Film+Talk: Srecko Horvat & Alfonso Cuarón: Children of Men

Were you not able to attend Children of Men or would you like to rewatch the programme? Click here for the recording.

For this year’s Forum on European Culture – Act for Democracy!, De Balie Cinema has asked political philosopher Srećko Horvat to curate and introduce a film that he thinks reflects the contemporary European situation. We are happy and honoured to welcome this ‘charismatic Croatian philosopher’ (per Hollywood-director Oliver Stone) to a late night screening of his choice: the modern classic Children of Men. We are verry honoured to welcome award-winning director Alfonso Cuarón, who will join Horvat in a conversation about the state of Europe and what role film can play to Act for Democracy!

Children of Men (2006) is a dystopian thriller, directed and co-written by award-winning director Alfonso Cuarón. The film takes place in the Europe of 2027, where two decades of human infertility have left society in civil war and on the brink of collapse. Migration is at its peak and illegal immigrants seek sanctuary in the United Kingdom, where the last functioning government imposes oppressive immigration laws on refugees. The film tells the story of civil servant Theo Faron (Clive Owen), who must help a refugee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) escape the country. Populated by an all-star cast including Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film mixes documentary newsreel style elements with fictional storytelling and visually references the moral ground zero contemporary societies are in.

Srećko Horvat (Croatia, 1983) is a Croatian philosopher, author, and political activist. He published more than ten books translated into more than fifteen languages. His most recent published books include Poetry From the Future (Penguin, forthcoming in 2019), Subversion! (Zero Books, 2017), The Radicality of Love (Polity Press, 2015), Welcome to the Desert of Post-Socialism: Radical Politics after Yugoslavia (with Igor Štiks, Verso, 2015), What Does Europe Want? (with Slavoj Žižek, Columbia University Press, 2014). His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, El Pais and The New York Times, and the German newspaper Der Freitag has named him as one of the most exciting voices of his generation. In 2015, Horvat, together with former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, launched the Pan-European political movement called Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25).