Alexandra Kapka | Queen's University Belfast (original) (raw)
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Conference Presentations by Alexandra Kapka
This thesis examines how the synergy of film classification and online film distribution shapes t... more This thesis examines how the synergy of film classification and online film distribution shapes the way we understand Eastern European ordeal cinema in the UK.
This paper considers the social and philosophical – specifically the ethico-legal – dimensions of... more This paper considers the social and philosophical – specifically the ethico-legal – dimensions of the peer-to-peer file-sharing network as archive in flux.
Archiving is a process traditionally undertaken by gatekeepers and power brokers who preserve elite-selected items for the future. However, in the age of decentralised, digital democracy, consumers become curators and select their own artefacts for conservation. Contrary to traditional notions of archival engagement, peer-to-peer file-sharing disrupts and subverts hierarchical processes and provides fresh insight into the preferences of digital users. The horizontal and continuous act of exchanging files can be seen as an egalitarian, bottom- up form of citizen-led archiving.
In order to demonstrate the above, an ethnographic case study will be utilised, alongside thick description and further supported by discourse analysis. A focus on popular cinema, specifically horror, will provide evidence for the overarching argument of the paper, which is that new technologies are inviting democratic forms of disruption, selection and preservation. Rather than seek to counter these behaviours, researchers should welcome them as they lend deeper insight into audience behaviours.
This paper outlines the development of genre cinema in Serbia, with a particular focus on horror.... more This paper outlines the development of genre cinema in Serbia, with a particular focus on horror. This will be used to contextualise an analysis of the U.K. critical reception of A Serbian Film (Spasojević 2010, Serbia) in order to illustrate the ways in which reception and censorship of this transgressive film shaped, and in some cases exacerbated, negative perceptions of Serbia.
Papers by Alexandra Kapka
This paper considers the social and philosophical – specifically the ethico-legal – dimensions of... more This paper considers the social and philosophical – specifically the ethico-legal – dimensions of the peer-to-peer file-sharing network as archive in flux. Archiving is a process traditionally undertaken by gatekeepers and power brokers who preserve elite-selected items for the future. However, in the age of decentralised, digital democracy, consumers become curators and select their own artefacts for conservation. Contrary to traditional notions of archival engagement, peer-to-peer file-sharing disrupts and subverts hierarchical processes and provides fresh insight into the preferences of digital users. The horizontal and continuous act of exchanging files can be seen as an egalitarian, bottom- up form of citizen-led archiving. In order to demonstrate the above, an ethnographic case study will be utilised, alongside thick description and further supported by discourse analysis. A focus on popular cinema, specifically horror, will provide evidence for the overarching argument of the paper, which is that new technologies are inviting democratic forms of disruption, selection and preservation. Rather than seek to counter these behaviours, researchers should welcome them as they lend deeper insight into audience behaviours.
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 2013
Lúcia Nagib-Viewing World Cinema: Modes of Organisation and Understanding How do we deal with and... more Lúcia Nagib-Viewing World Cinema: Modes of Organisation and Understanding How do we deal with and make sense of the mass of films, from the most different periods and places, available to us in so many formats, DVDs, Internet, cinemas, festivals, screenings in museums and other spaces? Is the term 'world cinema' helpful for the understanding of this huge and disparate production? This paper will address these questions from a polycentric approach that veers away from discourses of 'difference', which reduce world cinema to a victimised 'other' and risk replicating and perpetuating the very colonial partition of the world they claim to deconstruct. Instead, it will call attention to the extraordinary coincidence of cinematic tropes recurring across history and geography, which tell us what peoples from different periods and places have in common and how this commonality can generate original aesthetics. It will further enquire on the relation between common tropes and those cinematic moments privileged by cinephilia, which Mary-Ann Doane describes as a furtive activity of the film buff, rather than that of the theorist, and which tends to become all the more personal as film viewing retreats from the public to the private realm. As Mulvey alerts us, 'now… individuals are able to build up collections of films that can be re-seen and reinterpreted along the lines that might change with changes in interest and knowledge but also are open to the chance insights and unexpected encounters that come with endless repetition'. This paper will attempt to make sense of the politics inherent in the act of authoring private histories through common world-cinema tropes. Ciara Chambers-The impact of digitisation on film history research and education.
