The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to share that three of our faculty members have been named winners in the most recent round of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Engage Grant results.

Congratulations to Professors Craig Bennell (Psychology), Kester Dyer (Film Studies), and Marina Milyavskaya (Psychology) on each receiving a $25,000 grant to support their important work.

offer researchers “short-term and timely support for partnered research activities that will inform decision making at a single partner organization from the public, private or not-for-profit sector.”

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Dr. Laura Horak (Film Studies) co-curated a program of silent films called “” that will be playing at a film festival in Italy October 7 and in Indiana Oct 31-Nov 2.

Read Looking for Léontine: My Obsession with a Forgotten Screen Queen, for Laura’s work doing feminist history in the .

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Six �Ӱ�ԭ�� Faculty Members Receive Early Research Awards from Ontario Government

Six �Ӱ�ԭ�� University researchers — looking at everything from transgender films, skull evolution and high-speed X-rays to autonomous spacecraft, health service planning and comic books — have been awarded funding from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade through the Early Researcher Awards (ERA) program

Researchers will receive $100,000 from the ministry and $50,000 in matching funds from �Ӱ�ԭ�� to cover expenses for undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, research assistants, associates and technicians.

“We are grateful to the Ontario government for this funding and their recognition of our early-career researchers as leaders in these diverse and vital areas of study,” said Rafik Goubran, �Ӱ�ԭ�� vice-president (Research and International).

This year’s ERA recipients are:

Laura Horak

Horak, a professor in the Film Studies program, studies American and Scandinavian cinema, gender and sexuality. The funding will support the emerging field of transgender film and media studies. Horak’s project investigates the films, web series and film festivals created by Canadian and American transgender artists from the 1990s through today.

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Prof. Aubrey Anable of Film Studies has received the .

Aubrey’s book, (University of Minnesota Press, 2018) explores how video gaming intersects with systems like history, bodies, and code.  In Playing with Feelings, Anable offers readers an account of why video games compel us to play and how they constitute a sophisticated structure of emotion and meaning in our increasingly computerized lives.

“Winning the SCMS Best First Book Award reassures me that the kinds of questions I ask about video games, emotions, and aesthetics are resonant with concerns in film and media studies more broadly,” said Prof. Anable.

“Making these kinds of connections, from the specific cases of video games to larger questions about how media work on us and work us over emotionally, was one of my main goals for writing this book. So, this award feels like an acknowledgement that I achieved that goal and it has given me a much-needed push to work on a second book!”

In her research, Anable focuses on digital media aesthetics, video games, affect, cybernetics, critical theory, gender and media technologies, experimental film and video, and queer web cultures.

�Ӱ�ԭ�� SCMS

The Society for Cinema and Media Studies is the leading scholarly organization in the United States dedicated to promoting a broad understanding of film, television, and related media through research and teaching grounded in the contemporary humanities tradition.

SCMS encourages excellence in scholarship and pedagogy and fosters critical inquiry into the global, national, and local circulation of cinema, television, and other related media. SCMS scholars situate these media in various contexts, including historical, theoretical, cultural, industrial, social, artistic, and psychological.

�Ӱ�ԭ�� the Best First Book Award

The Best First Book Award offers a cash prize in recognition of the best first book published in the field of film and media studies in a given year.

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Here’s looking at you, friends of �Ӱ�ԭ�� University…

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Film Studies program (School for Studies in Art and Culture) invite you to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Casablanca with a free screening and discussion of the iconic Hollywood film.

Starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, the classic wartime melodrama made its debut in theatres on November 26^th, 1942.

As fate would have it, 1942 was also the year a group of visionary citizens opened the doors of �Ӱ�ԭ�� College in Ottawa to students building their careers after the Depression and military service in the Second World War. 75 years later, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University is now a leading post-secondary institution, one that has provided a unique educational experience to more than 145,000 graduates over seven decades.

The evening will be hosted by Dr. Marc Furstenau, Associate Professor and Director of the Film Studies program. He will introduce and briefly consider the significance of Casablanca. The program will include a Warner Brothers short film and cartoon from the time, as well as excerpts from early �Ӱ�ԭ�� University promotional films.

We’ll always have the Richcraft Hall Theatre…

Join us at the �Ӱ�ԭ�� Campus Cinema, in the Theatre (room 2200), on Sunday, November 26^th at 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm for �Ӱ�ԭ�� University and Casablanca 75^th birthday festivities. An informal reception will follow the film and discussion. There will be a wine bar, snacks, and, of course, unlimited popcorn will be provided throughout the evening.

