MEDIA AND RELIGION
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MOVING IMAGES
RELIGION AND MIGRATION IN FILM

In recent years, several films on migration and refugees have been shown at festivals and raised controversial media discussions. They offer a worthwhile, often disturbing representation of migration and human beings who have to escape from conflicts all over the globe to look for new possibilities of living. They show how local populations react to refugees or, under precarious economic conditions, become refugees themselves. Migration and refugees are challenging topics for filmmakers. Their representations today often transgress traditional boundaries between genres so that the differences between documentary, feature film and other media have to be reconsidered. These moving images of migration and refugees challenge genre conventions, stereotypes and values, as well as the ways we represent "others", and thus also "us".

Contemporary images of the phenomenon of migration do not only produce new images and understandings of the current refugee crisis, but also of the ways in which we view and react to images and audio-visual material. Filmmakers and producers are conscious of the multitude of images that we encounter: film material by professional journalists or unknown persons on both sides of the Mediterranean; audio-visual material in the news, on Youtube or social media; press photos and manipulated screenshots of unknown origins are spread online and in print media. All these phenomena raise questions of media ethics about responsibility and accountability regarding the use and reception of moving images.

This project includes a conference and a publication in the series Religion, Film und Medien.