AGE-C attends conference “Real and Imagined Spaces in Film” conference

On 29th and 30th May, the University of Zaragoza hosted the conference “Real and Imagined Spaces in Film”, a gathering of international scholars to mark the end of the project “From Social Space to Cinematic Space: Mise-en-scene of the transnational in contemporary cinema”. The conference was organised by project members Dr Marimar Azcona, Dr Pablo Gomez Muñoz and Dr Andres Buesa, within the Department of English and German Philology at the University of Zaragoza. More than sixty scholars from seventeen countries discussed filmic space from a great diversity of perspectives, and the conference boasted keynote addresses from Professor Celestino Deleyto at the University of Zaragoza, who analysed the real space of Marseille in a variety of filmic depictions in the city; and Professor Áine O’Healy from the Loyola Marymount University, who discussed space in Italian films made by young second generation citizens.

Dr Luis Freijo represented AGE-C at the conference, with a paper that considered the depiction of public and private spaces in relation to early old age in the film Dolor y gloria, by Pedro Almodovar, starring Antonio Banderas. In the film, protagonist Salvador Mallo’s flat becomes a “part of space with specific meaning” (Clark et al., 2018: 1) because Salvador is confined to it due to health issues. The articulation of the space of the flat through framing, editing and camera movements determines Salvador’s relation with friends and helpers, but also with his own ailing body, so that the stasis to which it is confined turns into an exploration of Salvador’s childhood memories. From a cultural gerontology perspective, the private spaces to which Salvador is secluded and his absence from public space are significant because “such behaviours […] have consequences for older people in terms of feeling and being safe in public places, and at the same time feeling and being ‘visible’ and included” (2015: 456). If bodies are considered a “type of social currency” (Gerschick, 2005: 372), then Salvador’s ailing body, in its absence from public space, is rendered disabled in a capitalist productive context due to his profession as filmmaker and the physical demands of a shooting. Salvador’s attempts to reconcile the capabilities of his body and his memory through filmmaking constitute a private “search for meaning” (Frankl, 1959: 104) that becomes a conductor towards creativity and relevance in old age. Ultimately, the paper contended that paying attention to how ageing masculinity is constructed through cinematic space can elucidate some of the most pressing political issues for masculinity in old age, and audience members during the Q&A session insisted in the importance that access to public space and discourse for ageing population has.

Written by: Dr. Luis Freijo

Image credits: Dr. Luis Freijo