As part of the Paris School of Arts and Culture’s UNITE | REBEL MA Festival, Dr Frances Guerin, Senior Lecturer in Film, along with Professor Ben Hutchinson and Dr Lauren Ware will be taking part in a webinar entitled ‘Literature, Life and Lockdown: How the Humanities can help the Species Survive’ on Monday 1 June at 2pm BST.
The UNITE | REBEL festival is the 2020 iteration of an annual postgraduate festival based at the Paris School of Arts and Culture, which will take place online from Monday 1 June to Friday 5 June. The festival theme was selected by a group of humanities students with diverse interests, but all committed to exploring the tensions between unity and rebellion, to sparking debates around what these concepts mean in our daily lives, and to having a wonderful time. Among others, Arts students involved in the festival include Festival Director Ryann Dwyer (MA Film), Academic Conference Coordinator Madeleine Piggott (MA History and Philosophy of Art), and Film Festival Curator Matylda Makowska (MA Film).
The webinar featuring Frances will focus on how lockdown means different things to different people. One thing it has meant to all of us is more time with ourselves. How can the Humanities help us reflect on our grave new world? What lessons can we learn from the past as we look to a future beyond lockdown? What can culture teach us about quarantine? Drawing on examples from the history of literature, philosophy, and cinema, scholars from the University of Kent’s Division of Arts and Humanities will discuss the value of thought in the age of confinement. If the UK’s government’s advice is to ‘stay alert’, perhaps the Arts can help teach us what this means.
The event is free to attend and open to all. Register here to gain access to the webinar:
https://kentunieuropeancentres.zoom.us/webinar/register/6515882523006/WN_Mw_GtNpFSXCywUNaZamPVA
In addition to the webinar featuring Frances, the festival will host a variety of events including an academic conference and The Menteur magazine launch, as well as a Film Festival on Thursday 4 June at 6pm BST, which features two films by School of Arts alumna Nimasu Namsaren: Mazhvuda, and A Recycled Film.
The full list of events can be found on the festival website here:
www.uniterebelfestival.com/events