Panel: Große Gefühle im Melodrama

Panel Discussion: Grand Emotions in Melodrama

Melodrama is one the classic vehicles for big emotions in cinema. We often cry while watching melodramatic films. How is that possible? Why do we empathize with characters we know aren’t real? And above all, why do we as viewers expose ourselves to such an experience, when we would avoid it otherwise? Does it make a difference to our experience of these emotions whether we watch a film alone on the computer or together in a theater? And what techniques and strategies do films use in order to elicit such an emotional connection? Does the possibility of this connection depend on the specificity of the film medium itself? These and other questions will be explored during the discussion. Of course, we look forward to your own observations and questions. It will certainly be exciting.

When and where: Sun, 9 Nov / 1:15 pm (preceded by matinée ›All That Heaven Allows‹) | Cinema Quadrat | Participants: Hannes Brühwiler, Prof. Dr. Julian Hanich | Moderator: Prof. Dr. Björn Bohnenkamp | Admission: free | Language: German



Björn Bohnenkamp is Professor of Marketing, Media, and Consumer Culture at Karlshochschule International University, where he also serves as Vice President.
Julian Hanich is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Groningen and an expert on the connection between emotions and cinema, especially with regard to viewer experience. His works include “The Audience Effect: On the Collective Cinema Experience”, “Cinematic Emotion in Horror Films and Thrillers: The Aesthetic Paradox of Pleasurable Fear”, and the award-winning edited volume “What Film Is Good For: On the Values of Spectatorship”.
Hannes Brühwiler is a media scholar, author (including editorial member of “Revolver” film magazine), and amongst work for other festivals the curator of our retrospective.