Off the Map

Travel films usually involve roaming the world over in search of adventure. But what about when they don't?

by Mickey Jou

symposium

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Travel films usually involve roaming the world over in search of adventure. But what about when they don't? Consider German filmmaker Wim Wenders' Kings of the Road (1976), the story of two men traveling along the border between East and West Germany. The film focuses more on politicized boundaries than on the liberation of the open road. At the Penn Humanities Forum's Reel Travel symposium, film critics will gather to discuss the marked tension between the freedoms and constraints of travel.

The daylong event will include presentations on Eastern European filmmakers whose works are influenced by the political upheaval of the region. "Large populations are moved or forced to move due to [events] like genocides and ethnic cleansing," says event chair Simon Richter, a German professor at Penn. "The [cinematic] image is an important part of this travel narrative."

The symposium opens with a look at documentarian Helke Misselwitz, whose works focus on the Oder River, which separates Poland and Germany. Another presentation will examine the impact of the Armenian genocide on emigration in director Atom Egoyan's Ararat. The symposium also includes a discussion on Austrian director Michael Haneke, who takes audiences out of their element by distorting narrative structure.

This theme of political and geographical displacement was birthed from a brainstorming session between Richter and Kinga Araya, a Polish-born artist presenting at the symposium. "Traveling and walking [is] a metaphor for immigration," says Araya. "Some people travel because they have no other options. It's a question of survival." In 1988, Araya (then a college student involved in anti-communist activities) walked from her homeland to Italy and did not return for a decade.

Araya will present five-minute videos of herself walking outdoors while wearing "bodily extensions" such as a headpiece made of floor-length copper wire extensions and prosthetic legs. For her, the cumbersome objects represent her identity crisis as both an immigrant and a voluntary exile. "My body is always challenged when [the extensions] are attached to me," says Araya. "To which extent are we really free to travel?"

While traveling can be about the freedom to explore, such presentations remind the audience of the inherent challenges of moving — across borders or otherwise.

(editorial@citypaper.net)

Reel Travel: A Penn Humanities Forum Symposium, Fri., April 6, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m., free (but reservations required), Penn Humanities Forum, 3619 Locust Walk, 215-573-8280, humanities.sas.upenn.edu.