Professor Partridge’s Filming Future Cities project uses film as a critical means to investigate urban futures and engage a broader public, building on his ongoing collaborative film projects in Detroit and Berlin: “Filming the Future of Detroit,’’ and “Filming the Future from Berlin: Noncitizen Perspectives,’’ begun in 2014 (see filmingfuturecities.org). The point of the project is not only to teach refugees, migrants, youth, and noncitizens the skills required for filmmaking, ethnography, and critical analysis of urban landscapes, but also to teach them how to distribute their work to a broader audience and to participate in the planning for and imagination of their city’s future. Using the project’s films as examples, this talk will think through the efficacy of using film as a technique for shaping the future.

The Center for World Performance Studies Faculty Lecture Series features our Faculty Fellows and visiting scholars and practitioners in the fields of ethnography and performance. Designed to create an informal and intimate setting for intellectual exchange among students, scholars, and the community, faculty are invited to present their work in an interactive and performative fashion.


If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact Center for World Performance Studies, at 734-936-2777, at least one week in advance of this event. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the University to arrange.