CALL FOR PAPERS
Child Actors/Child Stars: Juvenile Performance on Screen
A conference co-hosted by the Centre for
Research in Media and Cultural Studies,
University of Sunderland, and the School of
Media, Film and Music, University of Sussex.
To be held at the David Puttnam Media Centre, University of Sunderland
8-9 September, 2011
This conference seeks to build on recent
scholarly interest in screen performance by
focusing on the contribution of child actors to
the history of international film and
television. From the popular child stars of
Hollywood to the child actors working in popular
television and the non-professional children
ubiquitous throughout ?world cinema,? the child
performer is a prominent figure across a diverse
range of media. However, the child actor is
rarely considered in discussions of screen
performance or of the representation of
childhood: this conference will be the first of
its kind to be focused exclusively on the work
of children in and for film and television. We
welcome papers that discuss particular child
stars and performers and/or particular
performances by children, as well as papers that
consider more general historical and theoretical
questions related to the child actor?s presence
on the screen and their position in film and
television cultures and industries.
Confirmed Keynote Speaker: Dr. Karen Lury
(University of Glasgow), author of The Child in
Film: Tears, Fears and Fairytales (2010).
Confirmed Special Guest: Jon Whiteley, the
former child actor, will talk about his film
career and his experiences making Hunted
(Charles Crichton, 1952), The Little Kidnappers
(Philip Leacock, 1953), Moonfleet (Fritz Lang,
1955) and The Spanish Gardener (Philip Leacock, 1956).
(Further Speakers/Special Guests to be announced)
The conference will comprise both traditional
panels (consisting of papers of 20-25 minutes)
and workshops (consisting of 10 minute long
position papers that outline a key
idea/theme/argument or offer close analysis of a
moment of child performance in film). Please
clearly mark your submission ?panel? or
?workshop?. We hope the conference will both
represent existing scholarship and inspire and
encourage further work, and so we welcome
contributions that are speculative and
experimental. We are interested in papers on
the following topics but would also welcome proposals on other areas as well:
· the training and schooling of child
actors; the craft and labour of the child actor; notions of agency and control;
· different traditions of child acting
and how child acting operates within different
national/historical/cultural contexts and on the
small (tv) as opposed to big screen (cinema);
· the critical reception of children?s
performances/the child as actor.
· the relationship between child acting
and child stardom (e.g. the contribution that
performance makes to the formation/articulation
of child star identity; the notion of the child
star as performer); the child actor?s transition to child star;
· the transition from child to
adolescent (or adult) performer; adolescent
performances in film and/or television;
· how child performance operates within the context of genre;
· the child?s voice as an aspect of
performance; voice/body relations in child performance;
· the dynamics involved when children perform with adult actors/stars;
· the work of the child actor in
children?s vs. non-children?s cinema/television;
· children performing with animals;
· ensemble child acting;
· the performative spaces in which children find scope to act;
· child acting during the silent vs. sound era;
· the notion of the child as performer in the animated film;
· collaborations between child actors
and particular directors or stars;
· professional vs. non-professional child acting.
It is hoped that selected papers from the
conference will be published in the form of an
edited book collection. Please send initial
expressions of interest, with a brief
description of your proposed topic, to our
conference email address:
<mailto:(childactorsconference /at/ sunderland.ac.uk)>(childactorsconference /at/ sunderland.ac.uk)
by 15 March 2011. The deadline for full
abstracts (no more than 250 words) is 15 April
2011 (email address as above). Pre-constituted
panels of 3 speakers are welcome. Acceptance
notices will be issued by 6 May 2011. Registration details to follow.
Any general enquiries should be addressed to the
conference co-organisers: Susan Smith
(<mailto:(drsusan.smith /at/ sunderland.ac.uk)>(drsusan.smith /at/ sunderland.ac.uk))
and Michael Lawrence
(<mailto:(michael.lawrence /at/ sussex.ac.uk)>(michael.lawrence /at/ sussex.ac.uk)).