a-serbian-film-the-effects-of-censorship-and-file-sharingon-critical-reception-and-perceptions-of... more a-serbian-film-the-effects-of-censorship-and-file-sharingon-critical-reception-and-perceptions-of-serbian-national-identity-in-the-uk/
Journal of British Cinema and Television, 2017
In March 2015 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to classify James Cullen Br... more In March 2015 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to classify James Cullen Bressack's independent film, Hate Crime (2012). This was the Board's first explicit rejection of a film since 2011, and undermines their attempts to portray themselves as increasingly lenient, in favour of free choice for adults and open about their processes. This case is of particular interest as the film was to be distributed solely via an online video-on-demand platform. Hate Crime has the dubious honour of being the first film to be refused an eighteen certificate under revised regulations pertaining to the streamed Internet distribution of feature films in the UK. Furthermore, this case raises questions about genre boundaries, and about the definition and prioritisation of art cinema within UK institutions. This article engages with the BBFC's refusal to classify Hate Crime in the light of this particular distribution context. Focusing on media industry, genre and gender ...
Unpublished, 2018
This thesis examines how the synergy of film classification and online film distribution shapes ... more This thesis examines how the synergy of film classification and online film distribution shapes the way we understand Eastern European ordeal cinema in the UK.
From a UK-situated context, the study focuses on the digital availability of cinema, content classification policy, audience response, and thematic textual analysis of Eastern European ordeal cinema, in order to elucidate how films featuring ‘extreme’ images of sexual and/or sadistic violence circulate in practice. This development is read through consideration of the contemporary moral climate in Britain pertaining to internet-mediated content distribution.
By examining both the online and film festival life of films such as Srpski Film/A Serbian Film (Spasojević 2010), Zivot I smrt porno bande/The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (Đorđević 2009), Pora Mroku/Time of Darkness (Kuczeriszka 2008), and Taxidermia (Pálfi 2006), the thesis outlines how the complexities of formal digital distribution are challenging UK film classification, changing the way audiences access and regard film, and thus, augmenting the way in which cinema is discussed. The thesis
draws upon mixed methodologies including audience research, media industry studies, and policy and textual analysis. The work is informed by genre and gender studies, as well as scholarship on orientalism, subculture, and European cinema.
Through this study, I demonstrate that digital film distribution is perhaps not as radical and disruptive as originally theorised, as institutions—such as the UK
government, enacted through the BBFC—seek to ‘re-intermediate’ the distribution process via the recruitment and (re)instatement of gatekeepers. Film classification has thus become stricter, completing a 30-year rotation to return to familiar arguments; ones
which prioritise issues of taste, obscenity and disgust. In maintaining fidelity to notions
of ‘common-sense’ media effects, the UK response to the evolution of digital contentdistribution has come to define the life-cycle of ordeal cinema in the country; even—or perhaps especially—when films are not submitted for regulation. Through this process,
ordeal cinema continues to be divided into art-cinema/exploitation, and
acceptable/unacceptable material. These divisions work to designate ordeal films, and
their associated audiences and pleasures, as wrong, unsanctioned, harmful, and a moral threat to UK life. Ironically, this process also raises the profile of ordeal films, promoting them to wider audiences.
In March 2015 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to classify James Cullen Br... more In March 2015 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to classify James Cullen Bressack's independent film, Hate Crime (2012). This was the Board's first explicit rejection of a film since 2011, and undermines their attempts to portray themselves as increasingly lenient, in favour of free choice for adults and open about their processes. This case is of particular interest as the film was to be distributed solely via an online video-on-demand platform. Hate Crime has the dubious honour of being the first film to be refused an eighteen certificate under revised regulations pertaining to the streamed Internet distribution of feature films in the UK. Furthermore, this case raises questions about genre boundaries, and about the definition and prioritisation of art cinema within UK institutions. This article engages with the BBFC's refusal to classify Hate Crime in the light of this particular distribution context. Focusing on media industry, genre and gender studies, the article explores whether or not the BBFC's decision can be justified and, further, what the consequences of this certification refusal might be in the current media landscape. It suggests that the BBFC's approach might be out of kilter with the digital world and in this case demonstrates a misunderstanding of genre conventions and an unequivocal bias in favour of art-house cinema.
