[ecrea] Call for Papers: Documentary Now

In keeping with the ¡Revolution Now! theme of this year's Documentary 
Now! conference (London, 21-24 June 2012), I am looking to put together 
a panel (and panel proposal) on the topic of economic justice and the 
documentary.

To explain:

The issue of economic justice is at the forefront today and films and 
other media (comic books, videos, photographs) have been visualising 
these vast and abstract systems, as well as their human cost. 
Additionally, in the wake of the ongoing global financial crisis, 
protests are mounting worldwide, and communities are linked through 
visual and social media, using video and Internet platforms to build 
solidarity and share information. This awareness of the politics of 
finance and the human cost of the free market may be stronger than ever, 
but it is not new. It has been building, cultivated in documentary 
cinema in such films as /L//a Hora de los Hornos/The/ /Hour of the 
Furnaces/ (Octavio Gettino and Fernando Solanas, 1970), /Ilha Das 
Flores/Island of Flowers/ (Jorge Furtado, 1989),/ Life and Debt/ 
(Stephanie Black, 2001) /Darwin's Nightmare/ (Hubert Sauper, 2004),/ 
//Black Gold /(Nick and Marc Francis, 2006), Solanas's more recent 
films, /Memoria del saqueo./Social Genocide /(2004) /La Dignidad de los 
Nadies/The Dignity of Nobodies /(2005) and many more.

This list only touches the surface of a wealth of materials in need of 
exploration: How have their aesthetics and uses helped to foster the 
climate of revolution we see today? How have they (re)introduced 
economic rights into the popular imaginary? What other issues emerge as 
we explore the relationship between documentaries and economic justice?

I would love to hear from anyone interested in participating on such a 
panel, so if you are interested, please contact me at 
(lt40 /at/ st-andrews.ac.uk).

As the panel proposals are due in January, I would appreciate hearing 
from anyone potentially interested before 25 December.

Best wishes,

Leshu Torchin

Dr Leshu Torchin
Lecturer in Film Studies
Department of Film Studies
University of St Andrews
99 North Street
St Andrews, UK
KY16 9AD

Tel: 44 (0) 1334 467 476