Revealing the filmic lens that filters our world

Film curator and festival programmer, film critic and voting member of the European Film Academy – ICE is privileged to have Dr Loreta Gandolfi as Course Director for our Undergraduate Certificate in Film Studies. We talked to Dr Gandolfi about how film shapes our perspective of the world.

"What excites me about films is the special quality they have of synthesising concepts and emotions into an understanding of the human experience,” begins Dr Gandolfi when asked what she loves about movies.

"Ever since seeing Grigori Kozintsev’s Hamlet [1964], made in post-Stalin Russia and perhaps the most astounding adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, I’ve been interested in cinema as rebellion and liberation. There are still many oppressed filmmakers making rebellious films around the world today, but it may not be obvious without knowing the context.”

Not all films are shot from the same angle

“I like sharing with people the tools to analyse and deconstruct their experience of film. We can admire a painting in a gallery, but we might still need someone to decode its true message for us. This is true of film, too. Every detail, whether editing, cinematography, soundtrack or script, can hide deeper meaning.”

“By understanding the meanings of films, we learn more about the world around us. For example, the mise-en-scène for a classroom setting communicates the roles and hierarchy of those inhabiting that space – the teacher and students – through the careful placement of people and objects, like desks. The same principles apply to other spaces we encounter, like an important city square, laid out for the State by an architect. If we don’t visualise these principles, we may not realise the way meaning gets manoeuvred.”

Another way film mediates our world view is through the demographics of filmmakers. Mainstream cinema is dominated by men, but around the world there are many other voices to be heard if we listen carefully enough.

“Alice Guy-Blaché may well have been the first person, male or female, to direct a fictional story [1896’s La Fée aux Choux]. She was an influential pioneer who oversaw the production of more than 700 films. Yet, 125 years on, still very few films from a female perspective reach our screens,” says Dr Gandolfi.

“As a festival programmer, I know there are limited opportunities for women at major festivals. Women populate film schools but afterwards a multitude of barriers seem to block them from getting the budgets to make films themselves.”

“These barriers can be very high. One of our course modules looks at the challenges women filmmakers around the world face in getting their work made. For many women in film, it requires real strength and endurance to get their voices heard.”

Helping students and the public get more out of film

Dr Gandolfi’s dual role as lecturer and programmer has benefits for both her students and the wider public: “We can’t speak to Fellini, but I can use my research to set the context for an audience before a screening. In return, I get to introduce filmmakers to students so they can speak together directly.”

One student who’s profited from this approach is London-based playwright and poet, Dipo Baruwa-Etti: “I wanted to speak confidently about films, both in terms of the content within them and the context in which they were made. By analysing films in depth, I’m able to analyse text much better in general. The course has helped me plan future film programme at the Kiln Theatre where I work, because I have the confidence to add a panel discussion or give an introduction, rather than just screening the film.”

“It has also brought out my creativity, so I’ve been developing a short film too. Our term in genre and conventions allowed me to think about what the rules are, how I can break them and how the society you’re living in can affect themes.”

Many students initially attend the course out of personal interest, says Dr Gandolfi, but become inspired by the idea of getting more involved with film. Gaining a deeper appreciation of cinema from a variety of perspectives can lead to a rich, visceral response: “The best films create a strong emotional and physical experience that grabs you violently.”

“Even if we don’t always feel like we fully understand everything in a film, a film still has the power to make your soul explode. That’s the mark of great art.”

Learn More

To find out more about the Undergraduate Certificate in Film Studies, visit: www.ice.cam.ac.uk/ug-cert-film-studies

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This article was originally published as part of the 2019 Easter term and Long Vacation edition of Inside ICE.