Through the Looking Glass: On Otherness
6 Oct - 15 Oct 2020
As we go about our daily lives, how do we relate to otherness, the constant interaction with the rest of the population and the presence of others? Are we able to put ourselves in their shoes, or do we often project our own fears and insecurities on to them? What space do others occupy in our lives and how important are they?
This new cycle explores the phenomenon of otherness from an open and multidisciplinary perspective and features four films followed by talks with specialists from different fields.
Continually relating to other people is an intrinsic part of everyday life, but while it is an unparalleled source of enrichment, it also wears us down. In fact, more often than not our contact with others is limited to simple transactions that we carry out automatically, in pilot mode, to maintain an appropriate interpersonal safety distance.
Paradoxically, although we are always connected, in practice we build increasingly higher walls around ourselves, we don't know the names of our neighbours and we hardly have time for our diminishing circle of close family and friends.
In this new age of rapid and extreme digitalisation, in which physical contact is ill-advised, it is becoming more and more difficult to build bridges of understanding between different positions. Dialogue has once again given way to heightened tension and radicalisation.
Which is why there is an urgent need to return to the fundamental principle of understanding and accepting those around us. It is only by accepting their existence and trying to engage with them that we will be able to build empathy and strengthen the ties that are necessary to sustain any society in the long term and reduce inequalities.
After all, diversity is the common form that societies have adopted throughout their development. So it is only by creating shared spaces of understanding that we can address the urgent challenges we can no longer ignore, the ones that await us impatiently as we turn the next corner.
Programme (information in Spanish)
- Lo que dirán (What They Will Say) by Nila Núñez + talk with Noha El Haddad Boufares
- The Swedish Theory of Love by Erik Gandini + talk with David Antón
- In the Basement by Ulrich Seidl + talk with Ignacio Castro Rey
- It's Not the Time of My Life by S. Hajdu + talk with Sabina Urraca
Curated by: Víctor Berlín, film editor with a PhD in cinematographic analysis from the Complutense University, Madrid (UCM)