Graduation and Prizes

We’re a couple of weeks from graduation at Stirling and this seems like a good time to congratulate all our graduating students and to wish them all the very best for the future!

We’d also like to congratulate our various prize-winners, both finalists and students in earlier years of their degrees. This year’s recipient of the annual Simone de Beauvoir Prize, awarded to the student with the best overall performance in Honours in French, is Jennifer who is graduating in French and Spanish, while the School of Arts and Humanities Research Prize for French has been awarded to Lewis who is graduating in French and History.

This year’s inaugural Translation Prize for French was jointly awarded to Stewart (French and Spanish) and Yuliya (European Film and Media).

Among non-graduating students, congratulations go to: Channon for the Best Performance by a Year 1 Beginner, Bethany for the Best Performance in Year 1, David for the Best Performance in Year 2 and Kitti for the Best Performance in Year 2 by a former Beginner.

Fantastic results all round!

Sciamma Study Day

A great afternoon of papers and discussions about the films of Céline Sciamma ahead on Monday 8 June, thanks to Divisional Research Funding from Literature and Languages at Stirling. A chance to talk about some fantastic films with a lovely group of colleagues. Speakers will include Clara Bradbury-Rance, Gemma Edney, Kat Lindner and Cristina Johnston, covering – between them – all three of Sciamma’s feature-length films. There will also be discussions around teaching Sciamma to teenage audiences thanks to secondary Modern Languages teacher, Finn Mackie.

SGSAH Summer School registration open now

Just a quick note to let you know that registration for the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities Summer School is now open. ALL Arts and Humanities doctoral researchers, regardless of funding source, are eligible to apply to attend the Summer School which will run from 22-25 June in Glasgow.

There will be a wide range of workshops and events, with contributions including Stirling’s Professor of Feminist Media Studies Karen Boyle who will be leading an all-day workshop on Feminist Research Methods at the Glasgow Women’s Library. There will also be keynote lectures and lunch with renowned Professors Graham Harman (American University in Cairo) and Vinciane Despret (University of Liège).

Travel and accommodation available for students at a distance to help them attend and registration can be completed here.

2015 Africa in Motion News

We’re looking forward to this year’s Africa in Motion Festival which has just announced news of dates, screenings and competitions. This year, the festival celebrates its 10^th anniversary and we’re delighted to have had the chance to be one of its supporters over that period, from its earliest days as the brainchild of our former PhD student Lizelle Bisschoff.

This year’s theme will be ‘Connections’ and the festival will run from 23 October to 1 November, with screenings and events in Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as (we hope!) a screening at Stirling’s MacRobert Cinema.

In the meantime, you can catch an Africa in Motion screening of Wilaya as part of the 2015 Refugee Festival Scotland.

Wilaya

Last of the French freebies for this year

The academic year is over at Stirling and the blur of the exam period means that this blog hasn’t been updated as often as I would have liked but hopefully the weeks ahead will offer an opportunity to put that right, starting with a review of Samba, written by Amy Wylie, one of this year’s graduating students. Amy was one of a small group of students who took advantage of our ‘French freebies’ scheme to go and see the film as a well-earned treat after the exams. Here’s her take on it:

‘Samba, by co/directors Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, is a film I was thoroughly looking forward to, after having seen the award winning Intouchables. Omar Sy and Charlotte Gainsbourg play a fantastic double act, depicting the story of a Senegalese man who has been detained and ordered to leave France; the country he has called home for the last decade. Alice, who has recently started working as an immigration advocate, handles Samba’s case and they develop a close bond, despite Alice having being warned by her co/worker to keep her distance. The subject matter is at times upsetting but there is also a great deal of humour throughout the film. One scene shows Samba and his Brazilian friend doing a striptease whilst suspended half way up a multi-storey building. The music is quite uplifting, including Bob Marley’s – Waiting In Vain and Syreeta’s – To Know You Is To Love You. Overall, the film was thoroughly enjoyable and one I would definitely recommend!’

We’re hoping to be able to run the French freebies scheme again next year. In the meantime, thanks to Amy for the review!