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Traumacore: Traumatic Memory and the Purpose of Dark Fiction

The M.A. in Film Studies, in collaboration with Video Nasties!, invites the general public to attend the talk entitled “Traumacore: Traumatic Memory and the Purpose of Dark Fiction”, delivered by Italian screenwriter and novelist Lucio Besana. The talk will be held in English at 18:00 on Friday 23 October, at the Dun Mikiel Xerri Lecture Centre (LC), Room 216, Msida Campus.

As a constant reader of horror and weird fiction, Besana has asked himself repeatedly a maddening question: why? Why delve into horror? Why experience the existential dread of weird fiction? Isn’t the real world enough? By digging into the peculiar state of mind of survivors, into PTSD and traumatic memory, taking stabs at 'capitalist realism' and 'hauntology', Besana's talk will suggest an answer and reframe the dark genres as a means to verbalise the everyday unspeakable.

Lucio Besana works as a screenwriter, novelist, translator, and teacher. In the last decade he penned two prominent Italian horror movies, The Nest (2019) and A Classic Horror Story (2021); published four successful books of horror fiction, Storie della Serie Cremisi (2021), Ombre dei Vivi e dei Morti and L’Innocenza del Buio (both 2023), as well as La Stanza Bianca (2026); and translated several classic and contemporary literary works of horror and weird fiction. He teaches at Scuola Holden in Turin and at Scuola Civica di Cinema Luchino Visconti in Milan. He lives in Strasbourg, France.

Video Nasties! is Malta’s premier horror short film festival, now entering its sixth year of celebrating the macabre, the DIY, and the truly independent. This year’s edition is scheduled to be held on Halloween weekend. For more information, please visit the .

Caption: "Skinamarink", Kyle Edward Ball: © Mutiny Pictures / ERO Picture Company