27/03/2025

New book chapter by Susana Viegas

A new publication by Susana Viegas is out now. The chapter “Uma história de esqueletos felizes: a Dança da Morte e o cinema”, from the book La Edad Media proyectada. El pasado medieval ibérico en la creación audiovisual en lenguas portuguesa y española (ed. Alicia Miguélez, Erika Loic e Felipe Brandi), has been published Iberoamericana/Vervuert.

How does medieval imagery shape contemporary views on mortality? In her latest chapter, Susana Viegas examines the Danse Macabre’s lasting influence on film, focusing on Danses macabres, squelettes et autres fantaisies (2019). Directors Rita Azevedo Gomes and Pierre Léon, alongside scholar Jean Louis Schefer, explore this haunting medieval tradition, where death is personified as a guiding force between life and the afterlife. 

Viegas argues that films about the Middle Ages do more than revisit history—they, like the Danse Macabre, bridge time, thought, and storytelling. By highlighting the continued relevance of medieval imagery, Viegas underscores cinema’s role as both a lens into the past and a space for ongoing dialogue about mortality. For those interested in medieval studies, film theory, and the intersection of history and modern media, this chapter offers a thought-provoking exploration of how the past continues to resonate on screen.

More about the book here.

📸 Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie [1972], by Luis Buñuel, in Danses Macabres, Squelettes et Autres Fantaisies [2019], by Rita Azevedo Gomes, Pierre Léon and Jean-Louis Schefer

Film and Death
Film and Death
  • About
    • Background and key aims
    • Overview
    • Team
    • Advisory Board
    • Related projects
    • References
  • Film-Phil Seminars
  • Knowledge Map
  • Outreach
    • Conferences
    • Reading Groups
    • Media
  • Publications
    • Articles
    • Books
  • VIDEOS
  • Blog
  • Job openings
  • Contact

Blog

Tags
Aesthetics Alain Resnais Alfred Hitchcock Animation anime Anna Elsner Anti-image Architecture and Cinema Archive Artistic Studies Bande Dessinée Bárbara Bergamaschi Béla Tarr Bernd Herzogenrath Bill Morrison Book Discussion Byron Davies Call Call for Papers Call for Works Calls Catherine Malabou Catherine Wheatley Cátia Rodrigues Chantal Akerman Christian Petzold Christine Reeh-Peters Cían Ó Donnchadha Cinema Journal of Philosophy Cinema Studies CJPMI Conceptual Knowledge Map Conferences Corey P. Cribb Cristóbal Escobar Daniel Conway David Ferragut David H. Fleming David Lynch Davide Sisto Death and Technology Death in the Eyes 2 Death-Image Deleuze Derrida Diana Neiva Disappearence End-of-life care Events Farshad Zahedi Félix Guattari Female Biopic FIlm Film and Death Film Genres Film Philosophy Film Studies Film-Phil Seminar Gilles Deleuze Grief Gülce Zeynep Bektaş Ingrid Rodrigues Gonçalves Jacques Derrida Jaime Pena Jakob A. Nilsson James Williams Jamieson Webster Japan Jean-Marc Rochette Jonathan Glazer Kanen Barad Lacrimae Rerum Laurence Kent Lucas Ferraço Nassif Lucy Bolton Manoel de Oliveira Marc Cerisuelo Marco Grosoli Media Studies Memory Michael Cholbi Michael Haneke Mortality Muhammad Haris Natacha Gallucci Nélio Conceição New Queer Cinema Open Call Outi Hakola Palliative Care Paolo Taviani Patrícia Castello Branco Patricio Guzmán Pedro Inock Performance Philosophy of Cinema Philosophy of Death Posthumanism Publications Queer Post-Cinema Queer Studies Reading Group Research Grant Robert Sinnerbrink Salomé Lamas Seán Cubbit Short-Term Residencies Slavoj Žižek Slow Cinema Stanley Cavell Star Biopic Susana Viegas Swan Songs Testament Films Thanatology Thomas E. Wartenberg Thomas Lamarre Tiago Cravidão Time-Image Vanessa Freerks Vasco Baptista Marques Video Videoart Violence Visiting Researcher Walter Benjamin Workshop
07/08/2026

“Swan Songs: Philosophical Reflections on Death, Time, and Memory in Testament Films” is out now!

We are pleased to announce the completion of the Special Issue “Swan Songs: Philosophical Reflections on Death, Time, and Memory in Testament Films”, guest edited by Vasco Baptista Marques and Susana Viegas for Arts. The Special Issue brings together seven original articles examining testament films from a philosophical perspective. Rather than approaching filmmakers’ final works merely as […]
06/08/2026

New Open Access publication by Susana Viegas

We are pleased to share that the book chapter “Derrida on Cinema’s Spectral Images: Time, Repetition, and Belief” by PI Susana Viegas is now available in Open Access through the publisher Brill. Published in “Derrida and Film Studies”, edited by Kamil Lipiński and Andrzej Marzec (Brill, 2025), the chapter explores Jacques Derrida’s reflections on cinema […]
06/08/2026

Join us at the Goethe-Institut Portugal for the cycle “Falar sobre a morte (nunca matou ninguém)”!

Organized by the Goethe-Institut Portugal, with contributions from the FILM AND DEATH team, Death Café, the association Doulas do Fim da Vida, and many other partners, the festival Falar sobre a morte (nunca matou ninguém) [Speaking About Death (Never Killed Anyone)] will open on September 17 at 5:00 pm with the interactive sound installation Memorial […]
03/08/2026

Join Anderson Santos and Lucas Ferraço Nassif at the Centro Português de Psicanálise

On September 1, 7:00 PM, the Centro Português de Psicanálise (R. da Assunção 7, 2º) will host a talk by Anderson Santos, moderated by Lucas Ferraço Nassif, on “Félix Guattari: Psicanálise e o Paradigma Ético-Estético”. This presentation will be in Portuguese. This presentation addresses the shift initiated by Félix Guattari within psychoanalysis, as he proposes […]
1234…45
Hosted by
Supported by

Funded by the European Union (ERC, FILM AND DEATH, 101088956). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

DESIGN