[ecrea] CFP: 7th Annual Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference, THE POLITICS, PRACTICES, AND POETICS OF THE ARCHIVE

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*7th Annual Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference*

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*THE POLITICS, PRACTICES, AND POETICS OF THE ARCHIVE *

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SINGAPORE

*19 – 22 JUNE, 2012*



Eight years since the first Annual Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference which
heralded the resurgence of cinematic new waves in the region, we turn our
eyes to the state of film archiving and the relationship between cinema and
the archives. Filipino film critic Alexis Tioseco’s 2009 open letter to the
Film Development Council of the Philippines mentions current holdings stored
in ‘deplorable conditions’. In his letter, Tioseco praises the National Film
Archive of Thailand for its work in doing so much with so little. In
Indonesia, the Sinematek Indonesia which was established in the early 1970s
has also seen cuts that make the archive a shadow of its former glory. It is
only in Singapore that a young Asian Film Archive (est. 2005) has taken
root.



The 7th Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference (2012) emphasizes the politics,
practices, and poetics of the archive. How does one define an *archive*? And
who can be said to do archival work? Might DVD pirates, private collectors,
cinephiles, film bloggers and film societies be considered film archivists
of a sort when governments do not or no longer perceive the need to fund
national film archives? If so, how does this change the public nature of an
archive, and what implications does it have on the production of knowledge?
What might film curators take into consideration when they select and
preserve films for the archive? What are the social, political, aesthetic,
and scholarly roles of the archive? How does the archive negotiate issues of
power and accessibility?  What is the role of the archive in the digital age
of new media?



At the same time, in interrogating the relationship between film and the
archive, might film itself as a socio-cultural text not be regarded as an
archive and as a necessary site to re-think temporalities and the reasons
for nostalgia? As Derrida reminds us, “The question of the archive is not a
question of the past” but rather “a question of the future itself.” Where
does the archive lie in creating, defining, and constructing cultural memory
or cultural heritage? This conference then invites papers that comment not
only on the nature of what an archive is and the role it plays in South East
Asia, but also how films and film archives ask us to think about the
timeliness of cultural work.



Each year, the conference has included film practitioners in recognition of
the crucial role they have played in increasing film education and discourse
in the region. We have previously provided space for independent filmmakers
and screenings of their works, focused on curriculum development, and
highlighting alternative cultures of cinema. This year, the conference seeks
to include workshops that bring together film archivists from within the
region.



We invite panels* *that address this theme, particularly questions
concerning:



   - Film Archival Materials as Intertexts
   - Comparative Studies of Archives or Case Studies of Specific Archives
   - Role of the Academic / Film Critic / Filmmaker in Relation to the
   Archive
   - Technology / New Media
   - Production of Temporalities and Spatialities
   - Politics of Taste
   - Preservation and Dissemination
   - Archival Research Methods
   - Intellectual Property
   - The Relationship between Southeast Asian Archives and the International
   Federation of Film Archives (FIAF)
   - Historiography
   - Scholarly Accessibility
   - Subtitling and the Archive
   - Film Policy and the Archive
   - The State and the Archive
   - Short Films and the Archive



We also welcome submissions for the open call. Please check our website
archives and conference programs for past paper topics as we are less likely
to accept topics that have been covered before:
http://seaconference.wordpress.com/conference-program/

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*Abstract Submission Deadline: Nov 30, 2011*

Please send an abstract (max. 500 words) and short bio (max. 100 words) to:
*Sophia Siddique Harvey *(*(soharvey /at/ vassar.edu)*),* Khoo Gaik Cheng *(
(gaik.khoo /at/ gmail.com)*) *and* Jasmine Nadua Trice *((jntrice /at/ gmail.com)).* *We
are currently attempting to get funding for travel subsidies and
accommodations but cannot offer any as of yet.



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