Conference – Archives, Cinema and Collective Healing: Preserving Memory Through Film
4 April 2025, Hybrid Conference, UNATC headquarters (#3-b Tudor Arghezi Street) and online through Google Meets – https://meet.google.com/cui-kaod-dqs
To register for the conference, please fill out the submission form: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLScPQ84QgjGxGJ…/viewform
For those joining us online, you can connect via this link: https://meet.google.com/cui-kaod-dqs
Creatrix Fama and UNATC Bucharest proudly present this dynamic academic conference exploring the powerful intersection of cinema, archives, and collective healing. This hybrid event invites scholars, filmmakers, and archivists to discuss how film, archival practices, and innovative cinematic techniques serve as tools for understanding, processing, and preserving collective memory.
Keynote Speakers
• Maria Komninou, professor, expert in film restoration, and president of the Hellenic Film Archive.
• Kuba Mikurda, filmmaker and scholar, renowned for his psychoanalytic approach to archival filmmaking.
Conference Overview
The conference Archives, Cinema and Collective Healing: Preserving Memory Through Film, delves into how film, in its diverse forms, can serve as a powerful medium for healing. Presentations will explore the intersection of personal and societal histories, with a focus on how cinematic storytelling—through experimental and archival works—addresses the complexities of trauma and collective identity.Sessions will examine the relationship between film and memory, reflecting on the ways cinematic techniques and archival materials preserve historical memory while fostering healing. Discussions will also explore how various genres, such as family films and documentaries, can challenge or reinforce collective beliefs, offering audiences reflective and restorative ways to engage with the past.
Other Highlights
• Film Screening: Solaris Mon Amour, directed by Kuba Mikurda
• Special Presentation: MEGFEST EG
This conference is a unique opportunity to engage with international experts and groundbreaking ideas surrounding memory, trauma, and film as tools of cultural preservation and healing.
Don’t miss this in-depth exploration of the role of film in collective memory preservation and healing.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Welcome Address
Alexandru BERCEANU, PhD, Associate Professor, Vice-Rector for Research, Development and Innovation, UNATC
Mirona RADU, Research Assistant, UNATC; Festival Director, Film O’Clock International Festival
Sounding Memories – The Transformative Role of Documentary Film in Contemporary Music
Sabina ULUBEANU, PhD, Assistant Professor at the West University of Timișoara, Romania | Claudia van HASSELT, Mezzo, Producer and Storytelller in Music, Germany
Historical Reality and Archive Effect in the Digital Era
Alexandru STERIAN, PhD, Professor, Head of UNATC “I.L. Caragiale” Doctoral School, Romania
Lies Are Just Another Way of Telling the Truth: Trauma through Narrative Exposure Therapy
Șerban Mark POP, Babeș Bolyai University, Romania
Vâlva Băii – Legends and Social Mysticity Gateway to Social Order in Human Behaviour
Lucian ȚIGĂNUȘ, PhD candidate, UNATC “I.L. Caragiale”, Romania
Family Movies
Documentary Archival Archaeology-Researching Abandoned Private Film Collection
Dan CUREAN, PhD, Associate Professor, Babeș Bolyai University, Romania
Temporal Ellipsis – Between Ideological and Self-Reflective Tool
Cecilia ȘTEFĂNESCU, Phd candidate, Babeș Bolyai University, Romania
Presentation: MEGFEST EG
KEYNOTE
Maria KOMNINOS, PhD, Professor Emeritus, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
A Diffractive Approach to Archive Film Performativity
Ruxandra-Maria GHIȚESCU, PhD candidate, University of Bucharest, Faculty of Letters, SD-SITT, Romania
The Narrative Encounter: Ethics and Aesthetics in the Documentary Interview
Christina STUHLBERGER, PhD Candidate, filmmaker, LUCA School of Arts/KU Leuven, Belgium
Land of Salvation: A Cinematic Journey Through the History of the Fight Against Tuberculosis
Ifigenia DIMITRIOU, PhD candidate, School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Asimina GRIGORIOU, PhD candidate, Department of Archives, Library Science and Museology, Ionian University, Greece
The Past as Present: The Issue of Trauma in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (2023)
Maria ANDRONIKOU, PhD, School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens & Stavrakos Film School, Greece
Superimposed Histories. The Architecture of Trauma in The Brutalist
Teodora CRIȘAN, PhD Candidate, Babeș Bolyai University, Romania
Silenced Narratives: The Censorship of World War II Films in the Soviet Union and Contemporary Russia
Olga LUCOVNICOVA, PhD candidate, KU Leuven, Belgium
Reality Recomposed – Reflexive Socialism in Dziga Vertov’s “Man with a Movie Camera”
Vlad BELCIN, PhD candidate, UNATC “I.L. Cargiale”, Romania
Islands of Labour—The Church at Jacob Circle
Elroy PINTO, Filmmaker, Researcher
AI and Collective Memory: Preserving Identity Through an AI-NPC Avatar
Florin Adrian MARC, PhD candidate, Babeș Bolyai University, Romania
KEYNOTE
Kuba MIKURDA, Filmmaker, Associate Professor at Film School in Łódź, Poland, followed by
SCREENING
SOLARIS MON AMOUR directed by Kuba Mikurda (exclusively at CINETIC)
About the Film O’Clock International Festival
The conference is part of the fifth edition of the Film O’Clock International Festival, organized by Creatrix Fama, in partnership with UNATC Bucharest, and co-financed by The Administration of the National Cultural Fund in Romania (AFCN).
The festival has become a significant cultural bridge between Europe and Africa, growing from five countries in 2021 to include 11 nations. It now offers simultaneous screenings, live Q&A sessions, online conferences, and masterclasses, creating a unique cross-cultural space for filmmakers and audiences.
This year’s edition is organized under the aegis of Solidarity on Screen – Polish Presidency Film Review, supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2025.