Displacement and Documentary Film: A Conversation with Marc Isaacs | Annual Elizabeth Colson Lecture 2024

Themes of displacement, migration and hospitality have been at the heart of Marc Isaacs’ films for many years. From his documentation of refugees in Calais to his detailed studies of xenophobia among English communities, Isaacs has turned his camera on the complex lives and contradictory attitudes that surround us. A recent feature in Sight and Sound describes Isaacs’ filmmaking as capturing “a sense of transience and instability that is universal.” His films are “set in nebulous or liminal spaces” that take us deep into the lives of others. For this year’s Colson lecture, Marc will show clips from his films that deal most closely with themes of displacement and hospitality, discussing ethnographic representation and the process of documentary filmmaking with Tom Scott-Smith, RSC Director.

About the speaker

Since 2001, Marc Isaacs has made more than sixteen creative documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4. His films have won Grierson, Royal Television Society and BAFTA awards as well as numerous international film festival prizes. In 2006, Marc had a retrospective at the prestigious Lussas Documentary film festival in France and his work has been included in numerous documentary books and academic studies. In 2008, Marc received an honorary doctorate from the University of East London for his documentary work. Marc has been a guest tutor at numerous universities and film schools in the UK and overseas including the London Film School and the National Film and Television School. A complete box set of his films was released by Second Run DVD in 2018.

The seminar will be followed by a drinks reception.

All enquiries should be directed to rsc-outreach@qeh.ox.ac.uk.

Download the lecture poster.