Film events at UiA, Østsia

Imagine Europe – Europe in Film

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence invites UiA students to watch and discuss films on EUROPE as part of UiA’s teaching activities. Each film will briefly be introduced by an UiA scholar with a specialization in the respective topic. After the screening, there is the possibility to discuss the film with the expert and the audience. Food and drinks can be bought at Østsia. All films start at 18:00. All films are in English or have English subtitles.

Next films:

Imagine Europe – Europe in Film has come to an end. Thank you for joining and for contributing to interesting debates! Please check the Jean Monnet Centre’s website for other upcoming events.

Previous films:

King Charles III – Wednesday, 15 February 2023

King Charles III is a movie set in an alternate near future in which the newly coronated Charles struggles to stay within the boundaries of his constitutional role, facing a rightist government that appears to threaten the foundations of liberal democracy.  

Written and directed by the two masterminds behind the original West End play of 2014, this highly acclaimed BBC production portrays a king breaking with the tradition of the monarchy’s political neutrality. What ensues is a political drama questioning the role of the British monarch in the UK’s democratic society.

The film is introduced and discussed by Amanda Margaret Machin, Associate Professor at UiA, Department of Sociology and Social Work

Running time: 90 minutes

Democracy. Im Rausch der Daten – Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Democracy: Im Rausch der Daten (2002) is a documentary that offers a rare look behind the scenes of policymaking in the EU, tracing the development of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Swiss film maker David Bernet demonstrates that EU decision-making processes may well serve as the basis of exciting political drama. The documentary follows Jan Philipp Albrecht, a charismatic German Member of the EU Parliament, behind closed doors where the interests of EU institutions, politicians, and lobbyists collide. The result is an insightful portrayal of the EU’s long and rocky road to the ground-breaking, controversial, and oft-copied GDPR.

The film is introduced and discussed by Anne Elizabeth Stie, Associate Professor at UiA, Department of Political Science and Management.

Running time: 100 minutes

Train Kyiv-War – Wednesday, 19 October 2022

Train Kyiv-War (2020) is a documentary following diverse groups of passengers talking, debating, and arguing about how to attain peace on the train ride from Kyiv to Kostyantynivka in the eastern Donezk region. Directed by the young Ukrainian film maker Korniy Gricyuk, this documentary portrays the tense situation in Ukraine before Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion in February 2022. The film gives voice to ordinary people who despite their different backgrounds, political viewpoints and beliefs have one thing in common: they want peace in Ukraine.

The film is introduced and discussed by Maryna Rabinovych, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UiA, Department of Political Science and Management.

Running time: 72 minutes

Tabu – Monday, 14 March 2022

In captivating images of charcoal black and white, the Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’s third feature, “Tabu” (2012), tells a story about a forbidden love affair, the glory of youth, an enigmatic crocodile, the demise of Portugal’s colonial empire in Africa, and the afterlives of this empire in our postcolonial present. The movie is painfully romantic, aesthetically innovative, and politically problematic, or at the least ambiguous. It provides a window into Europe’s colonial past, as well as into the ways this past has been romanticized, ridiculed, defended, and attacked in recent years.

The film is introduced by Christoph Kalter, Associate Professor of History at UiA, who has just finished a monograph on postcolonial Portugal.

Brexit: The Uncivil War – Wednesday, 16 February 2022

Brexit – The Uncivil War, directed by Toby Haynes, is a high-paced Cinéma verité-styled, humorous political drama about the United Kingdom’s 2016 referendum resulting in the Brits leaving the European Union.

The film is introduced by Erik Mustad, Associate Professor at UiA’s Department of Foreign Languages and Translation and Frans af Malmborg, PhD Research Fellow at UiA’s Department of Political Science and Management. After the screening, Erik and Frans will discuss the film with the audience and reply to questions about Brexit.

One Day in Europe – Wednesday, 17 November 2021

Two soccer teams, 4 cities, 8 languages and a wave of robberies on the day of the Champion’s League final. Welcome to Europe!

The Champions League final between Galatasaray and Deportivo la Coruña brings life in in Moscow, Berlin, Istanbul and Santiago de Compostela virtually to a halt, adding to the problems of tourists in trouble, who are already struggling with the language barrier. Four colorful stories about quirky characters and the amusing misunderstandings that cross-cultural communication often provides. All take place on one single day in different cities, and in each case those language barriers are compounded by a chaos of another sort: on this particular day, the whole of Europe is in high fever over soccer’s Champion’s League final.

The film is introduced by Stefan Gänzle, Professor and Head of Department at UiA, doing research on various aspects of European politics.

The comedy by Hannes Stöhr takes a light-hearted and winkingly look at people in Europe; people who meet, talk and all too often misunderstand each other, travel, arrive and depart – and sometimes even come close. At the movie night hosted by UiA’s Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence we will watch the film and discuss some of the everyday practices of European integration.

Running time: 100 minutes

Hello, Dictator – Wednesday, 20 October 2021

Is it possible to have a non-democratic member state within the European Union? How and why? What political games and legal machinations led to near decade long conflict over democratic standards and corruption in Hungary? What went wrong between Budapest, Brussels and even Oslo? The documentary by BROADVIEW Pictures investigates some of these questions and more. At the movie night hosted by UiA’s Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence we will watch the film and discuss why it is relevant for Norwegian taxpayers and democrats beyond to keep an eye on the developments in Hungary.

The film is introduced by Laszlo Bugyi, a PhD candidate at UiA doing research on Hungarian politics.  Laszlo will provide some context to the film from an EU Studies perspective.

Running time: 89 minutes

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