[Filmfestivalresearch] FWD: Suggested Titles/Themes for Preconstituted Panels and Workshop (SCMS 2015)

[Ger Zielinski]

FYI...

Suggested Titles/Themes for Preconstituted Panels and Workshop for SCMS 2015 in Montreal

The suggested panel/workshop titles/themes are for your consideration. If
you wish, feel free to suggest others! We are providing this service to
help coordinate the papers of the SIG members so that a maximum number have
the best chance of being selected to participate in the conference; this
has proven to be a very successful tactic.

How to submit?
Unless otherwise indicated, email:
• your 250-word abstract
• select five-source bibliography 
• brief biographical statement
• note whether you would be willing to chair a panel.
Please copy and paste proposal into the body of the email message (and avoid sending attachments!) and include in the subject heading “Film Festival SCMS paper (or workshop) submission.”

Email proposal to co-chairs and graduate student
representative of the Film and Media Festival SIG: Tamara Falicov
tfalicov at ku.edu , Michael Talbott mt1252 at nyu.edu , and Dorota Ostrowska d.ostrowska at bbk.ac.uk

Deadline: August 8th 2014

Evidently, the titles for each panel/workshop will have to be refined once
we have received your proposals and they have been sorted according to some
compelling theme. Only the designated panel chair may submit the final
panel/workshop proposal for all its members.

Suggested panel and workshop themes:
• Linguistic challenges. The language of festivals, films, and the circuits
• Festivals in translation
• Festival cities
• International exhibitions
• Film festivals that go beyond film to performance, or music festivals
that include film and other media projection
• Politics and Film Festivals. How do national or international politics shape or attempt to influence film festivals today or in the past?
• Regional festivals in a global context. Global cinemas in regional contexts.
• Online/offline film festivals and the emergence of streamed film festivals - supplement or future festival format?
• Festivals and their publics. On the question of the festival audience and cinephilia

For tips how to prepare and submit a successful proposal or a panel see the SCMS website at http://www.cmstudies.org/?page=call_for_submissions


_____________________________________________
CFP: Pre-Constituted Panels for SCMS 2015 Montreal (March 25-28)
Panel title: “Between the Lines: On Film Festivals and the Politics of Language”

Organizers: Antoine Damiens ( a_damie at live.concordia.ca ), PhD student in Film and Moving Image, Concordia University, Montreal, and Dr. Ger Zielinski ( geraldzielinski at trentu.ca ), Cultural Studies Department, Trent University (Canada)

Natural language has been with film from its very beginning with written titles and intertitles to spoken language and subtitles with the introduction of sound. Different distribution territories will receive translations of the film, dubbed or subtitled, and posters and other publicity suited to the designated culture. While English has become the de-facto lingua franca of most types of film festivals around the world in general, as international critics and filmmakers circulate through the various interlinked festival circuits, any individual festival proves to be a rich site for types of analysis that take into account the use, status and importance of language.
Building on research done on accented cinemas, subtitles and translation (into what language(s)?), publicity (local or international?), and so forth, we are keen to extend and develop new approaches to understanding the play of language(s) in the multifaceted context of film festivals.
Questions to consider include, among others, which language(s) was (were) selected for a festival and why? How do funding or other policies influence how languages are represented or used? What cultural, social or political aspects are brought into relief or suppressed through these putatively pragmatic decisions? What is the character of the translations in the various texts that permeate the festival, from catalogues to posters to subtitles or dubbing?

Suggested paper topics (not exclusive):
Controversies at film festivals over language(s) represented (and not).
Translation in (international) film festivals.
How festivals are accented.
Film festival and language policy.
Film festivals, language and funding.
Politics of language at film festivals.
How festivals negotiate languages in principle and in practice.
Regional versus inter/national languages.
Following SCMS's guidelines, please include 1) your full name and academic affiliation (email address that you will use when registering on the SCMS website), 2) title of paper, 3) a summary no longer than 2500 characters including spaces and hard returns, 4) 5 complete bibliographic sources, and 5) a short academic biography of no longer than 500 characters.

Email your proposal (in the body of the email, not as an attachment) to both Antoine Damiens ( a_damie at live.concordia.ca ) and Ger Zielinski ( geraldzielinski at trentu.ca ) by Monday, July 28, 2014. Should we receive enough quality proposals to constitute more than one panel of four presenters, we would gladly arrange for that. We plan to inform those, who submit a proposal, of our decision within a week of the deadline.

________________________________________________________
Montreal as a Film Festival City

Do film festivals function as art worlds? Why did Montreal became a city of international film festivals? In “Locating art Worlds: London and the Making of a Young British Art” Aidan While explores what a geographical reading offers in terms of understanding the business of contemporary art. Similarly, we could ask: what does a geographical reading do in terms of explaining where film festivals are located? More specifically, the goal of this panel is to ask what factors explain Montreal’s importance as film festival city? There is a growing interest in film festivals, with a new website that updates the work being published in this topic. A significant amount of articles take a historical approach by creating a history of film festivals as institutions, however, many theoretical question about film festivals still remain. For that reason, to ask the questions: Do film festivals work as art worlds? And what can a geographical reading of Montreal’s film festivals tell us about where and why film festivals are created? 
Panelists will approach different film festivals organized in Montreal, from the Super 8 film festival created in 1980-1989 to the Montreal World Film Festival (1977 –present) to art film festivals taking place currently to understand these festivals in terms of the city and its geography. In the case of art worlds, While suggests that money to be spent, art critics, curators, galleries, and the exchanges among the artists that inhabit the city are key to the creation of an art world. Film festivals are a completely different case, because, in this case, international filmmakers may not live in the city. Thus, what can be said about Montreal? Are a large number of cinemas, French culture, Quebec’s independence movement and cinephilia factors that explain how audiences come to Montreal’s film festivals?

We are seeking papers that engage with the idea of Montreal as a festival city, or other examples below:
Possible areas for proposed essays:
- Case studies of particular film festivals in Montreal
- Examinations of the city of Montreal and its “film houses”
- Comparative studies of Montreal and other cities famous for its festivals
- Films about Montreal’s film festivals
If you are interested in participating in this panel, send an email to Isabel Arredondo arredoi at plattsburgh.edu with the title of your paper, a 300 words abstract, your bio and a list of the sources that you intend to use. Deadline for submission: August 5, 2014.

SCMS's FAQ:
https://cmstudies.site-ym.com/?page=conference_faq

SCMS Notice on Montreal conference:
https://cmstudies.site-ym.com/news/178601/Montreal-Proposal-Forms-Now-Online.htm

If necessary, consult a guide on how to write a conference proposal, e.g.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/752/01/

Advice from SCMS on what to include in your conference proposal:
“A good proposal will clearly and succinctly identify several key elements: 1) the thesis of the argument or research to be presented; 2) the scholarly context of the paper's thesis and/or intervention; how does this thesis forward previous understanding? Why is it important? And 3) the methodology of the research/analysis; how will this paper accomplish its goals? This latter point might entail identifying new evidence or a new methodology. In addition, effective abstracts are well written, present a synthesized version of the paper-to-be-presented and conform to the length requirement of the proposal system. Abstracts should be articulated to the format in which the research will be presented (individual paper, workshop, pre-constituted panel). If you are unfamiliar with writing a conference paper proposal, we suggest that you show your abstract to an experienced colleague for editorial suggestions and guidance.”


--
Ger Zielinski, PhD
Assistant Professor of Film and Media
Cultural Studies Department
Catherine Parr Traill College, Scott House 202
Trent University
300 London Street
Peterborough, ON K9H 7P4 Canada

T: +1 705 748 1011 X6113 (Office: Traill College, Wallis Hall 113)
F: +1 705 748 1826
http://www.trentu.ca/culturalstudies/faculty_zielinski.php