StFX will be co-hosting a virtual international congress and a film festival that will bring together researchers from across the globe to discuss Hispanic film and literature.
Dr. Maria S. Paz-Mackay, from StFX’s Department of Modern Languages along with Dr. Diana Pifano (Dalhousie University) and Dr. Giovanna Pollarolo (PUCP) are the co-organizers of the Second International Congress on Literary and Cinematic Representations of the Self: When I Refer to Myself, Who Am I Really Speaking About? to be held virtually from November 22-24.
Open access to the public is available, via links on the conference website https://posgrado.pucp.edu.pe/maestria/maestria-escritura-creativa/eventos/
The event brings together researchers in Hispanic studies from across Canada, the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador who share an interest in exploring artistic representations of the self, and how the artistic process, politics, and ethics (re)configure the artist's experiences.
Discussions pertaining to cinema will be complemented by a virtual film festival taking place from November 22-29. Online screenings will be available to both conference participants and the public.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for students at StFX because they have the unique chance to join all the presentations and watch the films online,” Dr. Paz-Mackay says.
Keynote speakers include renowned Mexican authors, Margo Glantz and Cristina Rivera Garza, and Argentine critic Julia Musitano. Students will have access to the following films (registration is free and pre-registration is required):
• La casa de los conejos (Argentina, 2021) directed by Valeria Selinger
• Como el cielo después de llover (Colombia, 2020) directed by Mercedes Gaviria
• Tote Abuelo (México, 2019) directed by María Sojob
• La bronca (Perú, 2019) directed by Daniel and Diego Vega
All films will be in Spanish with English subtitles. A roundtable discussion with the four filmmakers will close the conference.
“This conference will give attendees a sense of the key questions surrounding the study of representations of the self across various genres, as well as the methodological approaches being employed across the continent,” Dr. Paz-Mackay says.
She highlighted that the event was born of the success of the First International Congress and the organizers’ desire to expand on the fruitful dialogue established at that conference, held in Lima in 2019.
This open-access virtual congress will host discussions on the boundaries between fiction, autobiographies, memoirs, autofictions, testimonies, and chronicles in literature and film, establishing paths for understanding subjectivity within the context of ethics, politics, and aesthetics.
Dr. Paz-Mackay is happy to be part of the organizing team and is thankful to the StFX community for the support to make this event possible. The StFX Research Office, the Dean of Arts Office and the Department of Modern Languages have all supported this project.
Everyone is encouraged to attend.
This research is, in part, made possible by the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.
