[Commlist] CfP: Strategies of the documentary

Special Issue of Filmicon: Journal of Greek Film Studies: Strategies of 
the Documentary
Guest Editors: Tonia Kazakopoulou, Ulrich Meurer, Maria Oikonomou

The special issue of Filmicon “Strategies of the Documentary” seeks to 
address the diverse aesthetic, historical, medial, and theoretical 
connections between moving images and all possible aspects of the 
‘documentary.’ In light of the many facets of this key term, the issue 
does not confine itself to practices or traditions of documentary cinema 
in Greece. It rather explores the multiple cinematic acts and modes of 
registering, representing, evidencing, authenticating, certifying, and 
instructing. It discusses the indexical nature of photography and the 
digital image, the factual as well as fictional functions of 
audio-visual recording, the archival status of documentary film in 
Greece, its ideologies, deceptions, and omissions, the filmic depiction 
of documentation processes, the documents presented on-screen or lost in 
the Mediterranean Sea. This thematic focus responds to three 
interrelated circumstances:

 Greek cinema exhibits a long tradition and wide variety of documentary 
practices which, up to now, have hardly been analyzed on a larger scale 
(see, however, Stefani 2007 and Stathi / Skopeteas 2009). Therefore, 
“Strategies of the Documentary” intends to delineate past as well as 
present documentary strategies, trace their historical dominants and 
archaeological margins, and bring Greek and international concepts and 
timelines of the documentary into closer contact.

 Recent years have seen a significant expansion of the ‘documentary’ 
mode: for instance, one can observe a growing ambiguity regarding the 
relation between world and image; the latter no longer claims 
unconditional vérité or directness but introduces distance, irony, and 
submits to the ontological uncertainties of docufictions and 
mockumentaries. Beyond that, the documentary may verge on animation and 
the virtual, while in other cases approaching the body or synaesthetic 
experience. “Strategies of the Documentary” offers a forum to explore 
such tendencies and techniques in Greek film cultures.

 From Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to New Materialism, several recent 
theories question and reconfigure authoritative dualities such as 
active/passive, subject/object, concrete/abstract, or thing/image. In so 
doing, they challenge the relation between world and gaze on which many 
documentary concepts rely; they dismiss the idea of a ‘perception’ of 
reality and conceive of things as autonomously contributing to a larger 
sphere of awareness, action and politics. “Strategies of the 
Documentary” seeks to shine a light on new theories and strategies of 
the documentary that might react to, or reflect on, such ‘post-humanist’ 
approaches.


Please send completed articles (5000-8000 words) to all editors by 20th 
October 2019. An initial editorial decision will be made, concerning the 
fit of the article to the issue’s aims and coverage and all authors will 
be informed of the outcome of this decision. The selected articles will 
subsequently be submitted for blind peer review which will inform the 
final selection of the articles. The special issue is scheduled to be 
published in the Autumn 2020.

This special issue will also host a number of film reviews of 
documentaries produced in and/or about Greece in the last 5 years. The 
film reviews must be between 2000 and 3500 words and must be submitted 
to all editors by 30 November 2019. Authors will receive feedback from 
the editors within 4 weeks of submission.

Please follow Filmicon’s guidelines for authors for your articles and 
reviews: http://filmiconjournal.com/journal/submissions#guidelines
Please email your article (attached as a word document) to all editors 
by the 20th October 2019:
Please email your film review (attached as a word document) to all 
editors by the 30th November 2019:


Visiting Professor Ulrich Meurer (Central European University)
(ulrich.meurer /at/ univie.ac.at)

Associate Professor Maria Oikonomou (University of Vienna / Thessaloniki)
(maria.oikonomou /at/ univie.ac.at)

Teaching Fellow in Film & Television (University of Reading)
(a.kazakopoulou /at/ reading.ac.uk)

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