[ecrea] Political Cinema for the 21st Century: conference, exhibition and launch event for the Radical Film Network

?Political Cinema for the 21st Century: conference, exhibition and 
launch event for the Radical Film Network, 7-8 February 2015

Venue: Birmingham City University Parkside Campus and Vivid Projects gallery

Call for papers/presentations
Neoliberal capitalism and its disastrous social, political and 
ecological consequences are wreaking havoc around the globe. In Britain 
as elsewhere, governments are cutting wages for the employed and taxes 
for the wealthy, and are busy waging campaigns of privatisation and 
(en)closure that are rendering hard-won social gains – such as universal 
healthcare or access to higher education – beyond the reach of working 
people. Without the support of their allies in the media industries, 
governments would find it immeasurably harder to manufacture the consent 
this kind of class warfare requires.

While the mainstream media remains overwhelmingly in the hands of the 
rich, artists and activists around the world are working hard to use the 
tools available to challenge that media power. In Britain as elsewhere, 
radical film culture has expanded significantly in recent years, and 
there is now a wealth of organisations and individuals dedicated to the 
production, distribution and exhibition of films broadly aligned with 
the politics of the radical left. In September 2013, representatives 
from a number of these organisations met to discuss ways in which those 
involved in radical film culture could work together to support its 
development, growth and sustainability, and formed the Radical Film 
Network (RFN) as a result (www.radicalfilmnetwork.com).

Political Cinema for the 21st Century is the inaugural event of the RFN. 
A conference, exhibition and launch for the network, it aims to 
interrogate the idea of ‘radicalism’ in film culture and provide a forum 
to debate the past, present and future of radical film both in Britain 
and around the world. To that end, we invite all those with an interest 
in political film culture to come and share their work and ideas – as 
individual or organisation, filmmaker or audience member, researcher or 
critic. Contributions could cover (but are not limited to) topics such as:

    * What is ‘radical’ film / culture?
    * The political and aesthetic avant-gardes
    * Politically and aesthetically radical moving-image practice/s
    * Radicalism in artists’ film and video
    * Video-activism
    * Liberalism and the ‘social issue’ documentary
    * The roles and responsibilities of political 
filmmakers/organisations/researchers/critics
    * New technologies/formats/platforms: consequences and possibilities
    * Economics, funding and financial sustainability in radical film 
culture
    * Key films/filmmakers/organisations/networks and movements, in 
Britain and elsewhere
    * Theoretical perspectives on radicalism and the moving image
    * Film and television policy
    * Cultural institutions and the film and television industries: 
infiltration, assimilation and/or opposition?
    * Political cinema and pedagogy


Presentations can be in any format and up to 20 minutes in length. 
Proposals for panels of speakers are also very welcome. Please send all 
proposals for individual presentations, panels and other contributions 
to Steve Presence ((Stephen.presence /at/ live.uwe.ac.uk)). The deadline for 
proposals is October 1st 2014.

Keynote speakers to be confirmed.

Supported by the Centre for Moving Image Research at the University of 
the West of England, Bristol; the Screen Cultures group at the 
Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, BCU; and Vivid 
Projects gallery, Birmingham.


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