International Conference and Creative Writing Workshop
AUDIO/VISUAL ROMANS: WOMEN SPEAK UP (II)
Rome 11-12 May 2023
We are pleased to announce the fourth international conference on Audio/visual Romans to be held live in Rome, at Sapienza University. The first conference in 2018 was dedicated to Nero: https://classicalreception.org/audio-visual-romans/ The second conference in 2021 was dedicated to Julius Caesar https://www.facebook.com/events/215143473316166/?ref=newsfeed https://www.facebook.com/polonisticasapienza/videos/484084566343928 The third conference in 2022 explored the imaginative power of modern audio/visual media to shape our perception of the female figures in Ancient Rome, be they historical or fictional https://wordpress.com/view/avromans2022.wordpress.com
This year’s conference continues our discussion on Roman Women: we will talk about their portrayals in films, TV series, documentaries, videogames, fanfiction and trade cards.
We are pleased to announce that our key speaker will be David Evans, director of the SKY TV series Domina, which examines the power struggles of Ancient Rome from a female perspective.
DAVID EVANS is an EMMY-nominated, multi-award-winning director of film and television. Over a twenty-year-plus career, he has made documentaries, feature films and a wide range of drama in the UK, US and European industries. David’s career began as a BBC arts documentary producer, covering subjects from the feminist politics of Andrea Dworkin to the choreography of British ice dancers Torvill and Dean.
His drama credits include the feature film Fever Pitch, starring Colin Firth; Downton Abbey, Shameless (UK), and the US shows Anne with an E and Preacher. In 2015 he made a feature documentary – My Nazi Legacy – which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and went on to achieve worldwide theatrical success. He recently completed work on the Franco-Italian co-production Django starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Noomi Rapace, and has, since 2020, directed nine episodes of Domina.
Brief documentary 1: Domina – making of
Brief documentary 2: Personaggi femminili nella serie (in Italian)
WORKSHOP
During the workshop, students will be shown a muted scene from the last episode of Domina, featuring the character of Livia Drusilla played by Kasia Smutniak, and they will be asked to work in pairs or groups of three and imagine, and consequently compose their own suitable lines for Livia (in English). This task will provide a chance to reflect on the different ways in which the identity of a historical figure (in this case, an ancient Roman woman) can be rewritten, reconstructed and represented in a modern adaptation (i.e. a TV series in the English language), building on David Evans’s insights during his talk about Livia Drusilla in the new millennium.
Attention: limited availability for the workshop, those interested in participating please contact luca.valleriani@uniroma1.it
For students
Participation in the event gives right to obtain 1 CFU of AAF. Those interested please fill the registration form:
Audiovisual Romans 2023 