Film and Debate Series: "The Many Faces of Forgiveness"
Every Tuesday and Thursday in July, La Casa Encendida will host film and debate sessions that explore the theme of forgiveness and its myriad facets. We will screen seven feature films followed by discussions with experts from different fields: psychiatry, sociology, psychology, journalism, film criticism, etc.
Forgiveness is a word that can mean many things depending on the perspective from which we choose to analyse it. Gandhi said, "Forgiveness is the virtue of the brave. He alone who is strong enough to avenge a wrong knows how to love (and forgive)." It is not easy to assess forgiveness or the act of forgiving: Can every offence be forgiven? What does it mean to forgive? It may mean forgiving yourself in order to go on living—in other words, forgiveness as a survival mechanism. Or it can involve understanding the other and trying to build a new relationship. Forgiving can also be surviving, going our separate ways without resentment, hate or thoughts of revenge.
This topic raises many complicated questions and ideas. Is forgiveness something that only exists between people? What about entire countries? Or when a society's actions have heaped misfortune upon other groups? The word forgiveness also has many psychological, political, ideological and religious connotations. In this new film and debate series, we will try to delve deeper into the subject as we watch seven feature films and discuss them afterwards.
Curated by: Isabel Sánchez Fernández, a journalist who has organised film series and talks at different institutions for years and author of the cinema blog www.hildyjohnson.es
