During the past week, the Spotlight team had the opportunity to present and discuss the short films made at Spotlight Summer School in 2022 in Opole.
On 21st June, the University of Luxemburg hosted the Spotlight team at the KINOSCH, KUFA cultural centre, in Esch-sur-Alzette. The event titled “Illuminating Placemaking and Identity” was organized by Prof. Dr. Gabriele Budach (University of Luxembourg) and Dr. Michał Wanke (University of Opole). The afternoon program started with the screening of Spotlight participants’ short etudes. It continued with a podium discussion moderated by Madelaine Wood, PhD candidate at the University of Luxembourg and participant in the Spotlight Summer School in 2022. Together with Dr. Ágnes Erőss (ELKH Budapest), Dr. Karina Gaibulina (University of St.Gallen/the University of Opole), Dr. Michał Wanke (University of Opole), instructors and organizers of the Spotlight summer school, and Karolina Fernandez (participant in the Spotlight Summer School in 2022) we shared experiences, and listed lessons we learned.
On the 23rd and 24th, the Spotlight team participated in a workshop organized by the devoted team of the Institute of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, namely Prof. Dr. Veronika Cummings, Dr. Elisabeth Sommerlad, Julian Zschocke MA and Michał Wanke (University of Opole). In Mainz, Clara Kleininger-Wanik (University of the Opole/University of Exeter), an instructor at the Spotlight Summer School and two former Spotlight participants, Sasha Ongley and Toriqul Islam, MA students at the JGU’s Globalisation, Media and Culture MA program, joined us in the conversation about Spotlight 2022. The two-day workshop, titled “Doing Film Geography: Using Videography and Film Making in Research and Teaching”, allowed us not only to present and promote the Spotlight to colleagues and BA and MA students of JGU Mainz but to work together with them and to exchange ideas about using film in Geography, as well as what we can learn from Visual Anthropology.
The spotlight team is grateful to the organizers of both events for their tremendous work in planning and preparing the event! Special thanks to the FORTHEM Alliance Migration and Diversity Lab for their support.
We are thrilled to greet the Spotlight 2023 participants in Budapest in August!