We often think of cinema’s politics as matters of subject and style, distribution and reception. This talk, however, locates them in film’s raw materials—in substances like silver, gelatin, and cotton, on which cinema’s play of light and shadow depends. It does so through the case of Nazi Germany, examining the Agfa film company’s embrace of the fascist politics of autarky (material and economic self-sufficiency). Tracking political and scientific debates about the materials Agfa used to make its film, as well as the histories of labor that shaped the same film, the talk considers the links between the chemical industry, autarky, and empire. It also draws lessons about media and its geopolitics that extend from 20th century fascist Europe, to the midcentury United States, to the global present. Presented by Alice Lovejoy.
Free and open to faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students.
No registration required.
The event will not be recorded.
