International Film Festival & Symposium
International Film Festival & Symposium on Consent
An Albertine Cinémathèque Selection
Texas State University
April 4 through 15, 2022
The spring 2022 International Film Festival & Symposium will take place over two weeks (April 4-15) with concurrent screenings online, on the Texas State University campus, and in two community venues: the San Marcos Public Library and the popular local coffee shop Stellar Coffee Co. Devoted to an in-depth examination through film of the history, applications, and abuses of the notion of consent, the festival and symposium’s screenings, discussions, and roundtables will include the participation of regional crisis advocates, national, international, and Texas State scholars. Speakers will explore the intersections between political and personal consent in the moderation of films from France and Francophone countries, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, and the United States.
Among the many interesting projects that competed for a festival grant, the Albertine Cinémathèque Selection Committee has chosen the Texas State University International Film Festival and Symposium on Consent as one of the 35 festivals nationally selected for their excellent program of events and for the large support they will receive across many departments within the organizing university. Together with Texas A&M University at College Station and the University of Houston, Downtown, Texas State's application is one of only 3 laureates in Texas.
The idea of consent (or lack thereof) entails both personal and political aspects, stressing the interface that exists between these two levels of engagement with the world. University policies and compliance enforcement address matters of consent, but events of the last few years (as revealed by the #MeToo movement or migrant crises in Europe and at the border) underline the complexities of the concept, its topicality, and the need to address it more directly. The festival organizers envision that a greater awareness of the notion of consent – contextualized through film – will open an important and potentially transformative community and campus conversation.
What is Consent?
Consent is "a voluntary agreement to another's proposition" or "to an act or proposal of another, which may range from contracts to sexual relations." (Law.com)
"[I]n ethics and political philosophy, [consent is] an act of permitting something to be done or of recognizing some authority. Granting consent implies relinquishing some authority in a sphere of concern in which one’s sovereignty ought otherwise to be respected. Consent is, under certain conditions, generally taken to have deep moral significance, but scholars disagree over what forms of consent generate what sorts of obligations and what conditions make consent morally and legally significant." (Loren A. King, “Consent,” Britannica)
"Consent is a voluntary, enthusiastic, and clear agreement between the participants to engage in specific sexual activity. Period. There is no room for different views on what consent is. People incapacitated by drugs or alcohol cannot consent. If clear, voluntary, coherent, and ongoing consent is not given by all participants, it’s sexual assault. There’s no room for ambiguity or assumptions when it comes to consent, and there aren’t different rules for people who’ve hooked up before." (Healthline.com)
The International Film Festival & Symposium is dedicated to exploring the topic of consent from four perspectives:
- Age of Consent & Abuse will consider "age of consent laws", "rights of the child", #MeToo and LGBTQ+ affirmation versus intolerance, predatory behaviors, and sexual abuse. Festival films Little Boy, Slalom, and Little Girl will focus on these topics.
- Consent & Family Affairs will emphasize the prevalence of family relationships from marital consent to domestic violence in defining the concept. Festival films 35 Shots of Rum, Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom, and By the Grace of God will focus on this aspect.
- Tales of Consent & Dissent will shift the focus from the personal to the political, concentrating on allegorical works that bring to life consent’s foundational role in society, some of its philosophical tenets and limits, as well as the narrative and rhetorical strategies which have been used to enforce or circumvent it. Among the many and various films to be screened under this heading will be Beauty and the Beast, Hyenas, and Parasite.
- Consent in Post-Modern/Post-Colonial Societies will feature The Story of a Three-Day Pass, Soleil Ô, and The Society of the Spectacle, films which offer radical demonstrations of the intersections between the personal and political implications of the "manufacture of consent.”
The students of the Dance Division at Texas State University have been invited to create dance videos inspired from narratives that navigate, in one way or another, the concept of consent. These original clips will be selected for screening at the festival, and an award for the audience best-ranked video will be presented to close the event on April 15, 2022.
This event may include readings, media, and discussion around topics such as sexual assault, domestic violence, physical violence, and identity-based discrimination and harassment. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and encourage you to care for your safety and well-being.
