Susana Viegas, integrated researcher at IFILNOVA, member of the CineLab, received an ERC Consolidator Grant, from the European Research Council, worth 1.7 million euros, for the project “Film-Philosophy as a Meditation on Death”, whose main goal is to explore the affinities between philosophy and cinema. This is the first time an ERC grant has been awarded to study Film Philosophy.

The research project seeks to bring together two distinct practices, but with a common interest in the theme of death, without which one would not have begun to philosophize and for which films show a special interest as a narrative and formal motif. To substantiate an emerging area of philosophical studies, such as Film Philosophy, will be one of the main contributions of this project that seeks to understand the paradoxical situation in which we live: if on the one hand we avoid thinking about death in our daily lives, we readily discuss the theme when it appears in films or television series.

“The theme of death in cinema had never been worked on in depth before. Specifically, “FILM AND DEATH” defends the hypothesis that this aesthetic experience is, at its core, comparable to the experience of our own mortality, an indispensable element to begin to philosophize. Deepening our understanding of the way cinema, time, and death are interconnected will allow us to better understand a contemporary vision of the world and of ourselves that prevails in a society that pushes the thought of death out of our daily lives, but which, paradoxically, is dominated by images of death mediated by screens,” says Susana Viegas.

“Research is, and will continue to be, one of the fundamental pillars of NOVA University Lisbon, in all its faculties. We stand out for the quality of our researchers and the excellence of the work developed. Receiving another ERC Grant, especially in the area of Social Sciences and Humanities, and to develop an unprecedented research in our country, fills us with pride and is further proof that this is the path we want to follow”, adds João Sàágua, Rector of the University.

The project will run from 2023 to 2028, and is organized around four axes of theoretical research with various activities designed for the academic community and the general public. Among the planned initiatives are several film cycles where the theme of death will be central.