Join Julia Alekseyeva and Jack Bratich for a discussion on Antifascism and the Avant-Garde. Antifascism and the Avant-Garde: Radical Documentary in the 1960s argues that film can be a powerful weapon in the fight against fascism, creating what Japanese philosophers called a “self-revolution of everyday life.” Socialist filmmakers from the era aimed to inculcate radical media literacy, so that viewers might approach capitalist, imperialist, and fascist media with critical awareness. This event will also feature a screening of a short film by Matsumoto Toshio.
Julia Alekseyeva is assistant professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at UPenn. She is the author of Antifascism and the Avant-Garde: Radical Documentary in the 1960s (UC Press, 2025) and author-illustrator of the award-winning graphic memoir Soviet Daughter: A Graphic Revolution (Microcosm, 2017). She guest-edited the Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents and publishes both academic work and graphic essays. She is a longtime union organizer and activist.
Jack Z. Bratich is professor in the Journalism and Media Studies Department at Rutgers University. He is author of On Microfascism: Gender, War, Death and Conspiracy Panics: Political Rationality and Popular Culture as well as coeditor of Foucault, Cultural Studies, and Governmentality.
Co-sponsored by Philly DSA