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The Horror Cinema of Ari Aster

A research symposium on the pioneering horror cinema of Ari Aster, including a livestream conversation with the filmmaker himself. 

Martin Scorsese and Bong Joon Ho have recently described Ari Aster as one of the most original filmmakers currently working in American cinema. Aster’s feature debut was the extraordinary Hereditary (2018), which was followed by what is already proving to be a folk horror classic, Midsommar (2019). His most recent film is the surrealist dramedy, Beau is Afraid (2023), starring Joaquin Pheonix.

Film Studies, the Power Institute, and the Sydney Literature and Cinema Network are thrilled to present one of the first research events devoted to the work of Ari Aster. The symposium will bring together Australian and international scholars from the fields of film studies, literature studies, philosophy, and cultural studies to analyse the unique contribution of Aster to the horror genre.

 

Details

Friday November 3
9:00am - 5:00pm
New Law School Lecture Theatre 026
University of Sydney, Camperdown
And on Zoom

 

Morning

9:00 – 9:30am 
Coffee

 

9:30 – 11:00am 
Keynote 1 (livestream): Ari Aster in Conversation with Bruce Isaacs

 

11:15am – 12:45pm 
Panel 1

  • James McKenzie, My Little Big Bear: Ari Aster’s ‘The Strange Thing About the Johnsons’ as Horror Short’ (Macquarie University)
  • Kaitlin Lake, Howard a Sartrean Reading of Horror (Sydney University)
  • Cain Miller, Queering Ingmar Bergman and Ari Aster (Texas A and M University) – livestream.

 

12:45 – 1:45 pm 
Lunch

Afternoon

1:45 – 3:15pm 
Panel 2

  • Peter Markham, ‘Hereditary: The Screen as Capture of the Fiction and Audience Address’ (Head of Directing, American Film Institute, Los Angeles) – livestream.
  • Bruce Isaacs, ‘The A24 Aesthetic: Beau is Afraid’ (University of Sydney)
  • Robert Sinnerbrink, ‘Cinematic Atmospheres in Ari Aster's Hereditary and Midsommar ‘(Macquarie University)

 

3:30 – 5:00pm
Keynote 2: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, ‘Fear and the Feminine in the Films of Ari Aster’

 

5:30pm - the witching hour 
Dinner and drinks at the Forest Lodge on Arundel Street!