[ecrea] CfP Frontiers in Film

Call for Papers

Frontiers in Film

International Conference

7th “Droit et cinéma” (Law and Film) International Conference

27 and 28 June 2014

University of La Rochelle, France

The seventh edition of the ‘Droit et cinéma’ (Law and Film) conference, 
which since 2008 has been organised during the International Film 
Festival of La Rochelle, will be devoted to ‘Frontiers in Films’. 
Through an interdisciplinary approach (legal, historical, economic, 
literary, cultural, managerial, sociological, communicational, 
cinematographic), we will attempt to analyse frontiers as seen through 
the eye of the camera.

Defining a frontier – which emerges after a long diplomatic and/or 
military process – involves both a geographical representation of spaces 
on a map, a political act defining the borders of a sovereign state, and 
a legal act that is the foundation for the jurisdiction of each of the 
states through a process of international recognition. From the very 
beginning, frontiers, whether they be terrestrial, fluvial, maritime or 
spatial, became an important cinematographic theme, for example in US 
cinema, but also in areas where frontiers constituted a focal point of 
human issues: demarcation lines, border posts, walls, together with 
migrants, refugees and displaced populations.

In this period of globalisation, frontiers seem to be disappearing, are 
being internalised, becoming hazy. Identities and physical, 
psychological and cultural entities are being called into question, 
leading to a necessary ethical reconsideration of the changes that are 
occurring. Thus with the Internet, a (re)composition of identity groups 
and ephemeral virtual communities is taking place, flowing with the tide 
of new crazes and diverse causes. The cinema is clearly a medium of 
choice to investigate this notion of frontiers using an 
interdisciplinary approach. Does a frontier constitute a dividing line 
or a passage? Have the marches, inherited from the Roman Empire, 
disappeared? Did the fall of the Berlin Wall and the suppression of many 
of the border posts, particularly in Europe, signify the disappearance 
of all frontiers or did those in the political and economic sphere 
subsist? Does the cinema, which has been considered to be a universal 
art form, transcend national frontiers through its creative ingenuity, 
and by virtue of its representation of symbolic and mental frontiers, 
and frontiers of genre?

Films can explore the question of frontiers through the prism of genres, 
(westerns, road movies, science fiction, gangster films), whether by 
absorption, rewriting or palimpsest, and also using the notion of 
transgenre, just like the film festivals which developed on the fringes 
of the official festivals amid the utopia of the 1970s, and which aimed 
to push back the frontiers of the official festivals. As for the 
filmmakers, some preferred to film within their national boundaries, 
others sought inspiration in foreign climes, either temporarily or 
definitively. Through their journeys and their work, they question the 
notions of diaspora, exile and transnationalism, but also the frontiers 
within film such as fiction/documentary, and between the cinema and 
other art forms.

The conference aims to be wide-ranging, so the body of work that will be 
studied, both fiction and documentaries, will allow communications to 
encompass all cinematographic history and all national cinemas, without 
exception.

Suggested reading

- Robert BELOT dir., Frontières en images. Une mémoire 
cinématographique, Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard, 
2006, coll. Sciences humaines et technologie ;

- Elyette BENJAMIN-LABARTHE dir., Cinéma métis aux Etats-Unis : 
représentations de la frontière Mexique/Etats-Unis, Maison des sciences 
de l’homme d’Aquitaine, 2012 ;

- Daniela BERGHAHN, Far-flung Families in Film : The Diasporic Family in 
Contemporary European Cinema, Edinburgh , Edinburgh University Press, 2013 ;

- Wendy BROWN, Walled States. Waning Sovereignty, New York, Zone Books, 
2010, 167 p. ;

- Judith BUTLER, Bodies That Matter: On The Discursiv Limits of « sex », 
1993 ;

- Andrea GRUNERT dir., « L’écran des frontières », Cinémaction n° 137, 
2010 ;

- D. HASTINGS et T.M. WILSON, Borders, Frontiers of Identity, Nation and 
State, Oxford, New-York: Berg, 1999 ;

- N. JARMAN, Material Conflicts, Parades and Visual Displays in Northern 
Ireland, Oxford : Berg, 1997 ;

- J. W. JOHN HILL, Cinema and Northern Ireland : Film, Culture and 
Politics, London : BFI publishing, 2006 ;

