Sorry for cross-posting.
*University of St Andrews*
*Centre for Film Studies 18 November 2008, 5:15 pm,
Board Room, 99 North Street
*
*LARS KRISTENSEN, University of St. Andrews, Scotland*
*"BYCICLE CINEMA: BIKES, RACING and MASTER NARRATIVES"*
*Abstract:*
Moving images of bicycles and its riders are multiple: from the ‘first'
(/Leaving the Lumière Factory/, 1895), to modern classics like /Bicycle
Thieves/ (1948) and its post-communist remake /Beijing Bicycle/ (2001).
Moreover, many well-known directors have started their filmmaking
careers with films that offer bicycles in pivotal roles, for example,
Ridley Scott's /Boy and Bicycle/ (1965), Roman Polanski's lost first
film /The Bicycle/ (1955), or Colin McKenzie in /Forgotten Silver/
(Botes and Jackson, 1995). The topic of this talk will be cinema's
affinities with the bicycle; as the above-mentioned films illustrate,
the bicycle and cinema share an intricate relationship.Scanning film
theories for a framing set up, I will be ‘studying sideways' revealing
master narratives that make possible cross-genre and transnational
generic readings of bicycle cinema. There will be an emphasis on the
films that concentrate on the bike race and, in particular, the
documentary films of Danish Jørgen Leth, /The Stars and the Water
Carriers/ (1974) and /A Sunday in Hell/ (1976), and the autobiographical
film, /The Flying Scotsman/ (2006).
*Bio:*
Lars Kristensen is a PhD candidate in Film Studies at the University of
St. Andrews. His forthcoming thesis addresses issues of the
representations of transnational cinematic representations and
narratives of migrating Russians from the post-communist period.
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