Screening Contagion Film Series

Screening Contagion invites you to view four pandemic films, then attend a series of panel discussions with faculty drawn from a variety of disciplines. The four films include a Hollywood blockbuster (Steven Soderbergh, Contagion), a classic of world cinema (Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal), a horror comedy (Edgar Wright, Shaun of the Dead) and a contemporary documentary about the Wuhan lockdown (Ai Weiwei, Coronation). How might these films help us understand pandemics in the past, present and future? How does our own pandemic moment inform how we view these films? Please join us for a wide-ranging conversation with faculty in the humanities, arts and medicine as they help us make sense of our own experiences with COVID-19. 

This film discussion series is free and open to the public.

 

Thursday, February 11, 4 pm

View a recording of this discussion here

Steven Soderbergh, Contagion (2011)

Healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people find themselves in the midst of a pandemic as the CDC works to find a cure.

Members of the Washington University community (with a WUSTL key) may view the film prior to the discussion here. (Click on “WUSTL online resource” to be connected to the film.) All others can find stream/rent/buy options on JustWatch.com.

Panelists 

Corinna Treitel, Professor of History, Director of Medical Humanities, Washington University

Patricia Olynyk, the Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art, Washington University

Piroska Kopar, Director, Center for Humanism and Ethics in Surgical Specialties (CHESS) and Assistant Professor of Acute and Critical Care Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine 

Peter Lunenfeld, Vice Chair and Professor of Design Media Arts, Media Theorist, UCLA

 

 

Thursday, March 11, 4 pm

View a recording of this discussion here

Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal (1957) 

A man seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.

Members of the Washington University community (with a WUSTL key) may view the film prior to the discussion here. (Click on “WUSTL online resource” to be connected to the film.) All others can find stream/rent/buy options on JustWatch.com.

Panelists 

Jen Arch, Senior Lecturer in English, Washington University

Erkki Huhtamo, Professor of Design Media Arts and Professor of Film, Television, and Digital Media, UCLA

Christine Johnson, Associate Professor of History, Washington University 

Christina Ramos, Assistant Professor of History, Washington University

 

Thursday, April 8, 4 pm

View a recording of this discussion here 

Edgar Wright, Shaun of the Dead (2004)

A man’s uneventful life is disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.

Members of the Washington University community (with a WUSTL key) may view the film prior to the discussion here. (Click on “WUSTL online resource” to be connected to the film.) All others can find stream/rent/buy options on JustWatch.com.

Panelists 

Colin Burnett, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, Washington University 

Christine Johnson, Associate Professor of History, Washington University 

Piroska Kopar, Director, Center for Humanism and Ethics in Surgical Specialties (CHESS) and Assistant Professor of Acute and Critical Care Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine

Jan Tumlir, Los Angeles–based art writer

 

Thursday April 29, 4 pm

RSVP to join this discussion

Ai Weiwei, Coronation (2020)

A team directed by activist and artist Ai Weiwei films inside the hospitals, homes and quarantine sites of Wuhan, the first city hit in the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Members of the Washington University community (with a WUSTL key) may view the film prior to the discussion here. (Click on “WUSTL online resource” to be connected to the film.) All others can find stream/rent/buy options on JustWatch.com.

Panelists 

Patricia Olynyk, the Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art, Washington University

Uluğ Kuzuoğlu, Assistant Professor of History, Modern Chinese and Global History, Washington University

Victoria Vesna, Founding Director of the Art | Sci Center and Professor, Design Media Arts, UCLA

Yuqian Yan, Postdoctoral Fellow in Chinese Performance Cultures, Washington University 

 

Participating faculty, Washington University

Jen Arch, Senior Lecturer, Department of English, Literature and Medicine
Colin Burnett, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies
Christine Johnson, Associate Professor of History
Piroska Kopar, Director, Center for Humanism and Ethics in Surgical Specialties (CHESS) and Assistant Professor of Acute and Critical Care Surgery
Uluğ Kuzuoğlu, Assistant Professor of History, Modern Chinese and Global History
Patricia Olynyk, the Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art
Christina Ramos, Assistant Professor of History, History of Medicine
Corinna Treitel, Professor of History, Director of Medical Humanities
Yuqian Yan, Postdoctoral Fellow in Chinese Performance Cultures

Participating faculty, University of California, Los Angeles

Erkki Huhtamo, Professor of Design Media Arts and Professor of Film, Television, and Digital Media
Peter Lunenfeld, Vice Chair and Professor of Design Media Arts, Media Theorist
Victoria Vesna, Professor, Department of Design Media Arts; Director, Art | Sci Center, School of the Arts and California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI)

Independent scholars/writers

Jan Tumlir, Los Angeles–based art writer

Sponsored by the Washington University Medical Humanities Minor and Center for the Humanities in partnership with the UCLA Art | Sci Center’s Medicine and Media Arts Initiative, Design Media Arts and California NanoSystems Institute

 

Headline image: “The World is Closed” by Edwin Hooper via Unsplash.