Screening of Short Documentaries Produced at the SPOTLIGHT Summer School on Placemaking (2024) and Multispecies Relations (2025)

At the beginning of the new academic year, the UNESCO Chair in Interculturality, Good Governance, and Sustainable Development (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest) hosted the screening of short films created by participants in the SPOTLIGHT Summer School (Bucharest editions 2024 and 2025). The documentaries focused on the themes ofurban placemaking and multispecies relations.

The program featured four short documentaries (total running time ~45 minutes), followed by a 45-minute discussion with the project coordinators, centered on the conceptual and methodological dimensions of visual research in urban contexts. The films were introduced and discussed by Dr. Michał Wanke (University of Opole) and Clara Kleininger-Wanik (University of Opole / University of Exeter), special guests of the UNESCO Chair. The event was moderated by Dr. Oana Șerban (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest), who facilitated interaction with students from the UNESCO Chair and from the BA and MA Philosophy programs.

This screening was part of the international SPOTLIGHT Summer School on Audiovisual Capturing of the Dynamics of Place Attachment and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe. The program has previously been held in Opole (Poland), Budapest (Hungary), and twice in Bucharest (Romania), with financial support from the University of St.Gallen, and co-hosting by New Europe College and UNATC – I. L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film.

This year’s documentaries explored human and more-than-human relationships, multispecies encounters, and urban ecologies, inviting audiences to rediscover the city through new lenses. The event offered an intellectual journey into post-communist Bucharest, tracing the layers of urban conviviality, the clashes between cultures and subcultures, and the emergence of new social environments in the Eastern European
capital.