Afternoon Conversations

Friday 29 August

CECI N’EST PAS UNE MUSE : Reappraising Early Women Photographers

Too often, the history of photography frames women as the “muses” of their male counterparts—admired for their beauty and immortalized in iconic images—while their own groundbreaking work is sidelined. This panel brings together voices from film, curation, journalism, and academia to examine the dominant narrative and reframe the position of pioneering women photographers. Focusing on Dora Maar and Lee Miller, it explores how these women navigated the male-dominated art world to create extraordinary works that shaped the cultural landscape far beyond their portraits.

Panelists: Teresa Griffiths (Director, Capturing Lee Miller), Karolina Ziębińska (Curator, Dora Maar specialist), Linda Ruth Williams (Professor of Film).
Moderated by: Véronique Godé (Arts & Culture journalist).

Saturday 30th August

Ways of Seeing : On Street Photography

Street photography has a rare magic: it can transform fleeting, everyday moments into timeless images. Capturing the theater of life, unpredictable and full of humanity, is explored in all festival films. For this ‘Rencontres’ event, we welcome filmmakers and curators behind three documentaries devoted to artists who elevated street photography into an art form. The discussion explores how documentary film can revive and reframe these photographers’ legacies, the challenges of representing an artist’s vision on screen, and why street photography remains a powerful form of social and artistic expression.
Lee Shulman (I Am Martin Parr), Virginie Chardin (Curator, Sabine Weiss), Margy Kinmonth (War Paint: Women at War).
Moderated by: Mark Kermode (Film Critic and Broadcaster).

Sunday 31st August

Lost & Found : Uncovering Photographic Archives

In recent years, the art world has been transformed by the discovery of extraordinary, long-lost photographic archives, which have reshaped the legacies of their creators and inspired acclaimed films and exhibitions. From the posthumous fame of Vivian Maier to the rediscovery of Ernest Cole’s apartheid-era images, these archives have revived forgotten histories and challenged the way we recount photography’s canon. The panel explores the roles of curators, historians, and filmmakers in uncovering, contextualizing, and celebrating these photographic treasures.

Panelists: Karolina Ziębińska (Curator, Dora Maar specialist), Yasufumi Nakamori (Curator and Academic), Virginie Chardin (Curator, Sabine Weiss).
Moderated by: Véronique Godé (Arts & Culture journalist).