Schedule
Week 1
“Age of Consent & Abuse” / 3 films / Monday April 4 / 6-8 pm
Register in advance for the Zoom portion of this event: https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEodOupqzMqHt1qtj3Ji9YoI7UYOAiVGzC6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
1) Online: Little Boy, by Roland Klick, 1968, German
When the parents of a suburban, middle-class family go to a party, they leave Achim and his baby sister under the supervision of Monika, the neighbor's daughter. Soon after the parents are gone, Monika ditches babysitting to go out with her boyfriend, and Achim murders the baby by means of suffocation. Roland Klick's debut feature is a film that uses cinema as a means to comment on German society. Much of the film is spent in the aftermath of the crime with the parents and neighbors trying to figure out who is responsible with both Monika and Achim denying any involvement or taking any responsibility for their actions.
Suggested and run by Dr. Lisa Haegele, Assistant Professor of German, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
2) On Campus (Centennial Hall G02): Slalom, by Charlène Favier, 2020, French
This Cannes-selected #MeToo drama from debut filmmaker Charlène Favier follows the relationship between a teenage ski prodigy and her predatory instructor, played by Dardenne brothers’ collaborator Jérémie Renier. In a breakthrough role, Noée Abita plays 15-year-old Lyz, a high school student in the French Alps who has been accepted to an elite ski club known for producing some of the country’s top professional athletes.
Run by Dr. Jennifer Forrest, Professor of French, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
3) In Community (Stellar Coffee co.): Little Girl, by Sébastien Lifshitz, 2020, French
Petite Fille is the portrait of 7-year-old Sasha, who has always known that she is a girl. Sasha’s family has recently accepted her gender identity, embracing their daughter for who she truly is while working to confront outdated norms and find affirmation in a small community of rural France.
Run by Dr. Carole Martin, Professor of French, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
Stellar Coffee Co address: 232 N LBJ Dr #101, San Marcos, TX 78666
“Tales of Consent & Dissent” / 3 films / Wednesday April 6 / 6-8 pm
Register in advance for the Zoom portion of this event: https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEodOupqzMqHt1qtj3Ji9YoI7UYOAiVGzC6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
1) Online: Hyenas, by Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1992, Senegalese
Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambéty sets an intriguing tale that speaks to the African continent’s complex place in the global order: his protagonist comes back to her hometown with a proposal to give its citizens an extraordinary amount of money, if they accept to kill their future mayor, who, she reveals, impregnated and abandoned her when she was a teenager. The vexed citizens initially reject her offer, but as the town’s debt accumulates in the face of a flood of consumer goods, the abuser begins to fear for his life.
Run by Babacar Tall, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
2) On Campus (Centennial Hall G02): Nights of Cabiria, by Federico Fellini, 1957, Italian
Cabiria works as a prostitute, becoming entangled in a series of relationships that eschew “consent”, before falling in love and accepting to get married to Oscar, yet another embezzler who intends to kill her and steal her money. Like other neo-realistic films, Le Notti di Cabiria is aimed toward the development of a theme. Its interest is not so much the conflicts that occur in the life of the heroine as the deep, underlying implications that the pattern of her life shows.
Suggested and run by Dr. Jessica Pliley, Associate Professor of the History of Women, Genders, and Sexualities, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
3) In Community (San Marcos Public Library): Sisters of the Gion, by Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936, Japanese
Two geisha sisters lead a hard life in Kyoto’s Gion district. When one of them feels obliged to help a ruined businessman, the other sister cooks up various schemes to get rid of him. Whereas one sister embodies a very traditional discretion in expressing her emotions, the other flouts codes and morals.
