Speech!

Cultural philosopher Tom Dommisse speaks about the speech as powerful and filmic instrument, showing excerpts from film and TV.

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Information

Date and time Friday 19 January 2018 20:00 tot 20:50 uur
Location Filmhuis - zaal 1

The speech is a powerful instrument. Through its form and content it is by definition also very filmic. Christopher Nolan knows this as he uses one of the most famous speeches - Winston Churchill's We shall fight them on the beaches speech - in his film Dunkirk.

The speeches that are remembered and revered are often those that mark historical turning points. Such as Robert Kennedy who, right after Martin Luther King got murdered on April 4, 1968, finds the power to state that it is best to accept the moment hoping that we grow wiser in time. These historic speeches keep returning in movies. But how about the present day speeches? Are historic speeches something from the past? 

Gerlinda Heywegen and cultural and political philosopher Tom Dommisse discussed the function and beauty of the speech, based (of course) on some well-chosen exceprts from film and television.

Gerlinda Heywegen

(1968) is a programmer, writer, organizer, lecturer and podcaster, mainly on the subject of film and often in combination with literature. Koning Film is the collective of speakers on film that she established. Heywegen's books include The Other Director, about directors of photography; she collaborated with Frans Westra on Passie voor Cinema (Passion for Cinema), which highlights four decades of film screenings in the Netherlands; and she edited and wrote for the film magazine Skrien. Currently, she writes regularly for the websites of the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers and literary magazine Elders.
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Tom Dommisse

(1958) is a philosopher and lecturer on the esthetics of music and cultural philosophy at the Royal Conservatory. Since his time as a university researcher, he has worked in the border areas of philosophy where it encounters literature, theatre and politics. He has published on themes of esthetics, metaphysics, political philosophy and the philosophy of law. According to Dommisse, all philosophy again faces the challenge of linking an academic level of thought with the need to carefully bring it into the public sphere. Theatre companies seek him out for wanted and unwanted dramaturgical advice. He is involved with the work of Thomas Mann and Pasolini and nurtures a passion for Shakespeare. Together with STET English Theatre, he organized a Shakespeare festival in 2016 and 2018.
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