Annual Conference

       The Society's annual conference has been held every year since 1989,
when it
       was hosted by the UCLA Animation Workshop in cooperation with the UCLA
       Film & Television Archive; the 10th anniversary conference was held
in August
       1998 at Chapman University, in Orange, California (check out the
Schedule of
       Presentations). In between, conferences have been held at various
locales
       around the United States, as well as in Canada, England and Holland.

       The 11th Society of Animation Studies Conference will be held in
Brisbane,
       Australia in August or October 1999. The exact date is to be
confirmed, but it
       will be timed to coincide with the Third Asia Pacific Triennial
exhibition of
       Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery and is being organized by
       Keith Bradbury of Griffith University/Queensland College of Art.
(The 12th
       annual conference is scheduled to be held in November 2000 in Belgium.)

                               Call for Papers

       The theme of the Brisbane conference is "Animation: Contexts and
Identities."
       Lateral interpretations of the theme are welcomed and especially
those that focus
       on Asia Pacific animation, but others will be equally considered.
Papers might
       focus on animation as an extension of and as dependent upon the
established
       industries of comics, films, fine arts, advertising, music,
television and popular
       entertainment, academia. Other papers might discuss the evolution of
animation
       genres, or, what histories of animation as histories of
labour/technological
       development/production in different countries tell us about
animation industries.
       To what extent does animation contribute to the construction of
national and
       cultural identities? How effective has animation been in voicing
social/cultural
       issues (health, abuse, addiction, sexuality, gender, racial diversity,
       urbanisation, etc). Is animation able to represent these issues? Yet
again you
       might discuss animation as a means of storytelling -- what stories, what
       contexts, whose aesthetics -- or as big business, or propaganda. How
have
       animated films been circulated and distributed and to what effect?
etc. . . .

       Proposals should contain a 50 word summary and a 250 word abstract
outlining
       the main focus.  The last day for expressions of interest in
       presenting a paper will be 26 February 1999 and replies will be made
by 26
       March 1999.

       Submissions can be sent to:

              Keith Bradbury
              Griffith University
              Queensland College of Art
              P.O. Box 84
              Morningside, Q4170 Australia
              fax: (61) 7 3875 3199
              [log in to unmask]

                           Other Conference Events

       A related program of events at Brisbane is still in the planning
stages, but which
       will likely include screenings of Asia Pacific animation, student
films from
       around the world, and perhaps restored prints of Walter Ruttman's
abstract
       animation.

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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite