Family Secrets as a (Stylistic) Device in Film
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| free admission |
| Duration: 120 min |
| German |
| Ground Floor, Hall 3 |
| Part of: Lecture series Family Matters |
Family Secrets
Secrets hold great social value – from medical confidentiality to the defendant’s right to remain silent in court. Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, “Protection of Privacy and Honor,” grants children the right to have secrets. Behind private secrets often lie family secrets. They are far more than guarded pieces of information. They reveal the need to protect one’s own integrity and privacy, and thereby also to protect others, to preserve intimacy. Family secrets can be an expression of shame or fear of exposure, but they also testify to the desire for social integration under the pressure of social conventions and moral expectations. They are part of the biographical experience of every person and almost every family, and their impact varies greatly from one individual to another.
Telling and concealing secrets make visible how individuals shape their life stories, build emotional relationships, and negotiate social norms. At the same time, cultural and social research shows that secrets extend far beyond the private sphere: they fulfill fundamental social functions by marking boundaries, creating belonging, and stabilizing social orders.
In the opening sessions of this lecture series, we therefore turn to the diverse facets and functions of secrecy – from cultural techniques of concealment to legal questions of privacy protection, especially for children, to the negotiation and staging of family secrets in cinematic or theatrical performances.
In this way, a panorama emerges that highlights the significance of secrecy – as both a connecting and stabilizing force, and at the same time a dividing and destabilizing one – across different areas of society, making its cultural and social impact comprehensible in various contexts.
Participants
Bert Rebhandl is a cultural journalist, author, and film critic.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Tyradellis (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Dr. Alia Rayyan (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Dr. Laura Goldenbaum (Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss)
Bert Rebhandl is an journalist, author, and film critic. He works as a freelance cultural journalist and regularly writes for major German-language media such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Standard, and tip Berlin. He is also a co-founder and co-editor of the journal CARGO Film Medien Kultur, which specializes in film and media criticism. He lives and works in Berlin.
Rebhandl is regarded as a profound expert on international film history, writing about both cinematic classics and contemporary productions.
His engagement with film is reflected in several monographs he has published. With Orson Welles. Genie im Labyrinth he explored the work of one of the most significant directors of the 20th century, while in Jean-Luc Godard. Der permanente Revolutionär he analyzed the oeuvre of the French avant-garde filmmaker. In addition, with Der dritte Mann. Die Neuentdeckung eines Filmklassikers he offered a fresh perspective on the famous postwar film. Beyond these works, he has also published studies on television and series culture, such as Seinfeld, and has examined genre questions including the Western.
Through this body of work, Rebhandl combines journalistic critique with scholarly reflection and is recognized as a voice that illuminates both film history and contemporary culture.