Call For Papers: ‘Beyond the Narrative: Social Issues on Film’ and ‘Bromance films’ CineAction #88 Beyond the Narrative: Social Issues on Film Recently, the theme of ‘Social Issues’, once relegated to the documentary, appears to be of increasing interest to fiction filmmakers; a little meaningful ‘content’ mixed in with the entertaining story. For the purpose of CineAction #88, we are interpreting ‘Social Issues’ in its broadest sense to include anything and everything to do with the state of society and social life, whether motivated by political, economic, or indeed social forces. While some directors like John Sayles and the Dardenne brothers have always focused on narratives that deal with these concerns, there seems to be a growing number of filmmakers who are tackling and/or tacking on the ‘bigger issues’. Examples include big budget/big star films (Traffic, Syriana, Blood Diamond),low budget indies (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Margin Call), and Canadian (Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar and Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies) and European ‘art films’(Kassovitz’s La Haine, Kaurismaki’s Le Havre, Olmi’s The Cardboard Village). We welcome any approach to this broad theme: investigations and/or analyses of specific films, directors, topics, approaches, or theories. Bromance films While this could be seen as a sub-genre of Social Issue films, it is possible to look at the genesis of this new genre in terms that extend beyond the social. A seeming extension and updating of the ‘buddy film’ genre, there appears to be more of interest and at stake here. It is noteworthy that in general, Bromance films are comedies, even and especially when the subject matter involves terminal cancer, as in the recent 50/50. Papers should be submitted in hard copy, mailed directly to Susan Morrison, the editor of this issue. Once accepted for publication, the paper will then be emailed as a file attachment. The deadline for submission is April 15, 2012. It would be appreciated if a brief proposal be submitted as early as possible as an indication of intention to submit. A style guide is available on our website www.cineaction.ca Please address all queries and submissions to the issue’s editor: Susan Morrison 314 Spadina Road Toronto ON Canada M5R 2V6 [log in to unmask] ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu