Movie Launch: “Beyond the Gaze: Media Awareness for Media Inclusivity”

Beyond the Gaze imagines what media could be and what we can make it to be – a garden in which everyone finds a place for themself. The short, non-commercial film explores meanings of “the gaze” to denote White, colonialist, cis-hetero-patriarchal, and ableist ways of seeing that are transported by media. Beyond the Gaze describes methods for addressing discrimination on the levels of representation, production, and reception. The film demonstrates how reverse engineering allows us to understand how camera work, editing, and sound combine to shape media experience. Interviewees reflect on how “the gaze” has affected them personally. They discuss techniques for enjoying media, when possible, while remaining vigilant about how “the gaze” can make existing social hierarchies seem natural.

The film team would like to thank the Justus Liebig University of Giessen for generous financial support of the film. For further information, go to Beyond the Gaze.

The movie is available on the ZMI YouTube channel. Find the movie here.

CREDITS:

Script: Greta Olson
Additional script: Lisa Charlotte Friederich
Director: Charlotte Bösling
Graphics: Henrike Terheyden
Camera: Lizzy Geble
Sound: Steph Krah
Production manager: Melanie Kreitler
Speakers in order of appearance: Donna Liggins, Greta Olson, Hatice Korkmaz, Mohammed Bsaithi, Charlotte Bösling, Felix van Groningen, Jesse Jamal Garip