Events
The symposium's objective is to develop film-critical awareness of the work of the Hungarian-born film critic and theorist, Béla Balázs, by situating him as one of the writers of the interwar period trying to think through the aesthetics of the then-new medium; and also to open up discussion of the relevance of Balázs's work to understanding contemporary media aesthetics.
The Béla Balázs Symposium is one of a series of events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the journal Screen ( http://www.screen.arts.gla.ac.uk ), and is scheduled to coincide with publication of the first-ever English translation from the original German (in Berghahn's Film Europe series, and part-funded by Screen) of Balázs's two early works of film theory, Visible Man (1924) and The Spirit of Film (1930). The new translation will recuperate Balázs for Anglophone film studies by situating his work within the wider context of his early film theory.
Organised by Professor Annette Kuhn (School of Languages, Linguistics and Film, Queen Mary, University of London) and Professor Erica Carter (Department of German, University of Warwick).
With the kind support of Screen, with Queen Mary, University of London, the University of Warwick, the University of London Screen Studies Group, Berghahn Books and the Hungarian Cultural Institute.
