Louis Breitsohl

Louis Breitsohl completed a B.A. in Media Culture Studies at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and,a M.A. in Film Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. During their studies, they also worked as a tutor and mentor at the department. In addition to their academic work, Louis was actively involved in the cultural life of the city and gained significant organizational experience, such as serving as board member and organizer of the 16th Filmfest Düsseldorf in 2018 and co-organizer of a happening in 2019. For Louis, research and artistic practice go hand in hand: in addition to publishing several articles and giving lectures, they have gained experience in the film sector, ranging from large studio productions to festival work and film distribution, as well as in a variety of multimedia artistic projects that have been exhibited at art exhibitions and international film festivals. Louis' research focuses on mental images and agential scenes, queer-feminist and intersectional thinking, psychoanalytic theory, and forms of film historiography.

Dissertation topic: "Fabulating Differences – On the Historiographical Construction and Temporalization of Minority Identities and Forms of Community in Contemporary Queer Cinema"

The dissertation project examines a corpus of various films from international queer cinema that, with a deliberate focus on their own minority histories, assert a differential character of their identities, sensual perceptions, love and sexuality, and, not least, their language. Starting from these cinematic positions, the theory of a media-specific, queer historiography will be developed, in which speculative community-building, minority memory work, and historiographical practices intersect, culminating in the construction of queer temporalities that address current political-theoretical questions.

Academic articles

• Breitsohl, Louis; Mohr, Elisabeth. “The West and the Rest. Antirassistische Arbeit als kontinuierliche Praxis des Befragens, Zuhörens und Ansprechens (in) der Filmwissenschaft“. In: Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft. Vol. 14, Nr. 1, 2022. 66–77. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/18127.
• Breitsohl, Louis Levi. "Bearing Witness in Analog and Digital Witness Films: Ethical Aesthetics in Shoah [1985] and Waltz with Bashir [2008]". In: Genealogy Vol. 6. Nr. 14. 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6010014
• Breitsohl, Louis. „Intersubjektive Knotenpunkte: String Figures im Spannungsfeld von Übertragung, Materialisierung und Visualisierungspraktik“. In: Bartelmus, Martin; Danebrock, Friedericke (Hrsg.). Therapie der Dinge? Materialität der Psychoanalyse. Bielefeld: transcript verlag, 2024.
• Breitsohl, Louis. „Compulsive Symbolizations: Scenes of Power, Figuration and Ob/Scenity in Titus”. In: Hodge, Matthew (Hrsg.). A Critical Companion to Julie Taymor, London: Lexington Books, 2024.
• Breitsohl, Louis. „Scenes of Abuse: Fatal Indeterminacies, Affective Assemblages and the Nachträglichkeit of Recognition“. In: Film and Literature Quarterly, Vol. 52. Nr. 2. 2024.

Conference Presentations

• „Intersubjektive Knotenpunkte: String Figures im Spannungsfeld von Übertragung, Materialisierung und Visualisierungspraktik“ As part of the workshop "Therapy of Things," at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 2022.
• Guest lecture "Agentialität" in the lecture series "Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies" by Andrea Seier, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Film Studies, Winter 2022/2023.
• Guest lecture: "Cinematic Visions: Agentic Images in the Tension between Desire, Death, and Utopia"; in "Colloquium" by Dennis Göttel at Freie Universität Berlin, Summer 2024.
• ‚What Have You Done to Solange (and the Rest of the Girls)? Sexual Emancipation, Reproductive Rights and the Ambivalence of the Father’s Law’ As part of the conference "Reproduction in Speculative Cultures," at Lancaster University, 2024.
• 'Between Ship or Palace? A Housing Utopia of the Working Class'. As part of the workshop 'Beyond the Family. Spatiality, Modes of (Re)Production and Forms of Life' at Leuphana University Lüneburg, 2025.
• 'Resistance Against Resilience: Revisiting Queer Pasts and Building New Futures'. As part of the Europaeum Spring School 2025 at Oxford University, UK.

Courses

• Winter 21/22: Mentoring for Master Students (Freie Universität Berlin; Department of Film Studies)
• Winter 24/25 Fabulation as Political Practice (Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich; Institute for Comparative Literature)
• Winter 24/25: Film and Historiography (Freie Universität Berlin; Department of Film Studies)
• Winter 24/25: Methodologies of Film Analysis (Freie Universität Berlin; Department of Film Studies)
• Summer 2025: Fabualtive Interventions (Freie Universität Berlin; Department of Film Studies)
• Summer 2025: Treatments of AIDS ((Freie Universität Berlin; Department of Film Studies))

Other Academic Experiences

• Deputy Student Representative of the Examination Board, Department of Humanities, Freie Universiät Berlin (2020-2022)
• Since 10/2024: PhD Representative / Speaker of the Graduate School "Family Matters"
• Since 6/2024: Member of the organizing team for the conference " Scenes of the Family: Consumption and Reproduction," scheduled to take place in Summer 2025 at LMU Munich.

Guest Lectures

• ‚Filmische Visionen: Agentielle Bilder im Spannungsfeld von Begehren, Tod und Utopie‘; im ‚Kolloquium‘ von Dennis Göttel, SoSe 2024.
• ‚What Have You Done to Solange (and the Rest of the Girls)? Sexual Emancipation, Reproductive Rights and the Ambivalence of the Father’s Law’ im Rahmen der Konferenz ‘Reproduction in Speculative Cultures’, ausgerichtet von Anna McFarlane an der Universität Lancester, 2024.‘
• 'Between Ship or Palace? A Housing Utopia of the Working Class' im Rahmen des Workshops 'Beyond the Family. Spatiality, Modes of (Re)Production and Forms of Life' an der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, 2025.
• 'Resistance Against Resilience: Revisiting Queer Pasts and Building New Futures' im Rahmen der Europaeum Spring School 2025 an der Oxford Universität.