BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sabre//Sabre VObject 4.5.8//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Zurich X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Zurich TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19810329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19961027T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news690@english.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260427T133431 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260428T101500 SUMMARY:Poetry\, Politics and Place: Representing Class in British Cinema DESCRIPTION:This session will explore Clio Barnard’s The Arbor (2010) and The Selfish Giant (2013) through the lens of the British social realist t radition. Both films engage self-consciously with the history of working-c lass representation in British cinema\, while also – along with works by the likes of Andrea Arnold and Shane Meadows – marking new terrain for realist cinema in the 21st century. We will draw on Ken Loach’s Kes (196 9) as both a foundational text for realist cinema\, and as a rich intertex t for Barnard\, as she seeks to reimagine its class politics and poetic re gister for an age of social atomisation and precarity. We will explore the working-class child as a recurring figure in realist cinema\, and will ex amine the importance of landscape and the non-human as mechanisms for mean ing-making within the mode\; these elements are central to an impulse with in British realist cinema that marries political commitment with lyricism\ , stretching from Kes to the Selfish Giant and beyond. \\r\\nThe first ha lf of the session will work as an illustrated talk\, while the second half will see us explore in collaboration the three films\, reflecting on thei r place within traditions of working-class culture in Britain and revealin g and analysing the relationships between form and meaning in the films.  \\r\\nBiography\\r\\nDavid Forrest is Professor in Film and Television Stu dies at the University of Sheffield\, where he is also Deputy Vice-Preside nt for Education (Student Experience). His research explores questions of realism\, class\, region\, and sport in British film\, television\, and li terature. His most recent book is a volume of the BFI Film Classics series on Kes (2024)\, and he is the author of New Realisms: Contemporary Britis h Cinema (2020)\, Social Realism: Art\, Nationhood and Politics (2013)\; c o-author of Film Audiences: Personal journeys with film (2023)\, and Barry Hines: Kes\, Threads and Beyond (2018)\; and co-editor of Social Class an d Television Drama in Contemporary Britain (2016)\, and Filmurbia: Screen ing the Suburbs (2017). He sits on the editorial board for Studies in Euro pean Cinema and The Journal of British Cinema and Television\, and with Me lanie Williams he co-edits the ‘British Cinema Series’ for Bloomsbury/ BFI. X-ALT-DESC:

This session will explore Clio Barnard’s The Arbor ( 2010) and The Selfish Giant (2013) through the lens of the British social realist tradition. Both films engage self-consciously with the hist ory of working-class representation in British cinema\, while also – alo ng with works by the likes of Andrea Arnold and Shane Meadows – marking new terrain for realist cinema in the 21st century. We will draw on Ken Lo ach’s Kes (1969) as both a foundational text for realist cinema\, and as a rich intertext for Barnard\, as she seeks to reimagine its class politics and poetic register for an age of social atomisation and precari ty. We will explore the working-class child as a recurring figure in reali st cinema\, and will examine the importance of landscape and the non-human as mechanisms for meaning-making within the mode\; these elements are cen tral to an impulse within British realist cinema that marries political co mmitment with lyricism\, stretching from Kes to the Selfish Gian t and beyond. \;

\n

The first half of the session will work a s an illustrated talk\, while the second half will see us explore in colla boration the three films\, reflecting on their place within traditions of working-class culture in Britain and revealing and analysing the relations hips between form and meaning in the films.
 \;

\n

B iography

\n

David Forrest is Professor in Film and Televisio n Studies at the University of Sheffield\, where he is also Deputy Vice-Pr esident for Education (Student Experience). His research explores question s of realism\, class\, region\, and sport in British film\, television\, a nd literature. His most recent book is a volume of the BFI Film Classics s eries on Kes (2024)\, and he is the author of New Realisms: Cont emporary British Cinema (2020)\, Social Realism: Art\, Nationhood a nd Politics (2013)\; co-author of Film Audiences: Personal journeys with film (2023)\, and Barry Hines: Kes\, Threads and Beyond ( 2018)\; and co-editor of Social Class and Television Drama in Contempor ary Britain \;(2016)\, and Filmurbia: Screening the Suburbs (2017). He sits on the editorial board for Studies in European Cinema and The Journal of British Cinema and Television\, and with Mel anie Williams he co-edits the ‘British Cinema Series’ for Bloomsbury/B FI.

DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20260428T120000 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR