[AIW] CFP: "Circulations of/in Cinema," Université de Toulouse II, France, June 13-15, 2013.

AIW - Bartl bartl at american-indian-workshop.org
Fri Apr 13 19:04:13 CEST 2012


CALL FOR PAPERS

"Circulations of/in Cinema"

Université de Toulouse II, June 13 - 15, 2013


In 1958, André Bazin asked: "What is cinema?" One of his objectives was to
define the ontological specificity of the cinematographic art. In the
following decades, this fundamental question was taken up and amplified.
There were many answers to that initial question: most of them focused on
the relation between screen and spectator. Today, in an era of digital
images, with the democratization of cinematographic practices - in terms
both of production and reception - it seems important to return to a
definition of cinema in its technical specificity. One could approach the
subject from three angles:

First, it seems important to attempt a redefinition of cinema as the art of
movement. With celluloid, the cinematic movement was mostly circular, within
the camera and within the projector. Onscreen movement is at least double as
it includes the motion of figures and that of the camera itself. But
circulation also happens in between images thanks to editing. This
conference will try to analyze the aesthetic and ideological effects of
these various techniques on the spectator. Can we say, following Comolli's
lead, that there is such a thing as a specific cinematic form of
circulation, in its technical dimension, that would make it different from
other types of audio-visual circulations?  Is this specificity still the
same for digital movies? In other words, what exactly circulates in and
between images, and between images and spectators?

Then, films also circulate between countries. Globalization indeed calls
into question the very notion of national cinema: in its place we find
international and runaway productions, films taking place in several
countries or continents. Beyond filmmaking, it seems that globalization also
influences the way films are actually seen, often bypassing the collective
experience of the movie theater in favor of individual screenings: DVD,
Blu-Ray, streaming, legal or illegal downloading. Do these new modes of
viewing films automatically ask us to reconsider the status of films as
commodities? Within films themselves, what is the most adequate aesthetic
mode for representing globalization?

Finally, cinematic techniques also circulate in the direction of other arts.
If we restrict our reflection to artistic forms that are contemporary with
cinema, it is possible to say that films influence both the form and the
content of other practices: literature (Dos Passos or Burroughs and
editing), music (common notions such as cut and mix), painting (Hopper,
Warhol), photography, and contemporary art (Christian Marclay, Douglas
Gordon). One of the tasks of the conference will thus be to study the
influence of cinematic techniques on other art forms.

Focusing exclusively on English-speaking cinema, the papers will address one
of the following subjects (non-exhaustive list):

- Cinematic projections from celluloid to digital;

- The film genres of circulation: road-movie, choral film;

- The novelization of films; the cinematographic qualities of novels;

- The mise en abyme of films within films and other arts;

- The different practices of viewing films: from collective to individual;

- The particular aesthetic of digital movies in their relation to movement;

- Silent films as examples of an already globalized cinema;

- Remakes, prequels, and sequels;

- New modes of production;

- The representation of movement and movement in films.

Papers will last 20 minutes (including film extracts shown) and will be
given in English or French. Please address your abstracts, along with a
short biographical notice, to circulationcinema at gmail.com before April 25,
2012.

Conference organizers:
Zachary Baqué
Marie Bouchet
Hélène Charlery
Cristelle Maury


CONFERENCE WEBSITE:

http://w3.cas.univ-tlse2.fr/spip.php?article255





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