Cinema Located
Researcher(s) (CIMS)
Supervisors (CIMS)
Funded by
Special Research Fund-Ghent University (BOF) 2012-2013
Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO) 2013-2016
Presentation
The main goal of the empirical research "Cinema Located. Place, space and experience of cinema in Ghent (1982-2012)" is to understand the social experience of screen culture from the emergence of the multiplex in Ghent in 1982 to the absorption of film in digital culture in the present day. From a theoretical point of view, the research will focus on defining place as a spatial site of cinema, and space as a constructed social site of cinemagoing. The multiplex in Ghent will serve as a microhistory to exemplify the experiences of fundamental changes in the history of film ever since the coming of sound. The research will contain a structural analysis of the film exhibition scene (using archival material on geographical locations and policy), a programming research (describing the supply and popularity of films) and an oral history research on the experience of moviegoing to define the social in a post-moviegoing era. This three-year project is embedded in New Cinema History research.