THE PHILOSOPHY FILM CLUB presents: Memory House (2020)

Many philosophers have written about films. Gilles Deleuze famously wrote two volumes on cinema, arguing that is a “form of thought,” by which he means that films are not only about philosophical themes and issues, but are themselves visual philosophies. For others, like Jacques Rancière, film has the capacity to both reproduce and disrupt what he calls the “portioning of the sensible” – or the distribution of visible, audible, sayable and affective experiences in society. 

The aim of the Philosophy Film Club is to bridge theory and practice by demonstrating what philosophy looks like “in action.” We encourage students, academics and anyone else interested to join us for a screening of João Paulo Miranda Maria’s 2020 film, Memory House, a dreamlike exploration of the aftermath of colonialism in an Austrian settlement in Southern Brazil.

Together, we will explore themes of identity, cultural memory, the roles of folklore and mythology for the transmission of intergenerational knowledge, and the recovery of life in the face of exploitation. The discussion will be led by Prof. Chantelle Gray from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Johannesburg.

Students pay R40, all other members of public pay only R80.