Outreach Activities

Screening Series in Collaboration with Forum Groningen

Since the very birth of cinema, audiences have experienced beauty in film’s many forms and genres. Throughout film history but also especially over the last 20 years, we have witnessed a growing number of filmmakers devoting attention to beauty for their artistic ends. What is the purpose of beauty in these films and how does it contribute to what a film wants to tell us? In collaboration with Forum Groningen, the scholars of the research project sought answers to these questions by showcasing and introducing a series of beautiful films, each shedding a different light on beauty. Programmed in collaboration with Henk Klein Wassink.

2026: Beauty in Film History

• 26/04 | Days of Heaven (1978, Terrence Malick) - introduced by Julian Hanich
• 03/05 | Le Mépris (1963, Jean-Luc Godard) - introduced by Lara Perski
• 10/05 | Araya (1959, Margot Benacerraf) - introduced by Jakob Boer
• 17/05 | The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton) - introduced by Jakob Boer
• 24/05 | The Color of Pomegranates (1969, Sergei Parajanov) - introduced by Jakob Boer
• 31/05 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Ang Lee) - introduced by Julian Hanich
• 07/06 | Black Girl (1966, Ousmane Sembène) - introduced by Lara Perski

2025: Types of Beauty

1. Kinetic Beauty: In the Mood For Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000) - introduced by Julian Hanich
2. Elegance: Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006) - introduced by Anna Doyle
3. Gracefulness: The Assassin (Hou Hsiau-Hsien, 2015) - introduced by Lara Perski
4. Natural Beauty: Gunda (Victor Kossakovsky, 2020) - introduced by Julian Hanich
5. Artistic Beauty: Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999) - introduced by Jakob Boer
6. Moral Beauty: Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022) - introduced by Lara Perski
7. Human Beauty: Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016) - introduced by Jakob Boer

2024: Beauty and Meaning

1. Beauty and Eros: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019) - introduced by Julian Hanich
2. Beauties of the Everyday: The Florida Project (Sean Baker, 2017) - introduced by Lara Perski
3. Queer is Beautiful: Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie, 2013) - introduced by Jakob Boer
4. Poetic Beauty: Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009) - introduced by Jakob Boer
5. (Other)Worldly Beauty: Samsara (Ron Fricke, 2011) - introduced by Julian Hanich
6. Beauty Unnoticed: Knight of Cups (Terrence Malick, 2015) - introduced by Julian Hanich
7. The Beauty of Color: Atlantics (Mati Diop, 2019) - introduced by Lara Perski

Conference on Cinematic Beauty

(coming up in 2026)