This symposium brings together artists and scholars whose work engages with questions central to Agnieszka Holland’s cinema.

This transdisciplinary symposium at King’s College London, in partnership with the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, takes Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border (2023) as a point of departure to examine broader questions raised by the work of an acclaimed auteur.

It explores how so-called “universal” human themes are mobilised, debated, and instrumentalised within political and policy arenas; how art connects to activism; and how images, affects, and narratives translate into public understanding and political action.

Centring migration and borders within the context of democracy, the symposium creates space for critical discussion on art’s role in social and political transformation. It interrogates tensions within humanitarian storytelling, including who is made visible and who is erased, and foregrounds gender, care, and the ethical stakes of representation in contemporary societies.

The event will feature a presentation and launch of the book The Cinema of Agnieszka Holland: Anger and Ethics by Agnieszka Piotrowska.

Read the programme in full here.

PROGRAMME

Thursday, 21 May

(Venue: King's building, KIN LG 150, King’s College London)

18:00
Screening of Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border

Friday, 22 May

(Venue: Bush House (South-East) 2.11, King’s College London)

14:00 – 14:10
Welcome
Krzysztof Krakowski (Political Economy, King’s College London)
Belén Vidal (Film Studies, King’s College London)

14:10 – 14:25
Introductory remarks
Agnieszka Piotrowska: Breaking the Boundaries: The Cinema of Agnieszka Holland
(with selected clips)

14:30 – 15:30
Session 1
Images in Circulation: Migration Between Film, Media, and Activism
Chair: Hera Lorandos (Film Studies, King’s College London)

Participants:
Lily Parrott

Laith Elzubaidi

Ornella Mutoni

Meetra Qutb

Eylem Atakav

15:30 – 15:45
Coffee break

15:45 – 16:45
Session 2
Research perspectives from political science on art and migration
Chair: Krzysztof Krakowski

Participants:

Joanna Clifton-Sprigg

Lorenzo Piccoli

16:45 – 17:00
Coffee break

17:00 – 18:00
Session 3
Performance and artistic contributions from Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk

Chair: Agnieszka Piotrowska

Participants:
Anka Leśniak
Filip Ignatowicz
Piotr Wyrzykowski

18:00 – 18:15
Coffee break

18:15 – 19:15
In Conversation
Agnieszka Holland in discussion with Agnieszka Piotrowska

19:15 – 20:00
Reception and Book Launch
The Cinema of Agnieszka Holland: Anger and Ethics