Humanities on the Mall: Conversation with Bernadette Wegenstein and Film Screening of "Devoti Tutti"

Description

Spring on the Mall—what could be better? All are invited to this gathering of Humanities on the Mall featuring a film screening of Devoted—A Feminist Intervention into an Ancient Sicilian Cult.

Devoti Tutti (English: Devoted), a documentary by Johns Hopkins media studies professor and award-winning documentary film director Bernadette Wegenstein, melds animation and cinema verité to weave a transcendent story about women who struggle to escape the trauma of sexual violence. Through magical realist animations in the style of baroque chiaroscuro, Devoti Tutti returns to the martyred Saint Agatha of Catania a voice she never had. Alongside a chorus of the citizens of Catania and the stories of real abuse survivors, Devoti Tutti shows how a community's reverence for its saint masks misogynist realities. In her cell, Agatha is kept company by her breasts, which her tormenters severed from her body—a reminder of the violence she suffered, but also of her refusal to submit to a man's desire. Together with the flying breasts, Agatha escapes from the chamber where she has been held prisoner for two millennia and flies out over the ocean and into her own self-creation.

Following the screening, Wegenstein will be in conversation with Eugenio Refini, NYU professor of Italian Studies and a former JHU faculty member.

This event is hosted by the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute and East City Bookshop. All are welcome—admission is free with any ID with a sign-in at the security desk upon entry. JHU affiliates should bring their Hopkins IDs to swipe in for the building.

Attendees are asked to register in advance.