- Stéphanie LATTE ABDALLAH et Cédric PARIZOT dir., A l'ombre du mur. 
Israéliens et Palestiniens entre séparation et occupation, Actes 
sud/MSHS, 2011, coll. Etudes méditerranénennes ;

- Sophie LE MENAHEZE, Nathalie MARTINIERE, Ecrire la frontière, Limoges 
: Pulim, 2003 ;

- Nolwenn MINGANT, Hollywood à la conquête du monde. Marchés, 
stratégies, influences, CNRS édition, 2010 ;

- Laura MULVEY, Visual and Other Pleasures, Houndmills, Basingstoke, 
Hampshire : Macmillan, 1989) ;

- Stan NEILSON, Robot Nation, Eridanus Press, 2011 ;

- M. NICCRAITH, Plural Identities, Singular Narratives : The Case of 
Northern Ireland, UK: Berghan Book, 2002 ;

- Jean-Marc SOREL Dir., Les murs et le droit international, Ed. Pedone, 
2010, coll. Cahiers internationaux n° 24 ;

- Bertrand WESTPHAL, Le Monde plausible. Lieu, espace, carte, Paris, 
Minuit, coll. « Paradoxe », octobre 2011.



Suggested Filmography

- Bloody Sunday, Paul GREENGRASS GB/Ireland 2002

- Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia/Apportez-moi la tête d’Alfredo 
Garcia, Sam PECKINPAH, USA/Mexico, 1974

- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Victor FLEMING, USA, 1941

- Frozen River, Courtney HUNT, USA, 2008

- Ha-kala ha-surit/La fiancée syrienne, Eran RIKLIS, Israel, 2004

- The Hours, Stephen DALDRY, USA/UK, 2002

- Hudutlann Kanunu/La loi de la frontière, Lütfi Ömer AKAD, Turkey, 1966

- Incendies, Denis VILLENEUVE, Canada, 2010

- Laurence anyways, Xavier DOLAN, Canada/France, 2012

- Loi, c’est la loi (La), Christian-Jaque, France/Italy, 1958

- Los que se quedan, Juan Carlos RULFO, Mexico, 2009

- Love Divided (A), Syd MACARTNEY, GB/Ireland, 1998

- Man on a Thightorpe, Elia KAZAN, USA, 1952

- Men in Black, Barry SONENFELD, USA, 1997

- Mur, Simone BITTON, France/Israel, 2004

- Searchers (The)/La prisonnière du désert, John FORD, USA, 1956

- Sin nombre, Cary Joji FUKUNAGA, Etats-Unis/Mexico, 2009

- Storm/La révélation, Hans-Christian SCHMID, Germany, 2009

- Terraferma, Emmanuele CRIALESE, France/Italy, 2011

- The Time Machine/La machine à explorer le temps, George PAL, USA, 1960

- Tiresia, Bertrand BONELLO, France/Canada, 2002

- To Vlemma tou Odyssea/Le regard d’Ulysse, Theo ANGELOPOULOS, 
France/Greece/Italy, 1995

- The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada/Los tres enterrios de 
Melquiades Estrada/Trois enterrements, Tommy LEE JONES, USA/France, 2005

- Welcome, Philippe Lioret, France, 2008

- The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Loach (Ken), Irelande GB, Germany, 
Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, 2006

- Wild side, Sébastien LIFSHITZ, France/Belgium, 2003

- XXY, Lucia Puenzo, Argentina, 2007

- Yadon ilaheyya/Intervention divine, Elia SULEIMAN, France/Marocco/ 
Germany/Palestine, 2002

- Zona (La)/Zona, propriété privée (La), Rodrigo Pla, Mexico, 2007



Important Dates

Papers should be sent before the 6 January 2014 to Magalie Flores-Lonjou 
(mflores /at/ univ-lr.fr) and should have :

- At least 3 000 characters ;

- The title of the paper, its theme, a list of films ;

- A short biography of the contributor (s) ;

The list of papers selected by the scientific committee will be 
published on the 24th of febrary 2014. The final versions of papers 
should be sent before the 24th of May 2014.

The conference will be held at the University of La Rochelle on the 27th 
and 28th June 2014. Both French and English oral papers are welcome.

NB: the conference proceedings will be published. However, given that 
the number of presentations over the two-day conference will be limited, 
the scientific committee reserves the right to accept for publication 
only these texts presented at the conference, or to propose them for 
workshops/seminars organised as part of the Limousin Poitou-Charentes 
PRES “Frontier(s) in Film” project which will be held at the 
Universities of La Rochelle, Limoges and Poitiers.



