Speculations on Subversive Curating

As the world precariously navigates consequences of wars, divisive ideologies, and the threat of climate change, this panel looks to facilitate a generative discussion on the recent shifts and changes in film programming. As curators and programmers today try to actively respond, critique, and resist these socio-political and economic situations, there are many questions to reflect upon: How do festival programmers navigate sensitivities in today’s current political climate in which cultural policies and ideologies of nation states often determine what can and cannot be screened? What are some of the strategies, processes and methodologies that curators are adopting to avoid self-censorship so as to continue exhibiting works that redefine cinema and simultaneously critique and challenge the status quo?

With: Erika Balsom, Tobias Hering, Azar Mahmoudian
Moderation: Shai Heredia (Member of the Forum Expanded curatorial team)

Erika Balsom is a scholar and critic based in London, working on cinema, art, and their intersection. She is a reader in Film Studies at King’s College London.

Tobias Hering is a freelance curator whose work focuses on thematic film programs that deal with questions of image politics and the role of archives. He lives and works in Berlin.

Azar Mahmoudian is an independent curator and educator based in Teheran and Vienna. Since 2020 she has been is running the collective study program, A Summer School: For a Summer Yet to Come, in Tehran.