Revive Film Festival 2021

Breathing new life into films you thought you knew.

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Each week we watch movies, each Friday at 6 pm we get together to talk about them, 15 minutes at a time. Our curated movie selection is multidisciplinary in nature. We confront issues which require multiple approaches from Economics, SAC, Politics and Psychology.  

The review sessions are chaired by academics from different schools who love those movies and wish to share how they inspired them to think about their own discipline. They are open for all to express their thoughts or just listen in to what others have to say and be part of our diverse learning community. 

The inspiration for the festival arises from the need to fight isolation and reach out to others during these testing times. Good movies have the power to open up a world beyond the constrains of the space we inhabit. They open our mind to different perspectives and bring us together even if we are apart. 

Our first two movie choices “Hotel Rwanda” chosen by Dr Anirban Mitra in the School of Economics and “The Martian” chosen by Dr Devin Finaughty in SAC, cover a multitude of issues: Conflict, Development, Politics, Environment, Isolation.  

“Hotel Rwanda reflects the best and worst of human nature,” Anirban tells us about his choice “people willing to die for love, people who kill out of hatred and the economic and political constructs which might cause or reflect those feelings.”
“The Martian,” Devin explains “explores numerous themes which overlap the different Schools in the Division, principally that the exploration (and potential colonisation) of Mars poses numerous economic, technical, scientific, and psychological challenges to humanity which we have our work cut out to overcome.” 

“The two messages which really stood out for me are firstly, if the main character (Mark Whatney) was anything other than an astronaut, he would surely have died. Secondly, and perhaps more fundamental and poetic, the film drives home the message that Earth is precious. Earth is still theonly place in the known Universe where we can survive and thrive with relative ease and it is folly to think we can make another planet habitable when we are failing miserably at maintaining habitability on this one.” 

We will programme four weeks of films and all will be available on the bob platform. Just use your University log in to access it. And join the discussion at 6pm on Fridays, 22nd, 29th of January and 5th and 12th of Febuary. With any luck the 2022 Revive festival will be In Person and involve popcorn. For now, we’ll meet on Teams. 

Devin Finaughty recommends The Martian (2015) as the first week’s offer from SAC available here. 

Hotel Rwanda chosen by Dr Anirban Mitra is available here.  

Join us, Friday 6pm on Teams.