Scientific Committee

Elyette BENJAMIN-LABARTHE, Professor of American Studies at Bordeaux III 
University, CLIMAS EA 4196

Daniela BERGHAHN, Professor of Film Studies, Department of Media Arts, 
Royal Holloway, University of London (England)

Christophe BONNOTTE, Senior Lecturer in Public Law, University of 
Limoges, OMIJ EA 3177

Xavier DAVERAT, Professor of Private Law, University Montesquieu 
Bordeaux IV, IRDAP EA 4191

Camille GENDRAULT, Senior Lecturer in Film and Audiovisual Studies, 
University Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3, MICA EA 4426

Andrea GRUNERT, Lecturer in Film Studies at the Protestant University of 
Applied Sciences in Bochum (Germany)

Thomas HOCHMANN, Senior Lecturer in Public Law, University of Reims 
Champagne-Ardenne, CRDT EA 3312

Pascal KAMINA, Professor of Private Law University of Franche-Comté, 
CRJFC EA 3225

Eve LAMENDOUR, Senior Lecturer in Management Science, University of La 
Rochelle, CEREGE LR-MOS EA 1722

Ninon MAILLARD, Senior Lecturer in History of Law, University of Nantes, 
Droit et Changement Social UMR 6297

Nathalie MARTINIERE, Professor of English Literature, Department of 
English Studies, University of Limoges, EHIC EA 1087

Gilles MENEGALDO, Professor Emeritus of American literature and Film 
Studies, UFR Lettres et Langues, University of Poitiers, FORELL B3 team, 
comparative aesthetics, EA 3816

Nolwenn MINGANT, Senior Lecturer in American Civilisation, University 
Sorbonne nouvelle-Paris 3, CREW/CRAN EA 4399

François OST, Professor of Law and Philosophy, University St Louis, 
Brussels (Belgium), Director of an Interdisciplinary Seminar on Legal 
Studies.

Séverine NICOT, Senior Lecturer in Public Law, University 
Grenoble-Alpes, Centre de Recherches Juridiques EA 1965, Institut Louis 
Favoreu-GERJC UMR 7318

Nicoletta PERLO, Senior Lecturer in Public Law, University Toulouse 1 
Capitole, IDETCOM EA785

Marion POIRSON, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University Paul Valéry 
Montpellier 3, RIRRA 21 EA 4209

Organising Committee

Danièle ANDRÉ, Senior Lecturer in North American civilisation and 
popular culture, University of La Rochelle CRHIA EA 1163

Annabel AUDUREAU, Doctor in Comparative Literature, teaches Expression 
and Communication at the University of La Rochelle, teaches part-time 
French and Comparative Literature at the Modern Languages Faculty of La 
Rochelle.

Brigitte BASTIAT, doctor in information and communication sciences, 
English teacher at the University of La Rochelle, associate member of 
CRHIA EA 1163 and the Centre for Irish Studies at Rennes 2.

Estelle EPINOUX, Senior Lecturer in Irish Studies, Department of English 
Studies, University of Limoges, associate researcher at SOFEIR and SAES, 
member of the publications committee of the FE2C, member of the research 
group EHIC EA 1087 (Espaces Humains et interactions culturelles à Limoges).

Magalie FLORES-LONJOU, Senior Lecturer in Public Law, University of La 
Rochelle, CEREGE LR-MOS EA 1722, the blog Droit et cinéma : 
http://lesmistons.typepad.com

Franck HEALY, Senior Lecturer in English (CIEL), University of La Rochelle.

Lionel MINIATO, Senior Lecturer in Private law and Criminal Sciences, 
Centre universitaire Jean-François Champollion, Institut de droit privé 
de l’Université Toulouse I Capitole, EA 1920, the blog Droit et cinéma : 
http://lesmistons.typepad.com

Jean-Baptiste THIERRY, Senior Lecturer in Private law and Criminal 
Sciences, University of Nancy 2, Institut François Gény EA 1138 the blog 
: Carnet de recherches d’un MCF en droit privé Sine lege


Daniela Berghahn
Professor of Film Studies
Department of Media Arts
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
Surrey
TW20 0EX
T: +44 (0)1784 443838

www.migrantcinema.net
www.farflungfamilies.net



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