Call for Papers SCIENCE FICTION IN BRITISH FILM AND TELEVISION Area 2008 Film & History Conference "Film & Science: Fictions, Documentaries, and Beyond" October 30-November 2, 2008 Chicago, Illinois <http://www.filmandhistory.org>www.filmandhistory.org First-Round Deadline: November 1, 2007 AREA: Science Fiction in British Film and Television The consistent quality of science-fiction films and television programs in Britain has won audiences for generations, both in the UK and around the world. One reason for this sustained popularity lies in the ability of British cinema and TV to constantly reinvent the genre, keeping it socially and philosophically elastic. How, for example, has British science fiction adapted to changes in the political and social climate or affected national policy or civic character? How have SF films and television programs represented Britain's concerns about the present or future or about the use and perception of history? What makes science fiction film and television in Britain distinctively "British"? This area treats the last century of science fiction productions, from Maurice Elvey's The Tunnel (1935) and William Cameron Menzies' Things to Come (1936) to the landmark TV productions The Quatermass Experiment (1953), 1984 (1954), A for Andromeda (1961), and the latest Doctor Who. Presentations may feature analyses of individual films and/or TV programs, surveys of documents related to their production, analyses of history and culture as explored through a set of films/TV programs, or comparisons between two or more science-fiction productions. Paper topics might include utopian and dystopian films/TV programs, future warfare, censorship, representation of non-human life forms, politics, the Cold War, science-fiction after 9/11, ethics and morals, representations of science and scientists, myths and legends, terrorism, early science fiction, adaptations, comedy, government and institutions, disasters, environment, gender, ethnicity, race, class, etc. Please send your 200-word proposal by November 1, 2007 to Tobias Hochscherf, Chair, Science Fiction in British Film and TV Northumbria University School of Arts and Social Sciences Media & Communication Lipman Bldg. Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST United Kingdom Phone: ++44(0)191-227-4932 Email: [log in to unmask] Panel proposals for up to four presenters are also welcome, but each presenter must submit his or her own paper proposal. Deadline for first-round proposals: November 1, 2007 This area, comprising multiple panels, is a part of the 2008 biennial Film & History Conference, sponsored by The Center for the Study of Film and History. Speakers will include founder John O'Connor and editor Peter C. Rollins (in a ceremony to celebrate the transfer to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh), and Wheeler Winston Dixon, James Ryan Professor of Film Studies at University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and author of Visions of the Apocalypse and Disaster and Memory. For updates and registration information about the upcoming meeting, see the Film & History website (http://www.filmandhistory.org). ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu