A Conference on Cinema's Fascination with Jesus
Regent College is pleased to announce the 2013 Film Conference, Screening Jesus: Cinema’s Abiding Fascination with the Character of Christ, taking place July 26–28, 2013 and hosted by Iwan Russell-Jones.
For Iwan Russell-Jones, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Regent College and former producer and director for the BBC, there is no more important question than the one Jesus posed to his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” It is the question that bothered esteemed theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1944 as he pondered from his prison cell “what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today." And on some level, it is the question that all “Jesus movies” attempt to answer.
The medium of film allows and encourages entry into a conversation about the significance of Christ. “We've deliberately set this up as a conversation between academics and practitioners,” says Russell-Jones, who has lined up two filmmakers and their films to be important points of focus in the conference. “My interest in all of this is in the continuing cultural, political, personal, and artistic impact of the figure of Jesus as presented in the Gospels and interpreted in film.”
Over three days, participants will enter into this conversation, considering with the speakers and filmmakers such topics as the Jewishness of Jesus in the movies, the challenge of dramatizing Jesus for film, the interpretation of Jesus in a non-Western context, and the public controversies that have sometimes surrounded cinematic portrayals of Christ.
This conference is a “must” for anyone interested in film and intrigued by film depictions of Jesus, who is keen to discuss the social and ethical issues often raised by them, or is desiring to take a deeper look at the ways in which Jesus has been thought about and interpreted in popular culture.
More information
THEME
Screening Jesus: Cinema’s Abiding Fascination with the Character of Christ
DATES
July 26–28, 2013
SPEAKERS
Adele Reinhartz, Murray Watts, Mark Dornford-May, William Romanowski, and Diane Stinton
Hosted by Iwan Russell-Jones
REGISTRATION
Register before June 14 and save (discounts available for full-time students, seniors, and Regent College graduates)