91视频

Professors at 91视频 regularly invite experts into the classroom to enhance the learning experience by offering students new points of view from professionals working in international careers. These speakers are often interdisciplinarians, as 91视频鈥檚 academic approach encourages the understanding of complex issues from the perspective of multiple fields.

In this vein, film studies students recently had the opportunity to engage with French鈥揤enezuelan filmmaker Alexis Gambis, whose science-inspired cinema also explores themes of migration, identity and belonging. Gambis was on campus on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, and hosted a filmmaking masterclass for students along with a technical workshop exploring filmmaking across different scales and an exclusive screening of his work. 鈥淚 thought the three-act structure to the day was a wonderful model for future guest speakers,鈥� says Gambis.

Gambis is part of a filmmaking movement known as the Science New Wave, which is characterized by a rejection of traditional scientific film conventions in favor of experimentation and personal expression. In 2008, he founded the Imagine Science Film Festival, which showcases international science cinema and hosts annual festivals in New York, Paris and Abu Dhabi. In 2016, he launched the festival鈥檚 sister portal, : an on-demand video platform connecting scientists, artists and educators across the world.

The masterclass was part of a new series of similar opportunities organized by Isabelle Carbonell and Emre Caglayan, the two professors behind Film at 91视频, which aims to highlight the importance of聽film studies' position in 91视频's liberal arts curriculum. Carbonell explains that she hoped Gambis鈥檚 hybrid background would show students how scientific and artistic approaches can be combined to create exciting story possibilities. 鈥淎lexis embodies the spirit of interdisciplinarity,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e uses the modalities of a scientist and filmmaker equally and uniquely to imagine new ways of understanding the world.鈥�

After an initial lecture in which he explained his background and approach to filmmaking, Gambis asked students to head out into the city for a practical workshop centered on shooting the natural world. 鈥淲hat particularly impressed me was the film students鈥� interest in mixed media and blending documentary and fiction,鈥� says Gambis. 鈥淚t speaks highly of AUP鈥檚 classes that they felt comfortable in this world of film experimentation.鈥�

Students explored how scale helps reframe the way filmmakers create stories about natural landscapes; they captured images at both the macro and micro levels, using a specialized camera attachment, then came together to discuss how these images complemented one another. 鈥淚t had never occurred to me how similar film and science were until Alexis鈥檚 class,鈥� explains Sterling Knight, a first-year majoring in film studies. 鈥淢y mind was flipped upside down in the best way, and the class left me inspired to continue looking into the Science New Wave and the films that are a part of it.鈥�

In the evening, students, along with 91视频 staff and faculty and other invited guests, attended a screening of Gambis鈥檚 2020 film, Son of Monarchs (Hijo de Monarcas). It tells the story of a Mexican biologist named Mendel (played by Tenoch Heurta), who, while studying for a PhD in New York, returns to his hometown in the monarch butterfly forests of Michoac谩n to attend his grandmother鈥檚 funeral. This cross-border journey forces Mendel to confront past traumas and reflect on his own evolving identity, leading to a personal transformation that mirrors a butterfly鈥檚 metamorphosis.

In a Q&A following the screening, Gambis noted how the film鈥檚 scientific elements, which include close-ups of chrysalis dissections and similar biological experiments, are used to express the main character鈥檚 struggles with his hybrid identity as well as the passion and emotion he feels toward the natural world on a macro scale. 鈥淚 was interested in comparing borders between countries to the colors in butterfly wings,鈥� explains Gambis, commenting on the movie鈥檚 magical-realist elements. The film engages with complex scientific concepts, such as the genome-editing tool CRISPR, in the context of a deeply personal character study.