Issue 16 – 2025 (2)
https://tecmerin.uc3m.es/issue-16-2025-2/?lang=en
With number 16, Tecmerin celebrates the eighth anniversary of the Journal of Audiovisual Essays. This issue is composed of four video essays that, quite by chance, have brought a warm note of colour to the cold office from which our modest publication is edited.
In “What’s behind Kubrick’s characters?” Mariana Schwartz analyzes the role of production design in Stanley Kubrick’s cinema, focusing on a habitually ignored element: the walls. “AGON. Constructions of democracy” by Ali Minanto, Nico Carpentier and Jhon Sany Purwanto helps us reflect on the term “democracy” as a contested concept, in complex times for addressing such an idea. “haidh na hAithrise/ Nostalgia of imitation” by Nail Ó Muchu transports us to a beautiful montage about Irish cinematic representations of coastal labour history. The final note of colour is provided by “Satoshi Kon. Animation’s place in the cinematographic landscape,” where Sara Mai Ortiz de Manuel relates the director’s aesthetics to his industrial influence.
The “From the archive” section features guest contributor Eva Vaca Carrión, whose work on actress Emma Cohen brings us closer to the RTVE archive and allows us to learn through her interviews about her struggles to assert herself as a creator.
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What’s behind the Kubrick’s characters?
Mariana Schwartz (Beira Interior University) – 4:45
Through the analysis of six films directed by Stanley Kubrick, this audiovisual essay invites reflection on the design of his sets, focusing on the question: what lies behind Kubrick’s characters?
Keywords: film, digetic space, Kubrick, production design, walls
https://tecmerin.uc3m.es/project/whats-behinf-the-kubricks-characters/?lang=en
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AGON. Constructions of Democracy
Ali Minanto (Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, CharlesUniversity), Nico Carpentier (Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Charles University), Jhon Sany Purwanto (independent filmmaker) – 26:00
The film essay AGON is a theoretical reflection on the political construction of democracy. It emphasizes the controversial nature of democracy, distinguishing between its fundamental defining elements, the arenas of political struggle for democracy, the conditions of possibility for democracy, and the threats to democracy.
Keywords: democracy, art research, film essay
https://tecmerin.uc3m.es/project/agon-constructions-of-democracy/?lang=en
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Cumhaidh na hAithrise/ Nostalgia de la imitación
Niall Ó Murchú (Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Western
Washington University)– 7:00
The video shows multi-screen compositions to compare three films shot on the Atlantic coast of Ireland: Man of Aran (Flaherty et al, 1934), The Secret of Roan Inish (Sayles et al, 1994), and Arracht/Monster. (Sullivan et al, 2019). The essay argues that Irish cinematic representations of coastal labor history are influenced by the pre-existing imaginative nostalgia of Irish-American filmmakers.
Keywords: Atlantic Ocean, Ireland, Memory, Labor, Transtextuality
https://tecmerin.uc3m.es/project/cumhaidh-na-haithrise-nostalgia-de-la-imitacion/?lang=en
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Satoshi Kon. The Place of Animation in the Film Landscape
Sara Mai Ortiz de Manuel (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) – 12:45
This video essay will analyze the relationship between Satoshi Kon and cinema as an industry, a reference point, and a concept, through three of his works: the films Perfect Blue (1997), Millennium Actress (2001), and Paprika (2006).
Keywords: anime, Kon, animation, Japan, metacinema
https://tecmerin.uc3m.es/project/satoshi-kon/?lang=en
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From the archive:
Infantilisation and Sexualisation in Media Representation: Emma Cohen and the Recovery of the Television Archive
In this section the archives of two interviews with Emma Cohen are shared. They were broadcast on TVE in the 1970s and 1980s, when her creative output was at its peak, have been recovered. Both archives reflect her multidisciplinary creative personality, but also the irony and infantilization with which the media treated her throughout her life.
Section curated by Eva Vaca Carrión (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)
https://tecmerin.uc3m.es/from-the-archive-16/?lang=en
