[Commlist] 4th Edition of the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies International Conference

*Call for Papers*

**

*Re-examining the past and envisioning the future of Italian cinema and 
media *

*IV Edition of the /Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies/ 
International Conference***

*In person ONLY*

*The American University of Rome*

*13-15 June 2024*

*
*

*Keynote Speaker*

**

Áine O’Healy

Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles

*‘Non-Fiction Filmmaking in Contemporary Italy: Continuity and Change’*

The twenty-first century has witnessed a burgeoning of non-fiction 
filmmaking in Italy, facilitated in part by technological developments 
and in part by the desire to respond to rapidly shifting social 
realities and changes in the natural environment. In light of recent 
theoretical work on the political, aesthetic, and ethical dimensions of 
the documentary, this talk will examine several non-fiction projects by 
both established and emerging filmmakers focusing on various modalities 
of human precarity in the global present. While critiquing the intimate 
intrusions the filmmakers enact on their precarious subjects, it also 
considers the complex affective operations inherent in this process.

*Áine O’Healy*is professor of modern languages and literatures at Loyola 
Marymount University in Los Angeles. Her research interests lie in 
transnational cinema, contemporary Italian film, and discourses of 
migration, race, gender and sexuality in contemporary cultural 
production. Her most recent book is /Migrant Anxieties: Italian Cinema 
in a Transnational Frame/ (Indiana University Press, 2019). Among her 
other publications is the volume /Transnational Feminism/ /in Film and 
Media/ (2011) edited with Katarzyna Marciniak and Anikó Imre, as well as 
a special issue of /Feminist Media Studies/ titled /Transcultural 
Mediations and Transnational Politics of Difference /(2009).  With 
Marciniak and Imre she has curated the Global Cinema book series for 
Palgrave since its inception in 2011.

*Organizing Committee*

Flavia Laviosa, Wellesley College, United States

Catherine Ramsey-Portolano, The American University of Rome, Italy

*
*

*Conference Committee*

Giorgio Bertellini, University of Michigan, USA

Flavia Brizio-Skov, University of Tennessee, USA

Milly Buonanno, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Frank Burke, Queen’s University, Canada

Jim Carter, Boston University, USA

Stephen Gundle, University of Warwick, UK

Russell Kilbourn, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

Gloria Lauri-Lucente, University of Malta, Malta

Bernadette Luciano, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Alex Marlow-Mann, University of Kent, UK

Gaoheng Zhang, University of British Columbia, Canada

Since its founding in 2012, the /Journal of Italian Cinema //& Media 
Studies/has been at the forefront of efforts to transnationalize the 
study of culture by conceiving cinema and media as always already 
embedded in global flows of people, ideas, technical practices, funding 
structures and artistic influences. From this perspective, Italian 
cinema and media are not the static expression of a coherent national 
experience; they are the dynamic outgrowth of multiple interactions, 
exchanges, conflicts and cooperations. They are the worldwide 
production, distribution and consumption of the many meanings of 
‘Italy,’ which is one of the most overdetermined signs in circulation today.

Therefore, one of the main goals of JICMS has been to re-examine the 
history of Italian cinema, tracing the nature and extent of its 
influence by studying how it has engaged and collaborated with 
international filmmakers across countries and time. The purpose of such 
an endeavour has been to remap the relationship between Italian and 
world cinema through critical analysis that trespasses ‘national cinema’ 
frameworks and theories,//and//the journal has succeeded in uncovering a 
rich history of exchange and cross-pollination.

As evidence of this approach, we wish to call attention to numerous 
articles in general issues as well as special issues on the 
intersections between Italy and Asia (2:1 & 3, 2014), Latin America 
(10:2, 2022 and 12:2, 2024), Slavic countries (11:3 & 4, 2023) and the 
Mediterranean (12:1, 2024), along with a wide range of articles on 
Nollywood, Europe and North America. These special issues highlight how 
what we call Italian cinema has emerged from an international context of 
collaboration between domestic and world cinemas during the past 100 
years. They also engage in new critical approaches in order to recover 
overlooked connections and re-compose them on historical and aesthetic 
maps as well as examine commercial and distribution relations marked by 
transnational dialogues and intergenerational conversations.

JICMS has also re-visited the history of Italian cinema with three 
special issues: one, celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the David di 
Donatello Awards (1956-2016) (4:2, 2016); two, the 70^th anniversary of 
/Rome, Open City/(1945-2015)//(Bayman, Gundle, Schoonover eds.) (6:3, 
2018); and three, the 85^th anniversary of the Centro Sperimentale di 
Cinematografia in Rome (1935-2020) (9:2, 2021). In addition to these, 
the journal has published two special issues on Federico Fellini’s 
(Centorrino, Dalla Gassa, Minuz eds.) (9:1, 2021) and Tonino Guerra’s 
(Burke ed.) (11:1, 2023) centennials (1920-2020), and more recently 
history of ‘Film/Fashion/Costume’ (Paulicelli and Po DeLisle eds.) 
(Forthcoming).

JICMS has also celebrated the history of Italian media by paying homage 
to the 60^th anniversary of RAI (1954-2014) (3:1 & 2, 2015), followed by 
the publication of the special issues ‘Gender issues: Trajectories of 
change in the Italian mediascape’ (Buonanno and Faccioli eds.) (11:2, 
2023), and more recently ‘/Giallo/! Going through the History of Italian 
Television Crime Drama’ (Barra and Re eds.) (Forthcoming).

