the dark imperial past at the narrative heart of this cinematic work.

This talk will explore the ways in which the elements that have been most lauded in Palmeras en la nieve -- namely the film’s camerawork, location shooting, and sets -- undermine and at times even erase the conflict and social critique of the film. Drawing on Andrew Higson’s “Re-presenting the National Past: Nostalgia and Pastiche in the Heritage Film” (2012) as well as Belén Vidal’s Heritage Film: Nation, Genre and Representation (2012), I argue that the lushness of the film‘s locations in the Canary Islands and Colombia, its retro lighting, and its self-conscious artistry of props and set design, make a spectable of the national past and construct a mise-en-scène of privilege and power. In this way, I demonstrate how the film effaces Spain‘s history of exploitation in Equatorial Guinea and problematically attempts to turn colonial horrors into captivating romance.

Myndin Palmeras en la nieve er víða aðgengileg á Netflix og einnig á Youtube (til leigu).