1. Roundtable and call for proposals: ‘French Film Directors’ (Manchester University Press)
2. Undergraduate Essay prize (deadline 31 July)
3. New books
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1. Roundtable and call for proposals: ‘French Film Directors’ (Manchester University Press)
The Studies in French Cinema Annual Conference 2016 (King’s College London, 30 June) included a round table celebration of the series French Film Directors and a reception hosted by its publishers, Manchester University Press. The series began in 1998 with the publication of volumes on Varda (by Alison Smith), Truffaut (by the series’ editors, Diana Holmes and Robert Ingram), Besson (Susan Hayward), Coline Serreau (Brigitte Rollet) and Diane Kurys (Carrie Tarr). Since then it has published studies of most of France’s major film directors, and brought some lesser known cinéastes into the limelight. Many of the major voices in contemporary French film studies have published with the series, and many of them were present – including on the round table Julia Dobson, Will Higbee, Martin O’Shaughnessy and Phil Powrie, as well as the editors. Diana Holmes and Robert Ingram took the opportunity to thank MUP and particularly Matthew Frost for the vital enabling role he has played almost since the series began.
The purpose of the celebration, though, was also to discuss future directions for the series – which has five further volumes in various stages of production, and will continue to develop as French film studies (not least thanks to SFC) remains one of the most lively and productive of scholarly fields. There were many suggestions, and it was generally agreed that proposals would be welcome (for example- the list is far from exclusive) in the following areas:
- ‘missing’ directors, for example Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Jean-Pierre Melville – and particularly those at the ‘popular’ end of the film scene e.g. Claude Lelouch, Claude Autant-Lara, Claude Berri, Tonie Marshall
- ‘portemanteau’ volumes i.e. volumes that bring together 3 to 5 directors as in Kate Ince’s Five Directors (2008) or Julia Dobson’s Negotiating the Author (2012). Contemporary, relatively ‘early career’ directors might fit well here, for example Mia Hansen-Love, Céline Sciamma
- ‘world cinema in French’ directors i.e. non-metropolitan but making films in French
- some volumes on living directors could usefully be revised and updated.
The presence of interesting directors in television drama was also raised (though this poses questions about the series title).
Proposals should take account of the series guidelines which can be obtained from the editors ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> and [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) and be sent to Diana Holmes and Robert Ingram.
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2. Undergraduate Essay prize (deadline 31 July)
The Association offers an annual prize for an undergraduate essay in English on any aspect of French or Francophone cinema. The prize consists of a cheque for £50, and free admission to the Studies in French Cinema annual conference in the year following the award. The deadline is 31st July each year.
Essays will be judged by a sub-committee formed from members of the Editorial and Advisory Board of Studies in French Cinema.
The conditions are as follows:
-Essays receiving less than a mark of 80 should not be submitted.
-The essay (written in English) must be no less than 2500 words long (notes and references included).
-It must have been written by an undergraduate student registered at the time of submission at an institution of higher education in the United Kingdom or Ireland.
-It must be submitted as an electronic file to Phil Powrie ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) by the student's supervisor.
-The supervisor should state what mark was achieved, confirm the originality of the essay, and the date of its first submission.
-The file should not contain any assessor comments.
-The student's name and institution should not appear anywhere on the essay.
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3. New books
Gimello-Mesplomb, Frédéric, Pascal Laborderie, Léo Souillés-Debats, eds. 2016. La ligue de l'enseignement et le cinema: une histoire de l'éducation à l'image (1945-1989). Paris: Association française de recherche sur l'histoire du cinema.
http://www.afrhc.fr/2016/05/la-ligue-de-lenseignement-et-le-cinema/
Gott, Michael. 2016. French-language Road Cinema: Borders, Diasporas, Migration and 'New Europe. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=french+language+road+cinema
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Phil Powrie
Professor of Cinema Studies
Lewis Carroll Building 27AC05
School of English and Languages
University of Surrey
GU2 7XH
T: 01483 682980
E: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
W: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/fahs/people/phil_powrie/index.htm
Chief General Editor Studies in French Cinema: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/englishandlanguages/research/film/sfc/
Chair British Association of Film Television and Screen Studies: http://www.baftss.org/
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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.ScreenSite.org
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