18th Toronto German Studies Symposium
When and Where
Description
The 18th Toronto German Studies Symposium will take place October 2–4, 2025. This year’s theme is “Considering Cross-Species Assemblages: Conflict, Collaboration, Kinship”.
The symposium will feature a diverse program including a screening of Singing Back the Buffalo by Indigenous Canadian filmmaker Tasha Hubbard, as well as presentations by scholars sharing research in progress.
Thursday, October 2, 2025
Location: Media Commons Theatre (3rd floor), Robarts library, 130 St. George Street
18:00 Screening of Singing Back the Buffalo with Tasha Hubbard and Kyra Northwest
Virtual introduction by Kyra Northwest (Montana First Nation) and post-screening discussion with filmmaker and University of Alberta professor Tasha Hubbard (Peepeekisis First Nation)
Singing Back the Buffalo (dir. Tasha Hubbard, CA, 99 min)
A visually rich and compelling story of indigenous kinship with buffalo and how the latter’s return to the Great Plains can restore sustainability and balance to wider ecologies.
Friday, October 3, 2025
Location: Room 208N (2nd floor), The Munk School for Global Affairs, 1 Devonshire Place
9:00 Opening Remarks
Land Acknowledgement, Dr. Stefan Soldovieri, Chair, Germanic Lang. & Literatures.
Opening Remarks, Dr. Angelica Fenner, Prof of German and Cinema Studies
9:15 Figure and Ground: Landscape, Habitat, & Umwelt in the Visual Field
Moderator: Dr. Tracy McDonald (History, McMaster University)
Dr. Jennifer Fay (Cinema & Media, Vanderbilt University)
The Age of Loneliness: The Zoo from Wiseman to Karmakar
Dr. Inga Pollmann (German & Film, UNC, Chapel Hill)
Negotiating Modes of Being: Animalistic Media, Environments, and Moods
Dr. Matthew Thompson (Film Studies, University of Regina)
The Garden Machine: Fantasies of an Artificially Intelligent Environmentalism
11:15 Break
11:30 Representing Relationality: Interspecies Communication and Play
Moderator: Parth Pant (Cinema Studies, University of Toronto)
Dr. Susan McHugh (English, University of New England)
Filmmakers (not) Seeing Wild Animals as Communicative
Max Weber (German, University of Toronto)
Scenes of Play as Metareflections on Literature and Ecology in Marlen Haushofers Die Wand and Der Himmel, der nirgendwo endet
12:45 Break
14:00 Perspectival Framing Beyond the Human on Screen and Canvas
Moderator: Dr. Rebecca Woods (IHPST, University of Toronto)
Dr. James Cahill (Cinema Studies & French, University of Toronto)
Of What Do Sleeping Dogs Dream? An Excursion with Velázquez
Emilie Jacob (Cinema Studies, University of Toronto)
Killer POVs: Cross-Species Vision and the Anarchitectural Gaze in Dario Argento’s Cinema
15:30 Screening and Discussion with Bonnie Whitehall, Artist (MFA)
Moderator: Petra Totten (Cinema Studies, University of Toronto)
The Beast in Me Manifesto (2021, CA, 34 min.)
A film manifesto interrogating the cinematic animal from a social, cultural and historical perspective to highlight the ways animals have been represented throughout the history of documentary film.
The Sameness Approach (2024, 4 min)
This contemplative film asks whether older animals should be retired from zoo life, honoring their needs and their years of overexposure to the public. The film challenges viewers to reconsider the role of zoos, confront the realities of captivity, and reflect on the ethics of keeping aging animals behind their walls.
Saturday, October 4, 2025
Location: Deluxe Theatre, Innis Room 222 (2nd floor), 2 Sussex Avenue
10:00 Interspecies Performance
Moderator: Dr. Stefan Soldovieri (German, University of Toronto)
Dr. Ina Karkani (Film and Theatre Studies, Free University of Berlin)
Animalizing Film Form. A Creaturely Approach to Film Aesthetics
Ganga Rudraiah (Cinema Studies, University of Toronto)
The Film Song is Like a Horse with Wings
Dr. Angelica Fenner (German and Cinema Studies, U. of Toronto)
Penguin Lessons: What Can We Learn from the Spheniscidae Media Mania?
12:00 Closing Remarks
Sponsored by:
Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures
Funded by the DAAD using funds form the Federal Foreign Office (AA)
Cinema Studies Institute (CSI)
Institute for the History of the Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST)
Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI)
Contact: Angelica Fenner (angelica.fenner@utoronto.ca)