Suggested and run by Dr. Maria-Luisa Gomez Ramirez, Senior Lecturer of French, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
San Marcos Public Library address: 625 E Hopkins St, San Marcos, TX 78666
Thursday Nuit Blanche / April 7
From “Tales of Consent & Dissent” to “Consent in Post-Modern/Post-Colonial Societies”
7 films (3 double features + 1 community screening)
Register in advance for Online Double Feature 1:
https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEodOupqzMqHt1qtj3Ji9YoI7UYOAiVGzC6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
1) Online Double Feature 1 (French):
a) Beauty and the Beast, by Jean Cocteau, 1946
A defining influence on filmmakers as different as Ingmar Bergman and François Truffaut, this adaptation of the classic fairy tale by iconoclastic novelist, playwright, artist, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau is a deeply ambiguous work about the foundational role of consent.
b) Portrait of a Lady on Fire, by Céline Sciamma, 2019
In the late eighteenth-century, Marianne, a female painter, travels to an island off the coast of Brittany to paint a portrait of Héloïse, a young woman whose mother has recently taken her out of a convent to marry her to an Italian nobleman whom she has never met. But Héloïse refuses to sit for a portrait she knows will be offered to her prospective husband.
Run by Scarlett Cado, with surveys but no discussion/6-10 pm
This is the second double feature event for April 7, 2022. For the events listed below, please register in advance: https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMkde6prj8oEtfjrsgK7gvmqug8BeRWZwgA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
2) Online Double Feature 2 (German and South-Korean):
a) The Edukators, by Hans Weingartner, 2004
Young, anti-capitalist Berlin activists involved in a love triangle, invade upper-class houses, rearrange the furniture, and leave notes identifying themselves. Weingartner, a former activist, wrote the film based on his experiences and chose to use nonviolent characters. His work has now become a cult production of the "German New Wave", and it has inspired real-life actions.
b) Parasite, by Bong Joon-ho, 2019
The film portrays the history of a family of two parents and two teenagers that lives in extreme poverty. They are trying to find a way to better their lives, while ending up lying and deceiving rich people. The issue it raises is: how far can human beings take their scams to become better versions of themselves, and how come they lived in such poverty?
Run by Jonmarcus Burnette, with surveys but no discussion/6-10 pm
3) On Campus Double Feature in Centennial Hall G02 (American and Mauritanian):
a) The Story of Three-Day Pass, by Melvin Van Peebles, 1967
Channeling the exuberance of the French New Wave, Van Peebles creates an exploration of the psychology of an interracial relationship as well as a commentary on France’s contradictory attitudes about race that laid the foundation for the blaxploitation cinematic revolution he would unleash just a few years later with Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.
b) Soleil Ô, by Med Hondo, 1970
The late Mauritanian-French writer-director-producer Med Hondo was a trailblazer in making independent films that featured the lives of African immigrants in Europe and denounced all forms of oppression. His first feature Soleil Ô, self-financed and shot over three years in the aftermath of May 68, follows the fortunes of an African immigrant in Paris whose initial excitement about the capital of "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" turns into a withering verdict on the effects of colonial history.
Run by Carole Martin, with surveys but no discussion/6-10 pm
4) In Community (Stellar Coffee Co.): Caramel, by Nadine Labaki, 2007, Lebanese
Labaki, a Lebanese writer, director, and actress depicts the life of five Lebanese women who work in a beauty salon in Beirut, Lebanon. They struggle between their desire to live free and their obligation to tradition, religion, and family rules. The contradictions and the issues they have to deal with in their life are woven in an intriguing manner that illustrates both compliance and resistance to societal norms.
Suggested and run by Noha Mohama-Akkari, Instructor of Arabic, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A/6-8 pm
Stellar Coffee Co address: 232 N LBJ Dr #101, San Marcos, TX 78666
Week 2
“Consent & Family Affairs” / 3 films / Monday April 11 / 6-8 pm
Register in advance for the Zoom portion of this event: https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEodOupqzMqHt1qtj3Ji9YoI7UYOAiVGzC6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
1) Online: 35 Shots of Rum, by Claire Denis, 2009, French
35 Rhums portrays a family of two’s extreme closeness (between a widowed father, Lionel, and his university-student daughter, Joséphine) while suggesting its potential for suffocation.
Run by Dr. Moira DiMauro-Jackson, Senior Lecturer of French and Instructor of Italian, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
2) On Campus (Centennial Hall G02): Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom, by Pedro Almodóvar, 1980, Spanish
Pepi is raped by the policeman who catches her growing marijuana in her apartment. She seeks revenge by getting his masochist wife to leave him.
