[Commlist] CFP for Comparative Cinema: Biopic vs biopic: Cinematographic life as a place for comparison

We are glad to share this CFP from Comparative Cinema.
Call For Papers Nº16 (Spring 2021)
Biopic vs biopic: Cinematographic life as a place for comparison
https://www.raco.cat/index.php/Comparativecinema/announcement/view/79

Over the last ten years, the biopic has been carried out by many 
relevant filmmakers —within and beyond the mainstream— and it has become 
a key genre in contemporary cinema. This fact is attested by titles like 
'Carlos' (Olivier Assayas, 2010), 'J. Edgar' (Clint Eastwood, 2011), 
'Hannah Arendt' (Margarethe von Trotta, 2012), 'Camille Claudel 1915' 
(Bruno Dumont, 2013), 'Saint Laurent' (Bertrand Bonello, 2014), 'Steve 
Jobs' (Danny Boyle, 2015), 'Neruda' (Pablo Larraín, 2016), 'Snowden' 
(Oliver Stone, 2016), 'First Man' (Damien Chazelle, 2018), 'Loro: 
International Cut' (Paolo Sorrentino, 2018), 'At Eternity’s Gate' 
(Julian Schnabel, 2018), 'Bohemian Rapsody' (Brian Synger, 2018), 'The 
Traitor' (Marco Bellocchio, 2019), 'Judy' (Rupert Goold, 2019), 
'Rocketman' (Dexter Fletcher, 2019) and 'A Hidden Life' (Terrence 
Malick, 2019). At the same time, documentary biopics have increased, as 
in the case of 'George Harrison: Living in the Material World' (Martin 
Scorsese, 2011), 'The Salt of the Earth' (Wim Wenders and Juliano 
Ribeiro Salgado, 2014), 'Amy' (Asif Kapadia, 2015), 'Diego Maradona' 
(Asif Kapadia, 2019) and 'Pavarotti' (Ron Howard, 2019).

The diversity among these titles is proof of Belén Vidal’s statement in 
the prologue to the volume 'The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture' 
(Belén Vidal and Tom Brown, eds., 2014): the term biopic —usually 
undervalued as a synonym of narrative restrictions and aesthetic 
conservatism— is also used to name a space that is open to formal 
experiments. That is the reason why, in the past decade, this genre has 
also received renewed attention in the academic world, with volumes like 
'Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre' 
(Dennis Bingham, 2010), 'Biopic: de la réalité à la fiction' (Rémi 
Fontanel, ed., 2011) and 'Invented Lives, Invented Communities: The 
Biopic and American National Identity' (William H. Epstein and R. Barton 
Palmer, eds., 2016).

In this issue of 'Comparative Cinema', we want to approach the biopic 
from the specific perspective of comparative cinema. How much does the 
story of a lifetime allow to compare aesthetic and narrative differences 
between two separate works? Which biopic elements are especially 
relevant for a comparison? Rather than discovering what the comparison 
between two biopics reveals us, we are interested in how such comparison 
can be articulated and in finding out which of its elements can be the 
most fruitful. Some lines of work are suggested:

Biopic and life: biopics privilege certain moments of a trajectory. 
Which of the life chapters are the most revealing of narrative and 
aesthetic differences? Between the personal and the professional life, 
which one of them has a greater impact on the comparison between 
different biopics?

Biopic and film time: by its very definition, the biopic is developed 
throughout a long, well delimited period. How can the length of the 
portrayed period, the length of the film and the time dedicated to each 
event be compared between different works?

Biopic and star studies: biopics entail professional challenges for 
performers because they can strengthen or renew their star persona. How 
can a biopic be compared to other performances by the same actor? How 
can the real character and the previous roles of the performer be 
compared through specific gestures?

Biopic and authorship: some filmmakers have transformed the biopic into 
a sign of identity. Is it possible to find common elements between 
different biopics directed by the same author? How much do the author’s 
other films —not biopics— influence these biopics?

Biopic and documentary film: many characters have been biographed both 
in documentaries and fiction films. Moreover, the fiction biopic can 
sometimes include real images. How can comparison between a documentary 
biopic and a fiction biopic be articulated? How much does the biopic 
allow to approach methodologies about documentary film?

Priority shall be given to papers focused on cinema from the 2000-2020 
period (or papers containing, at least, one film from this period in 
their comparison). Papers must be between 5000 and 6000 words long, 
including footnotes. The texts (in a Word format) and the images 
accompanying them must be sent through the RACO platform, available on 
the website of the journal.

This special issue is also open for publishing interviews that have been 
previously agreed with the editors. Suggestions can be sent to 
(comparativecinema /at/ upf.edu).

The time limit for receiving papers is the 15th of September 2020.

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