Please note that the Northreast Historic Film Summer Film Symposium dates have been changed to Friday July 30 and Saturday July 31. The deadline for submitting proposals remains January 4, 2004. We regret any inconvenience. Please direct any questions to Karan Sheldon at Northeast Historic Film ([log in to unmask]) or Eric Schaefer at Emerson College ([log in to unmask]). **** Call for Papers Fifth Annual Northeast Historic Film Summer Film Symposium The Northeast Historic Film Summer Film Symposium is a multi-disciplinary symposium devoted to the history, theory, and preservation of moving images. Entering its fifth year, the Symposium is noted for bringing together archivists, scholars, and artists in an intimate setting, Northeast Historic Film (NHF), located in Bucksport, Maine. The 2004 Symposium is planned for July 30-31. Unlike most conferences, presenters have a full hour in which to deliver their paper and engage in discussion with their colleagues during the two-day event. Typically, presentations have been 30 minutes, followed by 30 to 45 minutes of discussion. For the first four years, speakers have been invited to participate in the NHF Summer Film Symposium. This year, in addition to invited speakers, the Symposium is issuing a call for papers on the topic: The Moving Image as Biography Moving images create deliberate and unintentional biographies. Hollywood biopics (e.g., The Life of Emile Zola, Pride of the Yankees, A Beautiful Mind, Frida) and documentary series such as A&E’s Biography and American Masters are among the popular approaches to biographical representation. This Symposium looks in a different direction. The relationship between biography and the moving image is found in many kinds of noncommercial and amateur films; in some cases we might consider how a film itself has a "biography." We are beginning to consider how these biographies help form conceptions of history and culture. We invite papers and presentations from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and approaches that explore and help to expand our understanding of the moving image as biography. Potential paper topics may include but are not limited to the following: * The moving image as cultural biography * Cultural differences in the notions of privacy, family, and biography * Biopics as constructions of national identity * Home movies as collective or family biography * Uses of film and video for autobiographical works * Implications of new technologies in creating autobiography; ethics and rights * Archival footage in film & video biographies: Why are TV biographies so successful? * Finding and using personal films in public archives * Faux footage: Recreating "home movies" in TV documentaries and feature films * Diary films, home movies and the Avant-garde Proposals are limited to 500 words and should clearly outline the major thesis and primary points of the presentation. Proposals must include descriptions of audio-visual material that will be screened during the presentation, including the original and presentation medium, and the approximate length of clips. Priority is given to those presentations that include archival clips; the presenter is responsible for obtaining and organizing screened material. The Symposium takes place in Northeast Historic Film’s Alamo Theatre, a cinema with 35mm film projectors as well as video and DVD projection. Use of PowerPoint is discouraged. Proposals should include a brief biographical sketch of the presenter including affiliation, rank (if appropriate), and relevant publications, exhibitions or curatorial work and all contact information. Decisions will be made by March 1, 2004. Submissions must be received by January 7, 2004, and should be sent to Karan Sheldon Northeast Historic Film PO Box 900 Bucksport, Maine 04416 Email submissions are accepted as Word attachments sent to [log in to unmask] with this subject line: SFF 2004 Proposal NHF is among the leading regional moving image archives in North America, devoted to collecting, preserving, and making accessible moving images of northern New England. NHF is noted for its pioneering efforts to preserve home movies and amateur film and video. For more on the archives visit www.oldfilm.org, and to read about previous Summer Film Symposia visit www.oldfilm.org/ed/Symp2003Access_Interpretation.htm ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]