Critics like to describe contemporary film culture as “post-cinematographic”: in a process of “relocation” (Casetti), film has moved to places that cannot be understood entirely through the dispositif of cinema and instead circulate in a variety of social and cultural settings. New forms of moving image production beyond the standard feature film are emerging – from “amateur” video clips on YouTube to aesthetically ambitious series on streaming platforms. Film, especially in these new configurations, functions as an important reference to theater, the visual arts and literature. The term “post-cinema” also represents an opportunity for film theory: it opens up a perspective that goes beyond the narrative of loss and mourning to a media specificity that is ultimately tied to the dispositif of cinema, the indexical nature of the photographic image and a canon to be questioned.

Instead of retelling the narrative of the supposed loss of media specificity, the DFG Research Training Group 2279 “Configurations of Film” will address the question of what comes after the “post-cinematographic state”. How can we move beyond the aesthetic and supposed ontological supremacy of the triad of dispositive, index and canon in our thinking about film? What alternatives are there to the already established dichotomies of film studies, from “theatrical vs. non-theatrical” and “artistic vs. non-artistic” to “canonical vs. non-canonical” and “center vs. periphery”?

The aim of the Research Training Group is to contribute to the development of research approaches for the next generation of film and media research by training excellent young female researchers. The research training group bundles the subject-specific competencies in Frankfurt and integrates philosophy, theater studies, musicology and American studies, as well as the neighboring locations of Mainz, Marburg, Mannheim and Offenbach. The college builds on three Master’s degree programs at Goethe University and cooperation between the applicants. It utilizes the potential of the Frankfurt location, where the University Library and the German National Library have literature holdings of European standing and where important non-university partners are available in the form of the German Film Institute, the Murnau Foundation and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. The Center has developed an international reputation through its cooperation with Yale University and Concordia University.

The spokesperson for the Research Training Group is Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Hediger

News from the research center

Event
06./07.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Kolja Möller - Volk und Elite

Workshop

Workshop zum "Buch Volk und Elite - Eine Gesellschaftstheorie des Populismus" von Kolja Möller

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Event
31.10.2025/01.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Strafrecht und Kriminalpolitik in den Polykrisen der digitalen Welt

Symposium

Unter der Überschrift „Strafrecht und Kriminalpolitik in den Polykrisen der digitalen Welt“ sollen auf dem XII. Deutsch-Griechischen Strafrechtssymposion die heterogenen Herausforderungen diskutiert werden, mit denen sich das Strafrechtssystem in Zeiten sich häufender und interdependenter Krisen (Klima, Migration) konfrontiert sieht.

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Publication
01.10.2025 | Encyclopedia

Moralisieren

Schmelzle, Cord (2025): „Moralisieren“. In: Pollmann, Anna; Möllmann, Christopher: Schlüsselbegriffe gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalts. Ein kritisches Vokabular, Wallstein, S. 544–561.

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Publication
01.10.2025 | Anthology

Dis.Ordering Distribution. Infrastructures, Formats and Practices in the Circulation of Culture.

Storz, Cornelia; Hediger, Vinzenz; Krings, Matthias (eds.) (2025): Dis.Ordering Distribution. Infrastructures, Formats and Practices in the Circulation of Culture. Emerald Publishing.

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Event
03.11.2025 | Offenbach

Ich kann, also bin ich? Eine Kritik ableistischer Diskriminierung in unserer Gesellschaft

Lecture

Der Vortrag von Dr. Regina Schidel im Rahmen der Goethe Lectures Offenbach analysiert Ableismus aus philosophischer und sozialtheoretischer Perspektive, und zwar exemplarisch am Fall von Menschen mit kognitiven Einschränkungen/geistiger »Behinderung«. Es werden Ursprünge ableistischen Denkens in der philosophischen Tradition entwickelt, in ihrer gesellschaftlichen Funktionalität untersucht und Möglichkeiten befragt, diese zu überwinden – diese stammen etwa aus kritischer und feministischer Theoriebildung.

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Publication
30.09.2025

Climate Finance, the Right to Promote Sustainable Development and Responsibility

Moellendorf, Darrel (2025): „Climate Finance, the Right to Promote Sustainable Development and Responsibility“. In: Berger, Axel; Brandi, Clara; Kollar, Eszter (eds.): Justice in Global Economic Governance. Normative and Empirical Perspectives on Promoting Fairer Globalisation, Edinburgh University Press, p. 125–133.

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Publication
29.09.2025 | Journal article

Im Visier der Autokraten: Vom Wert der Wissenschaftsfreiheit

Forst, Rainer; Tockner, Klement: Im Visier der Autokraten: Vom Wert der Wissenschaftsfreiheit. In: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik. 10/2025, S. 109-117.

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Publication
18.09.2025 | Journal article

Robots and wages: A meta-analysis

Jurkat, Anne; Klump, Rainer; Schneider, Florian (2025): „Robots and wages: A meta-analysis“. In: Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, In Press/Journal Pre-proof.

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Event
19.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Unerwünscht. Die westdeutsche Demokratie und die Verfolgten des NS-Regimes

Book Presentation

Der Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum schildert die Erfahrungen von überlebenden Juden und Sinti und Roma, von ehemaligen Zwangsarbeitern und Homosexuellen in Westdeutschland in der Nachkriegszeit.

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