Suggested and run by Dr. Louie Valencia, Assistant Professor of History, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
3) In Community (Stellar Coffee Co.): By the Grace of God, by François Ozon, 2019, French
This dramatization of the events that exposed the most significant sex abuse scandal to date in the French Catholic church focuses on what happens to victims once they speak their truth. It is an important contribution to awareness of the global problem of sexual abuse in the Church and the general conversation in the era of #MeToo.
Run by Dr. Miranda Sachs, Assistant Professor of History, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/after-film Q&A
Stellar Coffee Co address: 232 N LBJ Dr #101, San Marcos, TX 78666
“Consent in Post-Modern/Post-Colonial Societies” / 3 films / Wednesday April 13 / 6-8 pm
Register in advance for the Zoom portion of this event:
https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEodOupqzMqHt1qtj3Ji9YoI7UYOAiVGzC6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
1) Online: Pan’s Labyrinth, by Guillermo del Toro, 2006, Mexican
While dealing with the Spanish Civil War and Francoist period, El laberinto del fauno’s imaginary world illustrates themes of disobedience and choice in a post-modern style through which eclecticism, nostalgia, parody, and metadiscourse contribute to reexamine consent under totalitarian regimes.
Run by Dr. Beth Bernstein, Senior Lecturer of Spanish, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/short after-film Q&A
2) On Campus (Centennial Hall G02): The Society of the Spectacle, by Guy Debord, 1974, French
Six years after the publication of his Situationist classic La Société du Spectacle, Guy Debord released this essay-film adaptation, using the technique of “détournement” (think pre-digital remixing). He overlays a dizzying array of still and film images with text from the book to provide a sharp commentary on a world dominated by image and power.
Run by Dr. Ron Haas, Honors College Director of Research and Writing, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/ after-film Q&A
3) In Community (San Marcos Public Library): Night of the Kings, by Philippe Lacôte, 2020, Ivorian
A young man is sent to “La Maca,” a prison in the middle of the Ivorian forest ruled by its inmates. As tradition goes, with the rising of the red moon, he is designated by the Boss to be the new “Roman”—or “Scheherazade”—and must tell a story for his life to be spared. He begins to narrate the life of the legendary outlaw named “Zama King” to the other prisoners.
Run by Kenny Anagbogu, with short intro/pre-symposium survey/short after-film Q&A
San Marcos Public Library address: 625 E Hopkins St, San Marcos, TX 78666
Thursday Nuit Blanche / April 14 / 6-8 pm / Online and in Centennial G02
2 pre-symposium screenings
Register in advance for this event: https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEodOupqzMqHt1qtj3Ji9YoI7UYOAiVGzC6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Screenings will take place both online and in Centennial G02.
Online Double Feature:
a) Becky’s Journey, by Sine Plambech, 2015
Becky's Journey provides rare insight into the hopes and fears of high-risk migration and human trafficking from a woman’s perspective. It documents Becky’s attempts to travel across the Mediterranean and tells the story of the many migrants that never reach Europe’s shores.
b) The Rape of Recy Taylor, by Nancy Buirski, 2017
Mrs. Recy Taylor was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Unbroken, she spoke up and fought for justice with help from Rosa Parks and legions of women.
Run by Dr. Maria-Luisa Gomez Ramirez, with surveys but no discussion
SYMPOSIUM ON CONSENT
APRIL 15, 2022
9:30 AM-4:30 PM
CENTENNIAL HALL G02
Regional crisis advocates, national, international, and Texas State scholars will share their contributions to raise a greater awareness of the notion of consent and open a potentially transformative community and campus conversation.
