Monday, November 19, 2018 at 7:30pm
Cinema/Politics/Philosophy

155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn

A lecture by Nico Baumbach

“What does cinema think that nothing but it can think?” - Alain Badiou

Nico Baumbach presents an overview of his new book Cinema/Politics/Philosophy, the first major study of how continental philosophy after Deleuze has approached the subject of cinema, followed by a discussion with art historian Bettina Funcke.

“When contemporary continental philosophers Alain Badiou, Jacques Rancière, and Giorgio Agamben open up our thinking about cinema, what they offer is not film theory as ideology critique, nor is it film treated as philosophy, as a way to satisfy our metaphysical cravings. For these thinkers, cinema is its own form of thought, and philosophy encounters cinema when cinema itself creates ideas. In a 1987 lecture, Deleuze asked what it means for cinema to ‘have an idea,’ and each of these philosophers tries to answer this question in his own way. Their responses become intertwined with a more urgent query: What does it mean to call cinema political?” - NB

Nico Baumbach is Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at Columbia University.

This event is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.

Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 7pm.

Above: Alain Badiou in Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme.