Tenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Contemporary European culture is characterized by mass movements of populations. A consequence of this increasing human mobility is the manifestation of the nostalgic condition, experienced either by those who have left their homeland or by those who decided to stay behind. Extensive research on nostalgia shows the significant impact it has on the formation and evolution of identity, especially in the case of a displaced human. As a cultural response to such developments, film’s preoccupation with the dialectics of displacement, emplacement, and thereafter of nostalgia, has significantly increased. Nostalgia and film are both spatiotemporal configurations. Hence, the examination of the film-making techniques used to represent the nostalgic feeling provides invaluable information on further understanding the multi-faceted nature of the nostalgic condition as well as the development of modern film aesthetics. In this paper, I will discuss the creative techniques through which nostalgia is expressed in Fatih Akin’s The Edge of Heaven (2007) and in Salome Lamas’ Extinction (2018). Akin’s film is a large-scale European co-production that follows the traditions of a fictional cinema. Its screenplay and narrative structure underpin the impact of classic forms of nostalgia in contemporary multi-directional and multi-reasoned migration. Salome Lamas’ experimental documentary, on the other hand, is a small-crew artisanal production in which nostalgia manifests, probably unexpectedly, and in an unconventional manner. Therefore, the two examples reflect on the ample possibilities the nostalgic condition processes in modern European societies as well as cultural production.