All members of the �Ӱ�ԭ�� community and beyond are invited. We’re hoping this could be the start of a beautiful friendship!

Read more on Professor Marc Furstenau and the Casablanca event at �Ӱ�ԭ�� Stories.

• Snacks and coffee provided
• Popcorn at 6 pm Screening at 6:30 pm
• Reception and wine bar at 8:30 pm

Photo Credit: By Trailer screenshot (Casablanca trailer) [Public domain], and
, Casablanca. Locandina per il film “Casablanca” (1942) di Michael Curtiz.
Breve Storia del Cinema – Hollywood e il cinema classico: [Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)]

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Professor Aboubakar Sanogo recently attended the 50^th anniversary of the held from October 28^th to November 5, 2016. The JCC are the very first film festival on the African continent and were co-founded by such pioneering figures in African cinema as Tahar Cheriaa and Ousmane Sembène in 1966.

On the occasion of this celebration, Professor Sanogo co-organized, moderated and presented a paper during a two-day (October 29-30) International Symposium entitled “Film Heritage at Risk”, under the aegis of the Tunisian Ministry of Culture, the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts and the (FEPACI). Participants in the symposium included Christophe Dupin, Senior Administrator of the (FIAF), Nicola Mazzanti, Curator of the Royal Belgian Cinématek and Director of the Association of European Cinémathèques, world-renowned Cambodian documentary filmmaker, Rithy Panh (S21, The Missing Picture), Ahmed Bedjaoui, Professor at the University of Algiers and pioneer of the Algerian Cinémathèque, Cecilia Cenciarelli, Head of Research and Special Projects of the Cineteca di Bologna, Hedi Jallab, Director of the National Archives of Tunisia, Gahité Fofana, Head of the Audiovisual Resource Center in Guinea, Khaled Abdeljelil, Professor at the Higher Institute of Cinema and Advisor at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Khadija Habashneh, Project Coordinator for the Preservation of the ancient fund of Palestinian Films, Lea Morin of the Cinémathèque de Tanger (Morocco), Jose Manuel Costa, Director of the Portuguese Cinémathèque, Hichem Ben Ammar, Tunisian documentary film director and Mohamed Challouf, Artistic Director of the 50^th anniversary of the Carthage Film Festival.

The symposium offered participants the opportunity to discuss and take stock of the state of film archiving in various countries and regions in Africa and the Global South (Tunisia, Guinea, Palestine, Cambodia, Cameroon, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt) as well as explore strategies toward the creation and strengthening of film archival institutions in these countries and regions. This is the first of many such initiatives to come. Stay tuned!

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�Ӱ�ԭ�� Film Studies is celebrating its 40^th Anniversary in 2016-17. To celebrate has joined with the to host a year-long series, “Canadian Masters,” which will include visits and screenings by the filmmakers Atom Egoyan, Alanis Obomsawin, and Guy Maddin.

The celebration kicks off with “Atom Egoyan in Person: The Interview” on Wednesday, November 9^th, 2016. will discuss his films and career on stage with critic and scholar Tom McSorley at the Ottawa Arts Court Theatre at 7:30 PM. Mingle with Egoyan, alumni, current students, and faculty at a reception following the event.

[button title=”Get Tickets” url=”http://www.cfi-icf.ca/index.php?option=com_cfi&task=showevent&id=165&Itemid=1641″ style=”red-solid” class=”center”]

Check back in December for information regarding the upcoming visits by Obomsawin and Maddin. And follow �Ӱ�ԭ�� Film Studies on and .

Canadian Masters I: Atom Egoyan
November 9, 2016 until November 10, 2016

The Canadian Film Institute’s Canadian Masters series is an annual celebration of excellence in Canadian filmmaking, featuring extensive onstage interviews, special screenings, and audience discussions with some of the greatest names in Canadian film history. In our 2016-2017 inaugural season, we are honoured to present three extraordinary Canadian masters of the moving image: Atom Egoyan (November), Alanis Obomsawin (Jaunary), and Guy Maddin (March).

We are proud to be partnering with �Ӱ�ԭ�� University’s School For Studies In Art and Culture’s Film Studies section, which in 2016-2017 is celebrating its 40th anniversary. For four decades, �Ӱ�ԭ�� Film Studies has produced some of the most important and influential film scholars, critics, and curators in Canada, and has also played a key role in the development of film culture generally in our nation.

