[Commlist] CfP - Film Festivals: Borders, Identities, Solidarities

*_CALL FOR PAPERS_*__

**

*Symposium*

*Film Festivals: Borders, Identities, Solidarities*

*Concordia University, Montreal*

*November 2–4, 2026*

(Second Edition)

Launched at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in November 2024, the 
international symposium*Film Festivals: Borders, Identities, 
Solidarities*continues in 2026 with its second edition at*Concordia 
University in Montreal*. Building on the discussions initiated in 
Venice, it aims to further explore how issues of borders, identities and 
solidarities have been shaped, negotiated and contested through film 
festivals in various contexts of social and political turbulence.

The symposium is organised around the idea that film festivals are 
highly visible cultural events, experienced by audiences in the present 
and documented for the future through catalogues, press materials, media 
coverage, and critical discourse. Their influence is therefore both 
immediate and enduring. In the present, they act as political actors, 
shaping public engagement with and understanding of major societal 
issues of our past and present. Over time, they also function as sites 
of memory (*Nora, 1984 [1997]* 
<https://www.gallimard.fr/Catalogue/GALLIMARD/Quarto/Les-Lieux-de-memoire>),contributing 
to the ways in which these issues are collectively remembered across 
generations (*Assmann, 1995* 
<https://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/classes/201/articles/95AssmannCollMemNGC.pdf>).Against 
this backdrop, we invite scholars from different disciplines (cinema 
studies, memory studies, gender studies, border and conflict studies, 
history, sociology, political science, international relations) to 
discussfilm festivals’ influence in relation to the questions of 
borders, identities and solidarities.While submissions on a broad range 
of historical and contemporary topics are welcome, this edition places 
particular emphasis on film festivals as generators of*wartime 
solidarity*and*war propaganda*, as well as on the*gendered dynamics*of 
their engagement with conflict. Knowing that wars profoundly affect 
societies and human lives, the ways in which they are interpreted, 
represented and remembered are particularly important. In this context, 
film festivals constitute valuable sites for examining how solidarities 
are mobilized, political positions articulated, and narratives of 
conflict legitimised, contested or transformed.

We welcome submissions in the following (non-exhaustive)*topic areas*:

- Film festivals as spaces of solidarityand productive dispute

- Film festivals as sites of political propaganda

- Gendered perspectives on war: visibility and marginalisation

- Film festivals and gender identity

- Film festivals, cultural memory, and national identity

- Borderland film festivals

- Borders and boundaries in festival programmes

- Definitions of film festival identity


Submissions may be individual or for organised panels of three papers. 
We welcome proposals from participants at all career stages, 
from*doctoral students*to*established scholars*, as well as**from*film 
festival professionals. *Interdisciplinary approaches and 
non-traditional forms of presentation are encouraged.

Please*submit*your*proposals*– 250-word abstracts for 20-minute 
presentations, a short bio and up to 5 keywords – 
to*(submissions /at/ ffbis.org) <mailto:(submissions /at/ ffbis.org)>**,**by July 17, 
2026*.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by_August 17, 2026_.

The symposium is organised by Dr Dunja Jelenkovic in the framework of 
the research project*FESTWAR FM* 
<https://pric.unive.it/projects/festwar-fm/home>**(*Film Festivals and 
Wars: A Fe-Male Perspective, 1939-today*) funded from the European 
Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, under the 
Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No.*101149227 *(MSCA-IF-GF).

For any*inquiries*, please contact*(dunja.jelenkovic /at/ unive.it)* 
<mailto:(dunja.jelenkovic /at/ unive.it)>**or*(info /at/ ffbis.org)* 
<mailto:(info /at/ ffbis.org)>(with “FF BIS” as the email subject).
---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely. The commlist has no responsibility for any damage caused by its postings. Subscription to the list automatically implies agreement with this rule.
--
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
---------------