The year 2024 celebrates the 70^th anniversary of the birth of RAI and 
we intend to take advantage of this stimulating fact by inviting 
scholars to organize special sessions that would offer fresh and 
innovative readings of neglected or misunderstood aspects of RAI’s 
history. Sessions could be divided into two panels: the first inclusive, 
in an effort to bring out the diversity and plurality of innovative 
proposals; the second single-issue, aimed at the unprecedented goal of 
recognizing and valorizing female figures who have contributed to the 
making of Italian television history.

We welcome proposals that examine how Italian cinema, television, and 
new media represent history and evoke historical memories. These forms 
of media have significantly influenced cultural awareness, nurtured 
national identity, and grappled with the intricacies of Italy's rich 
historical heritage. We encourage scholars to explore the diverse ways 
in which Italian visual media interact with history and its collective 
memory.

Despite the impact of immigration on contemporary societies, immigration 
cinema has been largely overlooked in scholarship. Therefore, 
investigating the reasons of this exclusion will shed light on problems 
related to discrimination, racism and the way mainstream media 
manipulate culture and the public. It is time to write essays that can 
bring to the attention of university students, scholars, and//general 
readership an analysis of films that exemplify the situation of the 
minority groups marginalized for political, religious, and ethnic 
reasons. Showing how diversity is portrayed in cinema, and how these 
films are received will reveal the many tensions that exist in the 
margins of western affluent societies and will force the readers to 
explore the many political implications of the word ‘diversity’. The 
European Council has recognized the importance of European diversity 
stating the necessity ‘to strengthen human rights, racial tolerance and 
multicultural acceptance’ (CoE 1991:9), and many of the migrant films 
from Italy are, in fact, an excellent example of the defense of these 
values. Nevertheless, as we examine the transcultural identities of 
migrant cinema, we need to keep in mind that monocultural constructs 
sometimes remain resistant enough to deconstruction effort to a point 
that they can destabilize the expected pro-immigrant cinematic output.

We also invite proposals on the topic of sponsored films and other forms 
of ‘useful media’. Governments and businesses were among the first 
organizations to recognize the utility of cinema, not least in Italy. 
Some ideas for papers or panels include corporate cinema departments 
(Olivetti, Fiat, Montecatini, Edison), canonical directors who worked on 
sponsored films (Antonioni, Bertolucci, Fellini, Olmi), unknown or 
understudied directors, anonymous films, methodological alternatives to 
auteur theory, ideology and hegemony, governmentality and desire, 
archives and sources, internal and external communications, 
labor-management relations, human resources, fundraising, consumerism, 
marketing and advertising or corporate image.

A new feature of this conference is to host presentations of recently 
published/forthcoming books, edited volumes, JICMS special issues, or 
academic works in progress, so we invite authors and editors to 
contribute in ‘Meet the Author’ roundtables.

**

As we reflect on the state of the Cinema and Media Studies, we open this 
CFP to a wide range of themes, with the intent of offering a unifying 
horizon that will allow scholars to explore diverse fields and topics in 
a broad international context and move forward with new studies, 
building the future of both the discipline and the journal.

With this CFP, the conference organizers invite proposals from scholars, 
independent researchers, cinema and media professionals, and graduate 
students for single papers, pre-constituted panels, and roundtables.

*Possible topics include, but are not limited to:*

• Transnational cinema & media studies

• Remediation of history and historic collective memory

• 70^th anniversary of RAI

• Gender and media studies in Italy

• Immigration cinema: Race, ethnicity and discrimination today

• Sponsored films

• Representations of violence against women in cinema and TV: Victims, 
witnesses and   perpetrators

• Reporting honor killings in Italian media

• Ageism and gender exclusion in the Italian film industry both on and 
off screen

• Representations of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic in 
Italian films and media

• The new generation of filmmakers:  Experimenting with cinematic 
language and modes of storytelling

• Transmedia storytelling and Digital narratives


The conference will include the screening of 1-2 films with filmmakers 
in attendance.

The languages of the conference are English, Italian and Spanish.

*Proposals for virtual papers will not be considered.*

*
*

Please send an abstract of 250 words plus a short bio of 100 words for 
single papers, or 250 words for pre-constituted panels (including the 
aims of the panel and summaries of each contribution specifying the 
names of filmmakers, artists, films, media etc.) followed by individual 
titles, panelists’ bios, current academic affiliation, and emails for 
pre-constituted panels with 3 speakers or roundtables, in a *word.doc 
format*, *no pdf*. We invite proposals for 20-minute 
presentations(inclusive of brief film clips).


Abstracts for consideration should be submitted to Flavia Laviosa at 
(flaviosa /at/ wellesley.edu) <mailto:(flaviosa /at/ wellesley.edu)>.


The deadline for the submission of abstracts is*15 December 2023*. 
Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be sent out to authors by 
*15 January 2024.***

*
*

Conference registration fee includes: coffee, 3 lunches, opening and 
closing receptions.

The deadline for inclusion in the conference program is *15 March 2024*. 
Please, make every effort to pay conference fees before this date.

*€ **200 regular rate (professors, lecturers, instructors, post-doc, and 
retired faculty)*

*€ **150 student rate ***

The registration fee will be paid to AUR through their website which 
will be available in January 2024.

In case of withdrawals the registration fee will not be reimbursed.

In case of cancellation of the conference the registration fee will be 
reimbursed.

**


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------