9:30-11:20 AM: Symposium introduction by Dr. Mary Brennan, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Texas State University
Morning lectures with short intro and Q&A moderated by Dr. Jessica Pliley, Associate Professor of the History of Women, Genders, and Sexualities, Texas State University
- Dr. Sine Plambech, Danish Institute for International Studies, an online interview of anthropologist & director Sine Plambech on filming Becky’s Journey (Zoom)
- Ms. Piper Nelson, The SAFE Alliance, Austin, TX, “Stopping the Cycle of Violence in Central Texas”
- Dr. Melissa Torres, Baylor College of Medicine, on migration and trafficking
Dr. Plambech will use the following Zoom link, for which you need to register in advance:
https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qdeChrjspHtWt3sgSPTfq6rZZtACjWHlH
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
11:30-1:45: Students meet in survey-generated discussion groups with 3 groups running concurrently from 11:30-12:30:
- Class & Consent: How Does Economic Inequality Affect Consent (Centennial Hall G02, with Carole Martin)
- Consent/Freedom/Agency and Gender Interactions (Centennial Hall Room 220, with Kenny Anagbogu)
- Consent As Seen Throughout Different Countries & World Powers (Centennial Hall Room 221, with Maria-Luisa Gomez Ramirez)
And 3 groups running concurrently from 12:45-1:45:
- The Cycle of Abuse and Consent (Centennial Hall Room 220, with Lisa Haegele)
- Current Events Related to Consent (Centennial Hall Room 100, with Moira DiMauro-Jackson)
- Minority/Majority Language Use in Negotiating Consent (Centennial Room 221, with Yasmine Beale-Rosano-Rivaya)
11:30-1:45: Luncheon in the Honors College Multicultural Lounge, Lampasas 2nd Floor, for guest speakers and organizers
2-3:20 PM: Afternoon guest lectures with short intro and Q&A moderated by Dr. Louie Valencia, Assistant Professor of History, Texas State University
- Dr. Ourida Mostefai, Brown University, “Feminism and Consent: Rereading the Original Tale of Beauty and the Beast”
- Dr. Danielle McGuire, “Recy Taylor and the Roots of the Civil Rights Movement” (Zoom)
Dr. McGuire will use the following Zoom link, for which you need to register in advance:
https://txstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qdeChrjspHtWt3sgSPTfq6rZZtACjWHlH
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
3:30-4:30 pm: Roundtable with guests, moderated by Dr. Carole Martin, Professor of French, Texas State University, and Q&A with organizers, Drs. Beale-Rosano-Rivaya, Bernstein, DiMauro-Jackson, Forrest, Gomez Ramirez, Haas, Haegele, Sachs, and Ms. Mohama-Akkari, Texas State students, and general public.
A companion event to the International Film Festival & Symposium on Consent, Australian Italian Scholar Michela Barisonzi will present her lecture:
"Violence and rape in the Italian fin-de-siècle: Gabriele D’Annunzio’s La Vergine Orsola," as part of the Texas State University Italian Studies program.
The event will take place on April 28, 2022, 9 AM, on Zoom. Contact Dr. Di Mauro-Jackson at md11@txstate.edu for more information, accommodations, and Zoom link.
Michela Barisonzi's current research is centered on nineteenth-century Italian literature and gender discourse with a focus on rape and violence against women. In 2019 she published a book on sexuality, hysteria, and adultery in the novels of Gabriele D’Annunzio. Her presentation will discuss the portrayal of rape through the case study of "La Vergine Orsola," a 1902 short story written by Gabriele D’Annunzio. The focus of this analysis is the representation of female sexual desire and violence against women, where rape is presented both as a brutal crime, a regression to an animal state, and an almost normalized punishment for female sexual agency. In particular, this contribution looks at how the idea of rape is used as a narrative escamotage to bring to the attention of the reader the question of female entitlement to sexual desire as part of a wider social critique that D’Annunzio brings forward in his novels and short stories.
All events are free and open to the public
If you require accommodations due to a disability, please contact C. Martin at 5-2360 or cm25@txstate.edu at least 72 hours in advance of the event.
Texas State sponsors: University Lecturers Committee, Honors College, College of Liberal Arts, Departments of World Languages & Literatures, Anthropology, English, Geography, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Centers for Diversity & Gender Studies, International Studies, and the Center for the Study of the Southwest.
Albertine Cinémathèque is a program of FACE Foundation and Villa Albertine in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States and with the support of the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée) and the Fonds Culturel Franco-Américain.