Henry Bacon completed his degree in the University of Helsinki in theatre studies, with musicology as a subsidiary subject. Alongside his studies, Bacon pursued his interests in literature and art. To understand film, it is necessary to study different art forms, because film-making has always co-opted ideas and techniques from other forms of art. Equally, a considerable grounding in history and society is important for an understanding of the various functions that film can fulfil.

The administration of university affairs sometimes involve quite a lot of arm-twisting. I have been most fortunate in having dear colleagues and other collaborative partners, who have fully supported me and my academic subject. The beginnings and consolidation of the Film and Television Studies programme would have got nowhere had the Art Studies Department not lent its full support. I am extremely thankful for an unbroken line of supportive heads of department and for the admirably vigorous and loyal office workers.

When it takes even the supervisor into entirely new areas, guiding a doctoral student in the writing process doesn’t get more exciting. In November 2014 Maija Hirvonen successfully defended her doctoral thesis on audio description. Her project also helped me to investigate the ways in which an understanding and enjoyment of contemporary audiovisual culture for people who are visually impaired might be made possible.

Starting a film and television studies programme (FTVS) at the University of Helsinki required persistent administrative efforts. Henry Bacon began this struggle in his capacity as an adjunct professor of theatre studies and a member of the board of the Institute of Art Research.

Professor Bacon delivered a lecture (video, in Finnish) as part of the Open University Studia Generalia lecture series, autumn 2014. The central theme of the lecture was to demonstrate that in order to understand visual perception – or life as a whole, for that matter – we need approaches that derive both from the natural sciences and the humanities.

My fervent but professional wish is that film research would free itself of the kind of factionalism which needlessly holds back the development of our understanding by blindly sticking to research paradigms that happen to have been de rigueur at some time or another, and as a consequence looks down on all other approaches.

• Henry Bacon’s Homepage (contains links to various articles)

• Film and television studies homepage

• The presentation Bacon delivered on this occasion has appeared in a special issue of Kosmorama, a web periodical published by the Danish Film Institute

• A Transnational History of Finnish Cinema Project

• Suomen elokuvatutkimuksen seura (Finnish Society…