Embracing sound in the ‘Basque New Wave’
Professor Sarah Wright
Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Two recent films of the ‘Basque new wave’ explored themes of diversity to bring Basque-language cinema to the international stage.
This lecture will examine the use of sound and silence in these films, giving attention to the work of Spanish sound design and technical practitioners, exploring foley in Giant (Arregi and Garaño, 2017) and direct sound in 20,000 Species of Bees (Urresola, 2023). Both films are haunted by Víctor Erice’s iconic The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), and through that film, by James Whale’s silent classic, Frankenstein (1931). The lecture will focus on the relational and intersubjective possibilities of sound, and its entanglements with bodies and technologies.
Respondent: Jo Evans, Professor Emeritus, University College London
To book email centreforvisualcultures@royalholloway.ac.uk
Luxbox. A still from Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species of Bees in which a girl (Sofía Otero) is dressed in bee-keeping garb
