Dr. Valeria Grinberg Pla to present BGSU College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Lecture

World languages and cultures professor’s ‘Making Sense of the Lack of Sense: Filming in Post-War Guatemala’ set for Feb. 27

Dr. Valeria Grinberg Pla will present the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Lecture, “Making Sense of the Lack of Sense: Filming in Post-War Guatemala,” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, in the BGSU Film Theatre, 206 Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Grinberg Pla is a literary, cultural and film critic from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has been a professor of Spanish, Latin American literature, and cultural studies at Bowling Green State University since 2006.

In her lecture, Grinberg Pla will discuss how words such as democracy, freedom and justice cease to have meaning in post-war societies because of the suspension of the social, political and cultural structures that define them. She asserts that the great challenge of post-war cinema and literature is finding ways to indicate this void and, at the same time, restore the significant power of language and, with this, recreate community.

Grinberg Pla explores this theory through her discussion of post-war Guatemalan feature films “Gasolina/Gasoline” (2008), “Las marimbas del infierno/The Marimbas of Hell” (2010) and “Polvo/Dust” (2012), directed by Julio Hernández Cordón.

The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the lecture.

Guests with disabilities are requested to indicate if they need special services, assistance or appropriate modifications to fully participate in this event by contacting Accessibility Services at access@bgsu.edu or 419-372-8495 prior to the event.