About this Event
With their short fiction film Walter L., which brings working-class political experiences to the screen, social scientist Paulus Wagner and film director Barbara Wolfram have sought to transform material and results from social science research into a work of fiction.
The film draws on Paulus Wagner's PhD thesis at Sciences Po, which explored the links between workplace experience and the appeal for right-wing populism. The biographical interviews he conducted with manual workers in Austria and Germany inspired the film, which came out of the project Building Bridges in Polarized Societies at Film Academy Vienna / mdw, funded by the City of Vienna. Barbara.
While the film aims to spark debate on the connections between labour and politics, the project also works to strike a bridge between the arts and the social sciences. Artists are looking to tell stories about salient social issues of our time. Social scientists often work on these, but lack high-visibility outlets through which to engage with the general public.
How does filmic storytelling go with social scientific theory? What does a sociologist contribute to working with actors, or to set design? What tensions arise from different understandings of artistic and scientific work? Paulus and Barbara will be joined by Alexia Vanhée, the artistic director of the Jean Rouch International Festival, to discuss these issues.
Programme of the event
- screening of the short film 'Walter L.' (German with English subtitles)
- comments from Paulus Wagner, Barbara Wolfram, and Alexia Vanhée
- discussion between the audience and the panel on How to shoot a fiction film based on social science research?
Event venue & nearby stays
Sciences Po - Amphitheater Erignac, 13 rue de l'Université, Paris, France
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