Two new books on materiality in film studies have emerged from the research training program “Configurations of Film”: Marie Sophie Beckmann's “Films That Spill. Beyond the Cinema of Transgression” (Rutgers University Press, 2025) and the edited collection “Sticky Films” (edited by Fadekemi Olawoye, Clara Podlesnigg, and Kerim Doğruel; meson press, 2025).

Mercator Fellow Seán Cubitt will give a lecture on the topic "Night Skies: An Aesthetic Politics of Beauty" on November 17th, 18:00.

Mercator Fellow Pooja Rangan will give a talk titled "ACCESS DENIED: DOCUMENTARY’S CARCERAL APORIA" on July 14th, 6pm.

Renowned Chinese feminist cultural critic Dai Junha will present Jia Zhangke's 2013 film “A Touch of Sin” in conversation with Zhiyi Yang, professor of sinophone literatures in Frankfurt, and Vinzenz Hediger, director of the Graduiertenkolleg “Configurations of Film”.

Julie Dash will join us in Frankfurt for the series "Reimagining Black Cinema" on April 8th, 2025.

Mercator Fellow Kaveh Askari will give a lecture on the topic "Collective Voicing and the Labor of Localization in Cinema and Media History" on November 25th, 18:00.

Mercator Fellow Masha Salazkina will give a lecture on the topic "From Socialist Screens to Global Pop: Unearthing Alternative Narratives" on July 8th, 18:00.

“Critical Barbra”, a three-day event at the German Film Museum, the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt and Goethe University, celebrates the many facets of Streisand’s unique talent with film screenings, talks and performances.

15. Jahrestagung der AG Populärkultur und Medien in Zusammenarbeit mit der AG Signale der Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft.

Tracking and analyzing several women filmmakers’ innovative and socially engaged work in both fictional and non-fictional modes, Prof. Zhen Zhang (New York University) explores the aesthetic and political possibilities of trans-cinematic practices.

Mercator Fellow Caetlin Benson-Allott will give a lecture titled "Not Where But When: Escapism and Video Spectatorship" on June 26, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. (c.t.).

The international conference "Sticky Films. Conceptual & Material Explorations" brings together erratic examples of stickiness, adhesives, glue, and paste to create contact zones in film and media studies.

Mercator Fellow Añulika Agina will give a lecture titled "New Nollywood and the Creative Industries in Nigeria" on May 22, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. (c.t.).