Boundaries of Belonging: Culture, Identity, and Narrative in South East Europe – Video

The 2020 edition of SEEfest officially began on April 22, 2020, with the Cultural and Literary Salon, our now traditional pre-festival event. A wide-ranging discussion covered many aspects of this year’s festival theme, Boundaries of Belonging. We paid tribute to Fellini’s centennial and his magical cinematic universe, announced the upcoming BRIDGES book about the cultural bridges of South East Europe, touched on the French 1920’s famous court case that still challenges our conceptions of identity, and discussed minority cultures and language as homeland. The presentation also gave SEEfest viewers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the 3D design work on Black Panther, a film that featured an altogether imagined universe. Our panelists questioned the limits of art in expressions of difference—cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and political—to consider how historical processes shape our understanding of self in an increasingly hybrid world.

The Panelists

Julia Koerner, Designer Julia Koerner is an award-winning Austrian designer working at the convergence of architecture, product, and fashion design. She is internationally recognized for design innovation in 3D-Printing, Julia’s work stands out at the top of these disciplines. Thomas Harrison, UCLA Professor Thomas Harrison is a professor in the UCLA Department of Italian. He is the author of the seminal book 1910. His research focusses especially on Italy and Austria, and the region of Trieste and northern Adriatic from 1860 to the present. David Shafer, CSULB Professor David Shafer is a specialist in modern French history, with an emphasis on cultural history and a secondary interest in the history of former Yugoslavia. His most recent book is a biography of Antonin Artaud. Nina Bjekovic, UCLA Ph.D. Candidate: Moderator Nina Bjekovic specializes in 19th and 20th-century Italian culture and literature, with an upcoming doctoral dissertation, The Triestine Other: Negotiating Alterity in Claudio Magris, Boris Pahor, Giuliana Morandini, and Giorgio Pressburger. This program is presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood. For more info on WeHo Arts programming please visit www.weho.org/arts or follow via social media @WeHoArts; and in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles. SEEfest 2020 screens over 50 new films from South East Europe – features, documentaries, short and animation. SEEfest promotes cultural diversity, serves as the cultural hub for ex-pat independent artists and filmmakers, and creates opportunities for a lively cultural exchange. #SEEfest2020