Conferencia "Rethinking Race, Gender, and Urban Planning inCinematic Imaginaries. The Case of West Side Story"

Conferencia de Alberto Berzosa en la que se abordará el proceso de revisión de los imaginarios socioculturales estadounidenses en diálogo con algunos principios mitológicos de Hollywood, a partir de la versión de Steven Spielberg de West Side Story (2021).

En esta película, el director reconstruye y reequilibra el clásico de 1961 potenciando la presencia de agentes

racializados, abriendo espacios para visibilizar identidades de género no normativas y añadiendo temas

contemporáneos sobre los procesos de desarrollo económico y urbano en la ciudad de Nueva York como la

gentrificación del West Side.

Alberto Berzosa es profesor del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte de la Universidad Autónoma de

Madrid.

Organiza: Esta sesión ha sido organizada por Benita Sampedro Vizcaya y copatrocinado por el Department of Romance. Languages and Literatures y el Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, con el apoyo del Hofstra Cultural Center.

Fecha: 5 de mayo de 2025 (2:40 pm - 5:45 pm)

Enlace: https://news.hofstra.edu/event/rethinking-race-gender-and-urban-planning-in-cinematic-imaginaries/

ENG

Public talk: Rethinking Race, Gender, and Urban Planning in Cinematic Imaginaries. The Case of West Side Story by Alberzo Berzosa (Universidad Autónoma of Madrid).

This lecture will address the process of rethinking sociocultural imaginaries in dialogue with some tenets of American mythology embedded in Hollywood cinema, focusing on Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story (2021). In this film, the director recomposes and re-equalizes the classic 1961 film, enhancing the presence of racialized agents, opening up spaces for non-normative gender identities, and adding contemporary themes about the processes of economic and urban development in New York City, such as the gentrification of the West Side.

Alberto Berzosa is a professor of Art History and Theory of Art and works at the intersection of the history of art, Spanish cinema, political archives, and curatorship. He is the author of two book monographs: Materiales para una utopía ecologista. Cartografía de archivos del movimiento ecologista en España (2023), and Cine y sexopolítica (2020). He is also the codirector of the documentary film Memorias de ultramar (2021) and has curated several exhibitions for La Casa Encendida (Madrid), the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and the Institut Valenciá d’Art Modern in Spain.

Organized by Benita Sampedro Vizcaya and co-sponsored by the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, with the support of the Hofstra Cultural Center.

Date: May 5, 2:40 pm - 5:45 pm

Link: https://news.hofstra.edu/event/rethinking-race-gender-and-urban-planning-in-cinematic-imaginaries/