16/10/2026
๐๐ถ๐น๐บ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ผ๐๐ผ๐ฝ๐ต๐: ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ต
The Master of Arts in Film Studies is happy to welcome Prof. Mark Cauchi from York University in Toronto. Prof. Cauchi will deliver the following public talk:
๐ง๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ: โCinema ๐ข๐ด Crisis of Faith: Fidelity and Melodramas of Miraculous Remarriage (Ordet and Silent Light with Kierkegaard and Cavell)โ
๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ: Tuesday, 20 October 2026
๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ: 18:00-20:00
๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ:Lecture Centre 119 (LC119), Msida Campus
Prof. Cauchiโs talk will undertake to think cinema as a crisis of faith, in three steps. First, he shall genealogically connect cinema to the crisis of faith in the 19th century through engagements with the work of Charles Taylor, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, and Soren Kierkegaard. Second, he will examine the relationship of the cinematic medium to the viewer through engagement with elements of both Stanley Cavellโs film ontology. Finally, in two linked sub-steps, he will recontextualize Cavellโs analyses of his two privileged genres (remarriage comedies and unknown woman melodramas), both of which, Cauchi claims, are conditional upon and reflect a crisis of faith; following that, he suggests that this crisis is more self-consciously reflected upon in a small group of films he only half-seriously calls โmelodramas of miraculous remarriage.โ Two of these shall be briefly examined: Carl Theodor Dreyerโs ๐๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต (Word, 1955) and Carlos Reygadasโs ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ต (Silent Light, 2007). In these films, couplesโ relationships (fidelity) are challenged and reaffirmed through, and as, a miracle. These miracles, like others in cinema, immediately put the viewer into a crisis of faith about whether to accept as credible, believable, or trustworthy the impossible acts projected, a situation that merely heightens and discloses the condition that every viewer of every film is in.
Mark Cauchi is Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and in the Graduate Program of Social & Political Thought at York University in Toronto. His work examines the precarious intersections and genealogies of secularity and religion in philosophy, politics, art, and film. He is the editor of ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ (Bloomsbury 2024), co-editor with John Caruana of ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด: ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ (SUNY 2018), and author of articles in the journals ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ-๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ, ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ, ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช, and others.