Atom Egoyan

As one of the most important examples of a Canadian media artist who began his career making arts council funded films and emerge as an international cinema star, Atom Egoyan is the perfect choice for the inaugural edition of the Masters programme. His work is daring, thoughtful, searching, and ranges from low-budget art cinema to big-budget Hollywood productions. Egoyan’s career has been critically acclaimed across the globe, and his work has captured many awards at some the world’s most prestigious film festivals. Atom Egoyan has also been very supportive of younger Canadian filmmakers, serving as advisor and mentor the next generation of moving image makers in Canada.

The CANADIAN MASTERS series is presented by the Canadian Film Institute in collaboration with �Ӱ�ԭ�� University’s School For Studies In Art and Culture: Film Studies.

Tickets on sale now!
Limited seating! Admission per evening: $25.00 (plus HST)
Admission to both nights: $40.00 (plus HST)

Seating is extremely limited. Get your tickets early — tickets go on sale on Friday, October 14 at 9:00am!

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Press Release 

Following the tremendous success of our inaugural festival last year, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University’s and , and the are pleased to invite you to the second edition of the African Film Festival of Ottawa (AFFO), held over two weekends, on October 14-15-16 and October 21-22, 2016 in the River Building Theater of the �Ӱ�ԭ�� University Campus.

The festival, which opens on Friday, October 14th at 7pm with Leyla Bouzid’s breakthrough film A peine j’ouvre les yeux/ As I Open My Eyes (2015) aims to showcase the best in contemporary African cinema and offer a complex, nuanced and doubly moving image of Africa. It seeks to engage audiences in a conversation on Africa around the moving image by presenting Africa and Africans through the cinematic voices and visions of the continent’s filmmakers themselves.

The five films selected this year celebrate both emerging voices and cinematic masters from across the five regions of the African continent represented by the following countries: Chad, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. Indeed, according to festival curator and �Ӱ�ԭ�� University Film Studies Professor Aboubakar Sanogo, ” This year’s selection emphasizes fresh and innovative voices in African cinema with two first features by Leyla Bouzid (Tunisia) and Sibs Shongwe La-Mer (South Africa), a second feature by Kivu Ruhorahoza (Rwanda), a third feature by Alain Gomis (Senegal) and a rare documentary by Chadian master Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.” The films have been screened and/or have won awards at FESPACO (Pan African Film Festival of Ouagadougou), the Durban International Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival among others.

Schedule of Screenings

A peine j’ouvre les yeux (As I Open My Eyes)

dir. Leyla Bouzid Tunisia, 2015, 103 minutes English sub-titles

River Building Theatre, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, Friday, October 14, 2016, 7:00 pm 

Set at the edge of revolutionary changes in Tunisia in 2010-11, this compelling drama revolves around Farah, a young singer and musician who has also just been accepted into medical school, which pleases her very protective mother. Trouble is, Farah loves music more, but her band’s material soon comes under the scrutiny of government authorities, and, as tension mounts, Farah must make a crucial decision that will affect not only her personal life, but the life of her country.

“On the eve of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, a young woman struggles against family and society to pursue a singing career in Leyla Bouzid’s impressive, generally nuanced debut, As I Open My Eyes. Sharply yet subtly capturing the atmosphere of fear fostered by the dictatorship of President Ben Ali, this skillfully made drama is especially attuned to the myriad forms of surveillance, from the prurient to the political. Showcasing a stand-out lead performance by first-timer Baya Medhaffer, with intriguing compositions by Iraqi musician Khyam Allami, Eyes will open eyes to several new talents…” Jay Weissberg (Variety)

Trailer:

Necktie Youth

dir. Sibs Shongwe-La Mer South Africa, 2015, 91 minutes

River Building Theatre, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, Saturday, October 15, 2016, 7:00 pm 

On the anniversary of the violent Soweto Youth Uprising of June 16, 1976, an affluent group of Johannesburg youths are shocked by the suicide of one of their friends. A year later, the aftershocks of the tragedy are still fresh in their minds. In his edgy first feature, 23-year old director Shongwe-La Mer plays Jabz, a directionless youth who passes the time rummaging through the city’s sleepy manicured northern suburbs with his buddy September in search of drugs, distraction and salvation.

Beautifully and starkly shot in black and white, this revealing exploration of the generation born after the fall of apartheid presents a side of South Africa not often seen. Winner of the Best South African Film prize and the Best Director Award at Durban International Film Festival, Shongwe-La Mer is a promising directorial talent in South Africa.

