Regarding Interspecies Entanglements: Conflict, Communication, Kinship

The 18th Toronto German Studies Symposium at the University of Toronto, October 2 - 4, 2025.

Thursday, October 2

Media Commons Theatre (3rd floor), Robarts Library, 130 St. George Street

18:00

Screening of Singing Back the Buffalo with Tasha Hubbard and Kyra Northwest

Virtual introduction by Kyra Northwest (Montana First Nation) and post-screening discussion with filmmaker and University of Alberta professor Tasha Hubbard (Peepeekisis First Nation)

Singing Back the Buffalo (dir. Tasha Hubbard, CA, 99 min) A visually rich and compelling story of indigenous kinship with buffalo and how the latter’s return to the Great Plains can restore sustainability and balance to wider ecologies.

Friday, October 3

Room 208N (2nd floor), The Munk School for Global Affairs, 1 Devonshire Place

9:00

Opening Remarks

Land Acknowledgement--- Dr. Stefan Soldovieri, Chair, Germanic Lang. & Literatures.

Opening Remarks--- Dr. Angelica Fenner, Prof of German and Cinema Studies

9:15

Figure and Ground: Landscape, Habitat, & Umwelt in the Visual Field

Moderator: Dr. Tracy McDonald (History, McMaster University)

Dr. Jennifer Fay (Cinema & Media, Vanderbilt University) The Age of Loneliness: The Zoo from Wiseman to Karmakar

Dr. Inga Pollmann (German & Film, UNC, Chapel Hill) Negotiating Modes of Being: Animalistic Media, Environments, and Moods

Dr. Matthew Thompson (Film Studies, University of Regina) The Garden Machine: Fantasies of an Artificially Intelligent Environmentalism

11:15 Break

11:30

Representing Relationality: Interspecies Communication and Play

Moderator: Parth Pant (Cinema Studies, University of Toronto)

Dr. Susan McHugh (English, University of New England) Filmmakers (not) Seeing Wild Animals as Communicative

Max Weber (German, University of Toronto) Scenes of Play as Metareflections on Literature and Ecology in Marlen Haushofers Die Wand and Der Himmel, der nirgendwo endet

12:45 Break

14:00

Perspectival Framing Beyond the Human on Screen and Canvas

Moderator: Dr. Rebecca Woods (IHPST, University of Toronto)

Dr. James Cahill (Cinema Studies & French, University of Toronto) Of What Do Sleeping Dogs Dream? An Excursion with Velázquez

Emilie Jacob (Cinema Studies, University of Toronto) Killer POVs: Cross-Species Vision and the Anarchitectural Gaze in Dario Argento’s Cinema

15:30

Screening and Discussion with Bonnie Whitehall, Artist (MFA)

Moderator: Petra Totten (Cinema Studies, University of Toronto)

The Beast in Me Manifesto (2021, CA, 34 min.) A film manifesto interrogating the cinematic animal from a social, cultural and historical perspective to highlight the ways animals have been represented throughout the history of documentary film.

The Sameness Approach (2024, 4 min) This contemplative film asks whether older animals should be retired from zoo life, honoring their needs and their years of overexposure to the public. The film challenges viewers to reconsider the role of zoos, confront the realities of captivity, and reflect on the ethics of keeping aging animals behind their walls.

Saturday, October 4

Deluxe Screening Room, Innis Room 222 (2nd floor), 2 Sussex Avenue

10:00

Interspecies Performance

Moderator: Dr. Stefan Soldovieri (German, University of Toronto)

Dr. Ina Karkani (Film and Theatre Studies, Free University of Berlin) Animalizing Film Form. A Creaturely Approach to Film Aesthetics

Ganga Rudraiah (Cinema Studies, University of Toronto) The Film Song is Like a Horse with Wings

Dr. Angelica Fenner (German and Cinema Studies, U. of Toronto) Penguin Lessons: What Can We Learn from the Spheniscidae Media Mania?

12:15

Closing Thoughts & Conversations to Be Continued