Monday 16 December, 12:00 - 6:00pm and Tuesday 17 December, 9:15am - 6:30pm
20 years since its release, Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut remains a complex, visually arresting film about domesticity, sexual disturbance, and dreams. This was the final enigmatic work from its equally enigmatic creator. It has left an indelible mark on our popular culture and remains as relevant as ever. Much maligned and much misunderstood when it first came out, Eyes Wide Shut has since been the subject of an animated debate and discussion among critics and academics. It has been explored from a wide variety of disciplines and methodological perspectives. This symposia will bring together scholars and fans from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, as well as those who worked on the film itself, to explore Eyes Wide Shut twenty years since its release, discuss its impact and consider its position within Kubrick’s oeuvre and the wider visual and socio-political culture.
Ticket Prices: (Prices include refreshment breaks and a light sandwich lunch on both days)
Adult: £50.00
Student/Concession: £25 (please show a valid NUS card at registration)
UAL + Bangor Students & Staff: there are a limited number of complimentary places on a first come first served basis!
Behind Eyes Wide Shut
Conference Programme
Day One
Time | Event | Location |
12.00 | Registration (tea/coffee and sandwiches on registration) | Reception & Lower Gallery, LCC |
12.30 | Welcome and introduction | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
12.45 | Panel 1: Manca Perko Stanley Kubrick’s last film and the question of authorship: Is Eyes Wide Shut the film Kubrick wanted us to see?
Jeremi Szaniawski A cloaked and masked film, or, the not so strange case of the critical misunderstanding around Eyes Wide Shut. | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
14.15 | Break (tea and coffee) | Lower Gallery, LCC |
14.30 | Panel 2: Eddie Falvey Framing Eye Wide Shut as a Late-90s ‘Quality’ Blockbuster: Authorship and Stardom in Kubrick’s Final Film
Matt Melia Eyes Wide Shut: The Last Cult Film of the 20th Century
Catriona McAvoy Eyes Wide Shut, Sex and Scandal in 2019 | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
16.00 | Break | Lower Gallery, LCC |
16.15 | Keynote lecture: Yolande Snaith A Choreographic Liaison | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
17.15 | Drinks reception | Lower Gallery, LCC |
Day Two
Time | Event | Location |
09.15 | Registration for second day delegates | Reception, LCC |
09.45 | Panel 3: Ruggero Eugeni Eyes Wide Shut: A monument to Anymodernity
Mateja ᴆedović Albert Camus’ A Christmas Carol, or Eyes Wide Shut and Absurdism
Marie Josephine Bennett Eyes Re-opened – Enlightenment Through Music in Eyes Wide Shut | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
11.15 | Break (tea and coffee) | Lower Gallery, LCC |
11.45 | Panel 4: Anna Friederike Dajka The Harfords’ relationship in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut
Jose Maanmieli 'Millions of years of evolution, right?' | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
13.15 | Lunch | Lower Gallery, LCC |
14.00 | Panel 5: Elisa Pezzotta ‘Galeotto fu ‘l libro e chi lo scrisse’ / ’That book, and he who wrote it, was a pander’ (Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, ca. 1320, Inferno Canto V line 137, translation by John Ciardi)
Maarten Coëgnart Kubrick as a conceptual illustrator of the human condition: The embodied aesthetics of Eyes Wide Shut | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
15.30 | Break | Lower Gallery, LCC |
15.45 | Panel 6: Filippo Ulivieri ‘Infidelity troubled him deeply’: Stanley Kubrick and the root of Eyes Wide Shut
Lawrence Ratna A Viennese Waltz: Schnitzler, Freud and Kubrick
Jake Cowan Believing is Easy with Eyes Wide Shut: Kubrick and Conspiratorial Rhetoric | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
17.15 | Break | Lower Gallery, LCC |
17.30 | Plenary panel and Q&A: Abigail Good, Tim Everett, Kira-Ann Pelican, Chris Baker, Peter Cavaciuti. | Lecture Theatre C, LCC |
This event is brought to you by the UAL Archives and Special Collections Centre in collaboration with Bangor University and has been generously funded by the British Association for American Studies and the US Embassy in London.
Accessibility
London College of Communication strives to provide an inclusive and accessible environment for our students and visitors. If you have any specific access requirements for an event or exhibition, please contact us by email ([log in to unmask]) or phone (020 7514 8498) in advance of your visit so that we can make any necessary preparations or adjustments. For full access and route guides for our building, please view our AccessAble accessibility guide.
Find Us
London College of Communication is located in the heart of London, at Elephant & Castle. The College is based on a single site, within easy reach of various parts of the city and well served by tube, bus and rail networks. Find out more about getting here on our Find Us page.
Important Filming and Photography Notice:
Please note that filming and photography will be taking place throughout the event. Both bigger crowds, smaller groups and individuals may be captured on camera.
All imagery and footage may at some point be published on the College's website, social media channel and in print.