The Andrzej Wajda UG Film Centre and the Faculty of Philology will host the 28th edition of the 'Visible Evidence' conference from August 10-14. This is one of the most prestigious conferences devoted to film and media globally.
Invented almost 30 years ago, it travels the world, organised in a different location every year. Its hosts have included university centres in cities such as Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Canberra, Stockholm, and many others.
During this time, 'Visible Evidence' has moved from being just a conference to becoming an important brand, a place for the exchange of ideas and information through a shared mailing list, a form of networking, and the realisation and promotion of publishing initiatives. 'Visible Evidence' is also a thriving and numerous community of researchers and practitioner-documentarians. This year, as a result of several years of intensive efforts, the conference came to our part of Europe, to the University of Gdańsk, which is a reason for us to be happy and proud, as well as a confirmation of the high international position of our university.
'Visible Evidence' at its inception was dedicated to documentary cinema, but in keeping with the spirit of the times, this formula has broadened and now applies to all forms of documenting reality by means of the moving image. This year, the conference theme is 'Images of History', which means that the focus will be on how moving images shape our historical consciousness. Both classic documentaries and more recent forms, such as interactive documentaries, will be considered. All kinds of documentaries will be the subject of reflection, whether mainstream television documentaries, personal documentaries or avant-garde and experimental documentaries. Speaking of history, we also want to show our guests, conference participants from all over the world, a piece of Gdańsk's history, hence one conference afternoon will be held at the European Solidarity Centre, organised in cooperation with this institution.
The conference will be attended by more than 200 researchers and practitioners from all over the world. Approximately one third of participants will connect remotely.
In addition to the proceedings, documentaries will be screened. The conference has received financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science under the 'Excellent Science' programme.