CALL FOR PAPERS "Geographical Imaginaries and Hispanic Film" “El imaginario geográfico y el cine hispano” An International Conference on Hispanic Cinemas, November 4-7, 2009 Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana Crossings and interrogations of geographical borders have been at the forefront of much Spanish, Latin American and U. S. Latino cinema. Moreover, the historical project of transnational Hispanic cinemas often appears to have been constructed by directors and producers "imagining" audiences beyond their own immediate political borders. Theories, films, directors, genres, and actors have traveled – and continue to do so – across languages and countries. Spatiality has always played a crucial role in the politics of representation, while geographies have been central in production and circulation. The multiple facets of the Hispanic community on screen have been marked by its geographical imaginaries. Travel and translation is emblematic of the cinematic experience in the Hispanic world. Examples range from the Paramount-Joinville-Hollywood axis that shaped Spanish language film production in the early days of sound and the folkloric films and music-based genres that connected with traditions on both sides of Atlantic since the late 1930s until the 1960s, to the more recent globalizing project within which the Hispanic sphere is itself part of a global network of cultural exchanges. "Geographical Imaginaries and Hispanic Film" will take place in New Orleans (with the support of Tulane University and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies), itself a paradigmatic space of cultural flows, connections and exchanges, a territory whose history and identity have been shaped/determined by travel and geographic imaginations. We hope that the strategic location of the city and the theme of this conference will draw participants from North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe. Prof. Alberto Elena (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), a renowned scholar of cinemas “from the South,” editor of Secuencia: Revista Historia del Cine and co-editor of Tierra en trance: el cine latinoamericano en cien películas and The cinema of Latin America, has confirmed his participation as plenary speaker for the conference. We welcome proposals on Latin American, Brazilian, Spanish, and Latino cinema that engage critically with these issues by offering new readings of exemplary texts and/or bringing marginal texts to light. Some potential areas of exploration include: • Travel as a diegetic element in films • Borders and margins: real and imagined • Frontiers: cinema and geography • Human geographies: documentary and ethnic cinemas • Cinema and empire • Postmodern geographies • Spatiality and the politics of representation • Economies and geographies: Politics of co-production • The city: Learning from Los Angeles, or New York, or Mexico City, or Buenos Aires, or Havana, or Madrid, or Barcelona. • Travels and traces • Translations and geographies: traveling theory, films, directors, genres, actors Papers for presentation should be 20-25 minutes long and may be considered for publication in Studies in Hispanic Cinemas. Those wishing to present papers (in English, Spanish, or Portuguese) should send a title and a 250 word abstract by May 15, 2009 to the either of the email addresses listed below. Please send your abstract as an attachment to the email. Please include the title of your paper, your name (and the names of any co-presenters), institutional affiliation, mailing address, phone number, and email address. Also, please indicate whether your presentation will require any special equipment. Pre-constituted panels are welcomed. If submitting a panel for consideration, please include a top sheet with panel title, participant names and a brief abstract of the panel topic in addition to the individual paper proposals. Notification of acceptance to the conference will be made by June 1, 2009. For more information on the conference, location and arrangements, visit the Stone Center for Latin American Studies website at http://stonecenter.tulane.edu/HispanicCinemas/index.html Prof. Ana M. López [log in to unmask] Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs 200 Gibson Hall Tulane University New Orleans LA 70118 Prof. Tatjana Pavlovic [log in to unmask] Department of Spanish and Portuguese 302 Newcomb Hall Tulane University New Orleans, LA 70118 ---- Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex podcast: http://www.screenlex.org