Please find at the end of this message a call for papers for the Africa
region (other areas can be accessed from the website below).
The Documentary Tradition
8 to 12 November 2006
Dallas, Texas, United States
The Documentary Tradition and its many permutations will be the topic of
the Fall, 2006 Film & History conference. Back in 1971, Lewis Jacobs
published an anthology of readings on the evolving nature of
documentary, 1894-1950. Entitled The Documentary Tradition, the book is
still available in paperback. A number of us used this collection as a
platform from which to dive into the topic of film and history.
Fortunately, in my case, there was a life-saving Editor-in-Chief named
John E. Connor to show me how to swim and, over time, Film & History has
helped many others to stay afloat in an interdisciplinary pool.
Topics for our conference will include the following film and television
genre:
* Documentaries
* Propaganda films
* Docudramas
* Historical films attempting to define history
* Newsreels and broadcast media
* 'Real worlds' and reality programming
* Actualities, cinema verite, avant garde, and direct cinema.
As always, we are interested in how motion pictures reflect history or
attempt to influence it. The interpretation of history through film is
important as well. For examples of our approach, consult Film & History
at your library or breeze through the TOCs for the last 35 years on the
web site.
Here are some possible areas for exploration and discussion:
* Ethnography, sociology, ethnicity
* Gender in nonfiction film
* Educational and industrial films
* Government sponsorship and political or social ideology
* Nature studies, urban landscape and travel
* Religion and spirituality
* National documentary film theories and schools
* Historical eras and coverage of historical events
* Popular culture, concert films, music videos, sport and leisure
* Technique, technology and cyberspace
* Documentary auteurs.
*Guest film artists:
D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, makers of The War Room (2003) and
other cinema verite classics.
*Featured scholars:
Raymond Fielding, the dean of newsreel studies and Betsy McLane, the
diva of documentary. Both have new books to share.
We will be looking for ideas, area chairs, and helpers. Join us now in
the planning stages. We welcome your suggestions.
Deadline for panels and proposals is August 15, 2006
Enquiries: [log in to unmask]
Web address: http://www.filmandhistory.org Sponsored by: Film and
History League
Call for Papers
2006 Film and History League Conference
"The Documentary Tradition"
www.filmandhistory.org
AREA: Documentary in Africa : Refiguring history
Nowhere is the link between documentary and history as clear as it is
when examining documentaries about societies in transition. Africa in
the 3rd millennium is in an ongoing process of re-assessing its past and
deconstructing the narratives of colonialism. When producing
documentaries in societies in transition, filmmakers from previously
marginalized groups are redefining shifting identities. In the absence
of written social history or reliable visual representations, Africans
are starting to reconstruct lost memories and shape a new history.
Representations of Africans and African society in documentary,
ethnographic or otherwise, are problematic and closely allied to the
discourses of colonialism and historical narratives of oppression and
marginalization. How are documentaries in postcolonial Africa
subverting the dominant representations of the past? Are new voices
emerging which can create alternative representations and rework
stereotypes of the past?
We are inviting submissions on all aspects of documentary about and by
Africans.
In addition to these larger issues or in conjunction with them, topics
may include:
History and Narrative in Documentary film
Representing memories of trauma : African experiences
Shifting identities in transitional societies.
Documentaries as subversive cultural production
Gender, race, class, and sexual identities etc.
Deadline for submission is July 25, 2006.
The Film and History League conference details can be found at
www.filmandhistory.org. The meeting will run from 8-12 November, 2006
in the Dolce Conference Center near the DFW airport. A spectrum of
other areas will evolve on the web site over time.
Send all inquiries and proposals to
Phyllis Dannhauser
Department of Communication (B-Ring 6)
Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
University of Johannesburg
phone 27 11 489 2963
fax 27 11 489 2426
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Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
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