Christine Reeh: The being of film

The Real of Reality | International Conference on Philosophy and
Film


Wed, 02.11.2016 – Sun, 06.11.2016
ZKM_Media Theater, ZKM_Lecture Hall, ZKM_Media Lounge, ZKM_Cube


Film is not representational, but, as Stanley Cavell, the
American pioneer of philosophy of film claims, presentational. My
paper proceeds on Cavell’s puzzling statement that a photographic
image (which constitutes the film image) presents us “with the
things themselves” and not with any kind of similarity or
representation, therefore concluding that we “do not know” how to
“place a photograph (…) ontologically” (in: The World Viewed).
His observation actually cuts back to André Bazin, who claims
about the photographic image: “the photographic image is the
object itself, (…) it shares, by virtue of the very process of
its becoming, the being of the model of which it is the
reproduction; it is the model.” (in: What is Cinema?) This famous
quote of Bazin is often interpreted in two ways: firstly as if
reproduction would give the model an indexical reference or,
secondly, as if reproduction would be an entity identical to its
model. I will argue that both readings miss the point. Even if it
was not the first intention of disclosure for Bazin, “to be the
model” is referred to as something, which can be shared by
transfer of reality. This “transference of reality from the thing
to its reproduction” further presupposes, without reflecting on
it, an equalization of being and reality, two distinct terms,
which usually incorporate different meanings reflected by the
division between ontology and metaphysics, between the inquiry
into being and about the fundamental nature of reality. In some
contexts “reality” designates “the world” in which entities are;
Martin Heidegger states that “being-in” is the way in which being
is, it always is a “being-in-the-world” (in: Being and Time).


I propose to ask, in a Heideggerian way, for the being of objects
in film and in the world and furthermore, building on Heidegger’s
complex conception of “presence of what is present”, to ask for a
‘real of reality’, which is shared by beings and can be the
transferred into the photograph: a kind of essence of reality,
which makes the being of the photograph real–it is not fictitious
and it is not an illusion.


International Conference on Philosophy and Film
Photography and film in particular paved the way for complex
philosophical questions regarding the nature of reality and its
mechanical reproduction. What does film reproduce and how can we
grasp this element, which has the transactive ability to form
reality although originating in reality? This shaping takes palce
through a complex interaction of image, action and narration and
tends to permeate reality completely. It is an inconspicuous
process that already affects our everyday life profoundly and is
based on a revolution of the real. What does film show? Do we
have access to reality that is not based on images or narrations?
And what can film and its analysis contribute to philosophical
debates on the real?
These are questions we are asking to engage in a dialogue between
philosophy and film. For five days, one hundred and fifty
philosophers, media scholars and filmmakers will connect
philosophical theory with cinematic practice and open up new
ideas and concepts. To accompany the program, there will be film
screenings of documentaries of the invited filmmakers.
The participation at the conference is also possible without the
presentation of a paper.
The conference will be held in English.