Trailer:

Hissein Habré, une Tragédie Tchadienne (Hissein Habré: A Chadian Tragedy)

dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun -Chad, 2016, 82 minutes-English sub-titles

River Building Theatre, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, Sunday, October 16, 2016, 4:00 pm 

Hissène Habré was President of Chad from 1982 until 1990. His one-party regime committed countless human-rights abuses via his notorious CIA-trained secret police. As with other dictators who have faced trial, Habré refused to recognize the court’s legitimacy and had to be forced into the courtroom. His case marked the first time an African dictator was tried by an African Union–backed court, and, in May of 2016, he was found guilty of sexual slavery, torture, and ordering the killing of 40,000 people. The film revolves around the activities of Clément Abaïfouta, a former prisoner who is now chairman of the Association of the Victims of the Crimes of the Hissène Habré Regime. Meeting with survivors who carry both physical and psychological scars of Habré’s rule, Abaïfouta elicits their dramatic and disturbing testimonies.

One of the most important African directors working today, this is Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s first — and very impressive — foray into non-fiction. “Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy is a poignant and immediate account of struggle and survival in the face of evil.” Cameron Bailey (2016 Toronto International Film Festival).

Trailer:

Tey (Today)

dir. Alain Gomis Senegal, 2012, 86 minutes English sub-titles

River Building Theatre, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, Friday, October 21, 2016, 7:00 pm 

Satché is an apparently healthy man who wakes one morning at his mother’s house in Dakar and is suddenly and mysteriously informed that he will die at the end of that day. In this place, death warns of its arrival 24 hours in advance, and so, today will be the last of Satché’s life. Though he is strong, he accepts his imminent death as he walks through the streets, taking in the sites of his past as if he were looking at them for the last time: his parents’ house, his first love, the friends of his youth, and his wife and children.

Acclaimed actor, musician, and poet Saul Williams stars in this stirring, reflective, and incredibly beautiful drama. Named one of Film Comment’s Best Unreleased Films of 2012, Gomis’s film was selected for Official Competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. “This is a quiet film, modest and dreamlike, full of extended silences punctuated by bursts of talk… there’s an unassuming, contemplative quality to Tey that keeps you watching.” David Rooney (Variety).

Trailer:

Things of the Aimless Wanderer

dir. Kivu Ruhorahoza-Rwanda, 2015, 78 minutes-English sub-titles

River Building Theatre, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, Saturday, October 22, 2016, 7:00 pm 

“Kivu Ruhorahoza’s arresting feature reveals a series of cryptic and loosely connected narrative shards. Each depicts an uneasy encounter between an African woman and a male figure of authority or menace, be he a nineteenth century white explorer, a twenty-first century Western journalist, or a Rwandan man performing reconnaissance for a shadowy internal agency. In each story, a female figure is an object of lust, surveillance, fascination or violence, inevitably disappearing from the narrative. Every disappearance becomes a sort of chorus, punctuated by enigmatic images and haunting musical soundscapes. Considering the film’s title (“aimless wanderer” originally described hapless European explorers), one might indeed ask whether the female avatar of these stories may be a metaphor for Rwanda itself: colonized, objectified, and struggling to calibrate cultural gains, including gains for women, with reactionary policies and sentiments. Such questions haunt the periphery of this provocative film whose narrative core remains a reservoir of mystery.” (Sundance Film Festival, 2015)

Stunning.

Trailer:

Practical Information 

Directions: 

All screenings will take place in the Theater of �Ӱ�ԭ�� University. The address is: 2200 River Building, 42 Campus Avenue, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6-Phone 613-520-2600.

For more information on how get to the River Building Theater, please click on the following link from the  or read  to our campus.

Ticketing 

For general admission, the Canadian Film Institute will set up a box office at the entrance of the River Building Theater before the beginning of the screening. Admission is FREE for �Ӱ�ԭ�� University students and staff. Please click on the following for more information.

Contact 

For more information about the event, please contact us at the following email addresses and/or phone numbers:

• Aboubakar Sanogo:  (Film Studies Department) Phone: 613-520-2600 ext. 2346
• Tom McSorley  (Canadian Film Institute) Phone: Tel: 613-232-6727
• Jerrett Zaroski  (Canadian Film Institute) Phone: 613-232-8769

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When: Thursday, September 1 2016

Where: National Gallery of Canada

Price: $9-$32

For more information, visit:  event page and the 

and the present Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette: Fact or Fiction”. Join us for a special screening of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, an evocative retelling of France’s iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette.

The evening begins (5:00 – 6:30) with tapas and drinks in the Water Court Foyer. Film screening in the Auditorium starts at 6:30 p.m., followed by a conversation with film professor and Assistant Vice-President at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University , and NGC Deputy Director and Chief Curator Paul Lang.

Photo Credit for all images used in this post: Sony

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