Alphaville Journal of Film and Screen Media, 2013
This thesis examines how the synergy of film classification and online film distribution shapes t... more This thesis examines how the synergy of film classification and online film distribution shapes the way we understand Eastern European ordeal cinema in the UK.
This paper considers the social and philosophical – specifically the ethico-legal – dimensions of... more This paper considers the social and philosophical – specifically the ethico-legal – dimensions of the peer-to-peer file-sharing network as archive in flux.
Archiving is a process traditionally undertaken by gatekeepers and power brokers who preserve elite-selected items for the future. However, in the age of decentralised, digital democracy, consumers become curators and select their own artefacts for conservation. Contrary to traditional notions of archival engagement, peer-to-peer file-sharing disrupts and subverts hierarchical processes and provides fresh insight into the preferences of digital users. The horizontal and continuous act of exchanging files can be seen as an egalitarian, bottom- up form of citizen-led archiving.
In order to demonstrate the above, an ethnographic case study will be utilised, alongside thick description and further supported by discourse analysis. A focus on popular cinema, specifically horror, will provide evidence for the overarching argument of the paper, which is that new technologies are inviting democratic forms of disruption, selection and preservation. Rather than seek to counter these behaviours, researchers should welcome them as they lend deeper insight into audience behaviours.
This paper outlines the development of genre cinema in Serbia, with a particular focus on horror.... more This paper outlines the development of genre cinema in Serbia, with a particular focus on horror. This will be used to contextualise an analysis of the U.K. critical reception of A Serbian Film (Spasojević 2010, Serbia) in order to illustrate the ways in which reception and censorship of this transgressive film shaped, and in some cases exacerbated, negative perceptions of Serbia.
This paper considers the social and philosophical – specifically the ethico-legal – dimensions of... more This paper considers the social and philosophical – specifically the ethico-legal – dimensions of the peer-to-peer file-sharing network as archive in flux. Archiving is a process traditionally undertaken by gatekeepers and power brokers who preserve elite-selected items for the future. However, in the age of decentralised, digital democracy, consumers become curators and select their own artefacts for conservation. Contrary to traditional notions of archival engagement, peer-to-peer file-sharing disrupts and subverts hierarchical processes and provides fresh insight into the preferences of digital users. The horizontal and continuous act of exchanging files can be seen as an egalitarian, bottom- up form of citizen-led archiving. In order to demonstrate the above, an ethnographic case study will be utilised, alongside thick description and further supported by discourse analysis. A focus on popular cinema, specifically horror, will provide evidence for the overarching argument of the paper, which is that new technologies are inviting democratic forms of disruption, selection and preservation. Rather than seek to counter these behaviours, researchers should welcome them as they lend deeper insight into audience behaviours.
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 2013
Lúcia Nagib-Viewing World Cinema: Modes of Organisation and Understanding How do we deal with and... more Lúcia Nagib-Viewing World Cinema: Modes of Organisation and Understanding How do we deal with and make sense of the mass of films, from the most different periods and places, available to us in so many formats, DVDs, Internet, cinemas, festivals, screenings in museums and other spaces? Is the term 'world cinema' helpful for the understanding of this huge and disparate production? This paper will address these questions from a polycentric approach that veers away from discourses of 'difference', which reduce world cinema to a victimised 'other' and risk replicating and perpetuating the very colonial partition of the world they claim to deconstruct. Instead, it will call attention to the extraordinary coincidence of cinematic tropes recurring across history and geography, which tell us what peoples from different periods and places have in common and how this commonality can generate original aesthetics. It will further enquire on the relation between common tropes and those cinematic moments privileged by cinephilia, which Mary-Ann Doane describes as a furtive activity of the film buff, rather than that of the theorist, and which tends to become all the more personal as film viewing retreats from the public to the private realm. As Mulvey alerts us, 'now… individuals are able to build up collections of films that can be re-seen and reinterpreted along the lines that might change with changes in interest and knowledge but also are open to the chance insights and unexpected encounters that come with endless repetition'. This paper will attempt to make sense of the politics inherent in the act of authoring private histories through common world-cinema tropes. Ciara Chambers-The impact of digitisation on film history research and education.
