In the newest lecture in Mary Wild’s Projections series, take a deep dive into the worlds of psychoanalysis and surrealist cinema, two disciplines that insist on the supremacy of the unconscious.
Tickets: £10 – £15
Cinema is a haunted medium — one attuned to slippages, distortions, and the breakdown of logic. From its earliest experiments, film has offered a unique route deep into the psyche, where conventionality loosens its grip and desire burns in bright images. Surrealist visionaries in particular are invested in cinema’s capacity to nullify rational boundaries – as the critic René Gardies observed in 1968, film is “a privileged instrument de-realising the world, providing alchemical tools for transforming reality.”
In this lecture, we will explore the overlap between the psychoanalytic method and surrealist cinema — two disciplines that insist on the supremacy of the unconscious, decoding absurd dreams and defying the banality and hypocrisy of so-called civilised society. Examining works by Luis Buñuel, Věra Chytilová, David Lynch, Guy Maddin, Jan Švankmajer, and Maya Deren, the proposition is that surrealism is a revolutionary anti-art, much like the psychoanalytic process itself, unlocking the mind’s creative potential by overcoming repression.
Advance viewing is optional; select scenes will be shown during the webinar.
