Lenuta Giukin - Small cinemas conference 2023

 

Dear friends of small cinemas,

Please distribute this announcement for the 2023 conference to all people interested in small cinemas, PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE AND ESSAYISTIC FORM IN NONFICTION FILM AND ART (Sept. 22-23, 2023).

We are joining the international conference organized by our colleague Renata Sukaityte (Vilnius, Lithuania). Renata also organized the 5th edition of the small cinemas conference in 2014, in Vilnius.

Since the conference is not limited to small cinemas only, you may choose to write on any form of cinema. However, the subject is perfectly fitting small cinemas' areas of research.

This is the 14th edition of the small cinemas conference and we have permission to submit proposals until May 30 (rather than May 21, as the CFP posts).

Wishing you wonderful time of the year on whatever continent and hemisphere you are!
Lenutsa

--

Lenuta Giukin, Ph.D
Associate Professor

Modern Languages and Literatures

SUNY Oswego

CALL FOR PAPERS

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE AND ESSAYISTIC FORM

IN NONFICTION FILM AND ART

Abstract/Panel submission deadline: May 21, 2023.

Conference dates: September 22-23, 2023.

Venue: Film and media space “Planeta“, A. Goštauto str. 2, Vilnius

Mode of participation: In person only

Conference language: English

Organizers:

Vilnius Academy of Arts

Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute

Vilnius International Documentary Film Festival

Partner: International Network for Small Cinemas

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Dr. Laura Rascaroli, Professor, University College Cork

Dr. Audrius Stonys, Documentary Filmmaker and Professor, The Lithuanian Academy

of Music and Theatre  

 

With the proliferation of hand-held cameras and professional video cameras, experimental and documentary filmmakers and artists made films about events related to their own experiences and those of people close to them. The personal perspective and essayistic narrative became a particular favourite of feminist and queer filmmakers and of those who “speak with accent”, as it increased the possibility of self-representation and reflection on identity. According to Jim Lane, autobiographical nonfiction films became a counterpoint to the dominant industrial cinema in terms of “the simplification of the modes of recording, an artisanal form of autobiographical expression” and “the presentation of the autobiographical themes”. (Jim Lane 2002, 13) Thus, personal narratives became a strategic and political tool for exploring the everyday intimate environment and subtly reflection on the social, political, and cultural context around it. The development of new personal and social media in the 21st century has also contributed to the emergence of new forms of digital narratives and gave rise to intimacy in art and visual culture.

The personal perspective in art and nonfiction film is often conveyed in essayistic form, which embodies a distinctive thought process that emerges from the loose connections between visual and audio elements. Nora M. Alter describes the essay film as able to produce “complex thought that at times is not grounded in reality but can be contradictory, irrational, and fantastic” and as having a distinctive structure – “transgressive, digressive, playful, controversial and political” (Alter 2002, 7-8). This type of film is often interdisciplinary and transnational, as its makers navigate across disciplines, cultures and countries, and embrace broader social and political issues.

This international conference invites scholars (with expertise in film and art studies, cultural studies, literature, and related fields) as well as visual artists and filmmakers (involved in artistic research and teaching) to share insights and discuss works of art and nonfiction film with a strong "I" perspective and an essayistic narrative (i.e. a loose, fragmented narrative structure, meta-narrative, reflexivity; a strong articulation of the subjective, personal gaze; and a distinctive communicative structure designed to address the viewer).

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

– national and global movements and prominent authors in avant-garde art and nonfiction films

– connecting the private and the public, the personal and the communal in contemporary video and nonfiction films

– diasporic and migrant stories in avant-garde art, videos, and documentaries

– articulation of race, gender, sexuality in nonfiction films and art

– transmedia narratives and new digital tools in personal art and nonfiction film

– ethical challenges of personal film and art

 

Scientific committee:

Chair – Dr. Renata Šukaitytė (Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute)

Members: Dr. Zane Balčus (Latvian Academy of Culture), Dr. Lenuta Giukin (State University of New York at Oswego); Eglė Maceinaitė (Skalvija Cinema Center), Dr. Katarína Mišíková (Academy of Performing Arts, Slovakia), Dr. Rita Repšienė (Lithuanian Cultural Research Institute), Dr. Dagmara Rode (University of Lodz); Dr. Lorant Stohr (University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest), Dr. Aušra Trakšelytė (Vilnius Academy of Art).

 

The conference proceedings will form the basis for a thematic issue of the academic journal Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, published by the Vilnius Academy of Art (https://leidykla.vda.lt/en/acta-academiae-artium-vilnensis).

Submission Guidelines

Please send paper proposals in English (250-300-words) and a short biography (200 words) by May 21, 2023 to conference chair Renata Šukaitytė, renata_sukaityte@yahoo.com.

Proposals for pre-constituted panels (consisting of 3 or 4 papers) are also welcomed!
For panel proposals provide a title, a 250-300-word panel description and a short biography (200 words) for each participant (chair and presenters). Submit panel proposals by May 21 to Renata Šukaitytė, renata_sukaityte@yahoo.com.

Applicants will be notified of acceptance/nonacceptance by May 31, 2023.

There are no conference fees.

For more information visit: https://www.lkti.lt/22-23-september-2023/