a-serbian-film-the-effects-of-censorship-and-file-sharingon-critical-reception-and-perceptions-of... more a-serbian-film-the-effects-of-censorship-and-file-sharingon-critical-reception-and-perceptions-of-serbian-national-identity-in-the-uk/
Journal of British Cinema and Television, 2017
In March 2015 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to classify James Cullen Br... more In March 2015 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to classify James Cullen Bressack's independent film, Hate Crime (2012). This was the Board's first explicit rejection of a film since 2011, and undermines their attempts to portray themselves as increasingly lenient, in favour of free choice for adults and open about their processes. This case is of particular interest as the film was to be distributed solely via an online video-on-demand platform. Hate Crime has the dubious honour of being the first film to be refused an eighteen certificate under revised regulations pertaining to the streamed Internet distribution of feature films in the UK. Furthermore, this case raises questions about genre boundaries, and about the definition and prioritisation of art cinema within UK institutions. This article engages with the BBFC's refusal to classify Hate Crime in the light of this particular distribution context. Focusing on media industry, genre and gender ...
Unpublished, 2018
This thesis examines how the synergy of film classification and online film distribution shapes ... more This thesis examines how the synergy of film classification and online film distribution shapes the way we understand Eastern European ordeal cinema in the UK.
From a UK-situated context, the study focuses on the digital availability of cinema, content classification policy, audience response, and thematic textual analysis of Eastern European ordeal cinema, in order to elucidate how films featuring ‘extreme’ images of sexual and/or sadistic violence circulate in practice. This development is read through consideration of the contemporary moral climate in Britain pertaining to internet-mediated content distribution.
By examining both the online and film festival life of films such as Srpski Film/A Serbian Film (Spasojević 2010), Zivot I smrt porno bande/The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (Đorđević 2009), Pora Mroku/Time of Darkness (Kuczeriszka 2008), and Taxidermia (Pálfi 2006), the thesis outlines how the complexities of formal digital distribution are challenging UK film classification, changing the way audiences access and regard film, and thus, augmenting the way in which cinema is discussed. The thesis
draws upon mixed methodologies including audience research, media industry studies, and policy and textual analysis. The work is informed by genre and gender studies, as well as scholarship on orientalism, subculture, and European cinema.
Through this study, I demonstrate that digital film distribution is perhaps not as radical and disruptive as originally theorised, as institutions—such as the UK
government, enacted through the BBFC—seek to ‘re-intermediate’ the distribution process via the recruitment and (re)instatement of gatekeepers. Film classification has thus become stricter, completing a 30-year rotation to return to familiar arguments; ones
which prioritise issues of taste, obscenity and disgust. In maintaining fidelity to notions
of ‘common-sense’ media effects, the UK response to the evolution of digital contentdistribution has come to define the life-cycle of ordeal cinema in the country; even—or perhaps especially—when films are not submitted for regulation. Through this process,
ordeal cinema continues to be divided into art-cinema/exploitation, and
acceptable/unacceptable material. These divisions work to designate ordeal films, and
their associated audiences and pleasures, as wrong, unsanctioned, harmful, and a moral threat to UK life. Ironically, this process also raises the profile of ordeal films, promoting them to wider audiences.
In March 2015 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to classify James Cullen Br... more In March 2015 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to classify James Cullen Bressack's independent film, Hate Crime (2012). This was the Board's first explicit rejection of a film since 2011, and undermines their attempts to portray themselves as increasingly lenient, in favour of free choice for adults and open about their processes. This case is of particular interest as the film was to be distributed solely via an online video-on-demand platform. Hate Crime has the dubious honour of being the first film to be refused an eighteen certificate under revised regulations pertaining to the streamed Internet distribution of feature films in the UK. Furthermore, this case raises questions about genre boundaries, and about the definition and prioritisation of art cinema within UK institutions. This article engages with the BBFC's refusal to classify Hate Crime in the light of this particular distribution context. Focusing on media industry, genre and gender studies, the article explores whether or not the BBFC's decision can be justified and, further, what the consequences of this certification refusal might be in the current media landscape. It suggests that the BBFC's approach might be out of kilter with the digital world and in this case demonstrates a misunderstanding of genre conventions and an unequivocal bias in favour of art-house cinema.
Alphaville Journal of Film and Screen Media, 2013