[image: Inline images 2] *SIGHTLINES* *Filmmaking in the Academy* *Call for films and papers* The Screen Cultures Research Lab at RMIT University, with the support of the Australian Screen Production Education & Research Association (ASPERA), is pleased to announce Sightlines, a two-day conference/festival on filmmaking in the academy, to be held on 24 & 25 November 2014. In the 21st Century, audiovisual communication is a key concern for scholarship and the wider community. The production of films in the context of academic research is growing in scale and significance. Documentaries, dramas, essay and experimental films are made by postgraduate research students and academic staff, to extend an individual creative practice, develop the field of screen production or explore the possibilities of audiovisual media as a method of research in many fields of knowledge. Sightlines is a multidisciplinary event designed to both interrogate and celebrate filmmaking practice in the context of academic research and explore its significance, through screenings, panels, presentations, roundtable discussions and keynote addresses. It will seek to break down traditional boundaries between arts-based research and other forms of investigation, creating an arena for debate about the need for greater recognition of academic research that extends beyond written text. Possible topics include: - Does the academic film have its own identity and, if so, what are its features? - On what basis should academic films be evaluated? - What forms of knowledge about human experience and the world can be expressed through film? - Does an academic film need written text to validate it as research? - What is the relationship of academic film production to the broader screen industries and can this be developed in useful ways for all concerned? - In the academy, can a screenplay exist in its own right, without a film being made? - Within the scope of academic film production, is there a thing called a thesis film? - What funding, distribution and publication models are available for academic films? We are calling for papers, panels and presentations that respond to these and other relevant questions. Most importantly, we are calling for films. Any production made since 2011 as postgraduate research or by an academic staff member is eligible. Screenplays; non-linear, interactive, online films; and other emerging screen-based forms are welcome. Films and other screen works selected for the event will go through a process of peer review and papers will be published in refereed conference proceedings and/or a relevant journal. *Submission guidelines* *Films* Please submit a preview copy via online link or DVD. A 300 word statement covering in what ways the film can be understood as research is optional. *Papers* Please submit a 300 word abstract outlining your proposed paper, panel or presentation. With all submissions, include name, title and affiliation of each author. *Submit via* Email: [log in to unmask] or Mail: Leo Berkeley School of Media & Communication RMIT University GPO Box 2476 Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia *Deadline* Abstracts and previews of films to be submitted by 5.00pm, Friday 2 May 2014. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------- With the support of the Australian Screen Production Education & Research Association (ASPERA) [image: Inline images 4] ---- Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex podcast: http://www.screenlex.org