"Iconic Turns"

Nation and Religion in Eastern European Cinema since 1989

The conference Iconic Turns will explore the multiple connections of religious and national identities in Eastern European countries after the ›turn‹ of 1989. The cinema, at the center of the continuous production of ›imagined communities‹, will serve as our focus, both as a powerful image-machine and a site of collective practices. Films provide images, myths and narratives that pertain to the construction of collective identities. For example, a film might discuss how to relate to Europe as a space, suggest suitable historical narratives, or propose national heroes and heroines.

In the context of Eastern Europe post 1989, cinematic attempts to imagine the nation are often linked to religious traditions. Not only do the concepts of ›nation‹ and ›religion‹ gain new importance in the post-communist era, but they also create productive and sometimes conflictual interactions. These interactions deserve a closer look from both a historical and a (film-)analytical perspective.

We are equally interested in the common features of these interactions, as well as in the differences between Eastern European countries ways of relating nation and religion. From this perspective, the political turn of 1989 can be understood as an ›iconic turn‹ as well that relates nation to religion in new filmic configurations, pictures and narrations, thereby preparing these configurations for means of collective identifications.

Program

Friday, 18.06.2010 J 12 (Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics", Johannisstraße 1-4)
18:15-18.30		Welcome and Introduction to the Conference
18.30-19.45	Hans-Joachim Schlegel, Berlin	Lecture: Film und Religion im Osten Europas: Historische und theoretische Aspekte eines interdisziplinären Themas
Saturday, 19.06.2010 Power(s) and Identities Moderator: Hans-Joachim Schlegel, Berlin Senatssaal der WWU (Schloss, Schlossplatz 2)
09.00-09.45	Izabela Kalinowska-Blackwood, New York	Religious Diversity and Catholic Identity: Remembering Polish Jews in Jolanta Dylewska’s Polin
09.45-10.30	Eva Binder, Innsbruck	The Power, the People, and the Role of Religion in the Films of Pavel Lungin, Russia
11.00-11.45	Liliya Berezhnaya, Münster	Empire and Nation in Russian Religious Films
11.45-12.30	Gergana Doncheva, Sofia	National Identities in Balkan Cinema since 1989: Is Religion an Influential Component in Their Screen Projections?
Saturday, 19.06.2010 Memory and War Moderator: Natascha Drubek-Meyer, Regensburg, und Martina Winkler, Münster Senatssaal der WWU (Schloss, Schlossplatz 2)
15.00-15.45	John-Paul Himka, Edmonton	A Cinematic Churchman: Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky in Oles Yanchuk’s Vladyka Andrei, Ukraine
15.45-16.30	Nicole Kandioler, Wien	Representing the Unrepresentable. Katyń (Poland, 2007) by Andrzej Wajda
17.00-17.45	Marijana Erstić, Siegen	No Man's Land oder: Religion und Nation im Kriegsfilm aus Bosnien
17.45-18.30	Harutyun Harutyunyan, Münster	Do Not Be Afraid! – A Must See Movie about War & Love? The (Re-)Birth of “Sacred Nationalism” and “Patriotic Religiosity” in Armenian Films
Sunday, 20.06.2010 Imagining the Sacred and the Secular Moderator: Hans-Ulrich Thamer, Münster Senatssaal der WWU (Schloss, Schlossplatz 2)
09.00-09.45	Christian Schmitt, Münster	Freak Nation. György Pálfi's Taxidermia and Community's Grotesque/Sacred Body
09.45-10.30	Jan Culik, Glasgow	The Godless Czechs: The Construction of a National Mythology in Post-Communist Czech Cinema
11.00-11.45	Doru Pop, Cluj	The Imaginary of the New Romanian Cinematographers and the Christian Orthodox Iconography
11.45-12.30	Alfrun Kliems und Mathias Mesenhöller, Leipzig	The Gods and the Void. Nation and Religion in East European Steppe Movies
12.30-13.00		Concluding Discussion