1. Call for Papers: African Film Conference, Fall 2007 2. Call for Papers: Foreign Language Film Conference: Cultural Correspondences and the Camera, October 2007 *************************************************** 1. Call for Papers: African Film Conference, Fall 2007 Abstract submission deadline: May 31, 2007 Conference date: November 9-10, 2007 Place: Center for African Studies University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign The African film conference in Urbana-Champaign will explore how an appreciation of films as mode of expression and form can be combined with an understanding of their content. Cinema has a more pronounced public dimension than some of the other arts; it creates an audience and depends on it for its survival, and filmmaking itself can be situated within the history, economy, politics, and broader cultural trends of postcolonial Africa. The conference will aim to foster a dialogue between film scholars, critics, and the social science interpreters, users, and enthusiasts of African films, and will try to achieve, among other things, a greater sensibility for film as a medium among the latter. We seek abstracts from scholars and writers interested in participating in this project. We invite contributions on thematic and stylistic development in African filmmaking and on the way the films reflect and feed upon urban popular culture. A subset of related themes involve the connections to international film making styles or to the ethnographic and documentary film traditions, including considerations of emerging regional and national styles within Africa. We would like to see sober and carefully documented studies of continuity with older African verbal, dramatic, and visual arts, or of the emergence in film of new expressive manners breaking away from them. Film music and soundtracks, the use of traditional and popular musical genres in the films, the influence of international film scores, and a documentation of the impetus that films give to national musical composition could enrich our reflection on modern Africa. Who the domestic audiences of these films are, the reactions of these audiences to the films, and the training and careers of African direc! to! rs and actors can as well bear more sustained attention. Of particular interest to us are the popular film and video industries on which relatively little gets written, for example the one in Nigeria. Finally, our understanding of the subject matter and the style of African films can be deepened by an understanding of the broader political economy of the African film industries, the role of public and private financing from home and abroad, the share in revenue of domestic and export markets, the initiatives for co-production or the sharing of post-production facilities, among African countries and between them and the countries of the north. Please send abstracts of 250-300 words to either one of us, by e-mail or by post. Mahir Saul Department of Anthropology University of Illinois Davenport Hall 607 S. Mathews Ave. Urbana, IL 61801 [log in to unmask] Ralph Austen Department of History University of Chicago Pick Hall 214 5828 S. University Avenue Chicago IL 60637 [log in to unmask] *************************************************** 2. Call for Papers: Foreign Language Film Conference: Cultural Correspondences and the Camera, October 2007 Interested scholars are invited to submit papers on aspects of film from traditions other than English, for the first-annual Foreign Language Film Conference at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. The conference, sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and the College of Liberal Arts, will take place October 11-13 2007, in the scenic region of southern Illinois. See here for further information: http://www.siu.edu/~flfc -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by the NorMAN MailScanner Service and is believed to be clean. The NorMAN MailScanner Service is operated by Information Systems and Services, Newcastle University. ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu