20181119_Complit_Global_Cinema_Global_Airlines_Navigating_Curating

Location

Room 4.36 RRST
Room 4.36, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU

Date

Nov 19 2018

Time

4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Labels

Department of Comparative Literature

Department of Comparative Literature

GLOBAL CINEMA AT GLOBAL AIRLINES: NAVIGATING AND CURATING

 

In recent years, since the introduction of individually controlled multi-channel entertainment systems on-board, it has become customary to see a growing range of international cinematic selections being made available to airline passengers. The film selection is no longer dominated by Hollywood fare; the average long-haul flights now feature films sourced out of Bollywood, East Asia, and Europe, as well as from other cinematic traditions—and the selection grows in size and in variety, especially on flights that bridge together far flung parts of the world. It is an unprecedented situation—to see global cinema “live”, as it were, on board of global airlines—that turns the airlines into territories of particular conviviality, as no similar levels of diversity are found in the actual geographical territories of the countries where the airlines are based. Some research questions that come up in this context, include: Is it possible to speculate that the programme that airlines make available to audiences on long-haul flights is reflective of a specific understanding of diversity and cosmopolitanism that underwrite their choices? What message does the multi-faceted and multi-national entertainment menu of global airlines convey in a political context that is defined by backlash against globalisation and cosmopolitanism? Can one claim that global airlines are now one of the few platforms where global cinema is recognized and represented in its largest assortment? In this talk, I will focus on some specific case studies, as well as discuss matters of navigating and curating an offer that is growing in complexity.

 

Speaker: Prof. Dina Iordanova
Moderator: Dr Winnie Yee (MALCS Programme Coordinator)

 

Speaker Bio:

Dina Iordanova is Professor of Global Cinema and Creative Cultures at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She has written on the various places where international cinema could be found – from ethnic food shops to the cinemas of Paris, from red carpeted film festival to online platforms like MUBI. As a global traveler, she admires the variety of films found on global airlines. Flying to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, British Airways, or Emirates is an opportunity to further her research.

Date: 19 November 2018 (Monday)
Time: 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Venue: Room 4.36, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus

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