[ecrea] cfp: new approaches to silent film historiography: technology, spectatorship and the archive

_Conference Call for Papers:_
*
*
*NEW APPROACHES TO SILENT FILM HISTORIOGRAPHY: TECHNOLOGY, SPECTATORSHIP 
AND THE ARCHIVE*
*
*

University of Leeds (UK)

18^th - 19^th  September 2018

*_
_*
*_Keynote Speakers:_*

  * _Dr Lawrence Napper_ (King’s College London). Title*:**History, lies
    and the digital archive.*
  * _Kieron Webb _(British Film Institute).***Title:* The */Open
    Road/** to the **/Pleasure Garden/**: silent film restoration in the
    digital intermediate age*

*
*
*Abstract*
In the years following the death of silent cinema and the rise of the 
talkies in the early 1930s, there was a supreme lack of interest in 
silent film preservation and restoration. Due largely to this lack of 
care and, in many cases, deliberate destruction of silent films, the 
Library of Congress estimates that about 75% of all silent films are now 
lost forever. Many of the silent films that managed to survive in 
archives and private collections are incomplete or suffered significant 
damage and decay. During the 1980s, owing largely to the launch and 
success of home cinema and the establishment of silent film forums and 
events (e.g. Pordenone Silent Film Festival), a renewed interest in 
silent film developed. More recently, high quality digital restoration 
technology has given archives and independent silent film restorers new 
opportunities to compensate for substantial filmic losses. In addition 
to this, HD home media silent film releases, and internet platforms such 
as YouTube, have made numerous silent films readily available to the 
public. Although these current developments have arguably improved the 
aesthetic qualities of many silent films and made them far more 
accessible to the public, they have also raised controversial questions 
surrounding the safeguarding of the filmmakers’ artistic intent, the 
contextualisation and historical reliability of film experiences, and 
the sustainability of digital preservation, amongst other issues. This 
conference will analyse the impact of recent technological and 
institutional developments on the study, experience, and restoration of 
silent films and discuss sustainable ways forward.
Potential topics could include, but are not limited to:

  * New narrative or technical analyses of specific silent film
    restorations (case studies)
  * Silent film restoration ethics (e.g. preserving silent filmmakers’
    artistic intent)
  * Digitisation, curatorship and reliability of historical evidence
  * Silent film experiences, digital archive accessibility and film
    scholarship
  * Silent cinema journalistic writing (past and/or present)
  * Theatrical presentation and distribution of silent cinema (past
    and/or present)
  * Home cinema, the internet and silent cinema audiences
  * Silent film and sustainable analogue and digital preservation
  * Silent film copyright
  *

_Submission Requirements_
*
*
Send 200-300 word abstracts with three key words on topics related to 
the conference’s focus to* (silentfilmhist /at/ gmail.com)*

We welcome abstract submissions from postgraduate researchers, film 
scholars, film preservationists, and curators.
*
*
Deadline for Submission: 10^th  August 2018

Contact Person/Email: Laurence Carr: (silentfilmhist /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:Carr/(silentfilmhist /at/ gmail.com)>

**BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT*: We are delighted to announce that we plan to 
publish a selection of the best papers in an edited collection and are 
currently seeking a publisher. Please submit an abstract for the 
conference if you would like to be considered for both the event and the 
edited collection.*
**
FREE TO ATTEND

SMALL PGR TRAVEL BURSARIES AVAILABLE (LIMITED NUMBER)


_Useful Links:_

  * Our 2018 silent film conference website:
    https://silentfilmhist2018.wordpress.com
    <https://silentfilmhist2018.wordpress.com/>

  * The 2017 Audiovisual Heritage Meeting website, containing the names
    and project titles of all speakers:

http://media.leeds.ac.uk/events/audiovisual-heritage-and-academic-research-at-the-university-of-leeds/


_The event is a collaboration between the University of Leeds’ School of 
Languages, Cultures, and Societies, the Universities of York and 
Sheffield, and the Audiovisual Heritage Meeting. The conference is 
generously funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and White 
Rose College of the Arts & Humanities._

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