[ecrea] CfP: “Film Festival Cartographies” Symposium

Call for papers
“Film Festival Cartographies” Symposium
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
20-21 November 2014
Modena, Italy

The organisers invite prospective participants to submit abstracts for 
paper presentations at “Film Festival Cartographies”, a two-day 
symposium hosted by the Department of Linguistic and Cultural Studies, 
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and promoted by the Film Festival 
Research Network (FFRN) and the Ozu Film Festival.

Film festival studies have been drawing the attention of numerous 
academics for more than a decade now. Since the end of the 2000s, 
following the release of landmark theoretical monographs and series (de 
Valck 2007, Iordanova 2009-2014, Wong 2011), these studies have 
prominently grown into an independent research field. Moreover, due to 
the establishment of several networks aimed to develop scholarly 
research (like the Film Festival Research Network, Chinese Film Festival 
Studies Research Network, and European Festival Research Project), film 
festival studies have extensively and intensely expanded both in 
academia and festival events.

While the majority of publications have focused on feature film 
festivals, other so-called specialised branches of research have also 
emerged, focusing on documentary, LGBT/queer, short film, and human 
rights festivals, among others. Additionally, scholars from different 
fields of academia such as History, Anthropology, Sociology, Economy, 
Gender, Media and Film Studies, have drawn on diverse theoretical 
approaches to analyse the film festival phenomenon, which has become a 
particularly fertile field for interdisciplinary research.

These multiple perspectives on film festivals reveal the richness of 
festival sites, in terms of their cultural, political and economic 
complexity. As a global phenomenon, the dynamic expansion of the 
festival circuit involves the analysis of multiple, overlapping 
connections, which push the festivals’ symbolic and material borders. 
The global reach of festivals is formed by an ever-shifting group of 
festivals, entwined in a number of transnational networks and ‘circuits’ 
that have enabled international film circulation. Thus, film festivals 
have helped to shape the landscape of world cinema, whose imaginary and 
material geographies tend to both reflect and discuss the socio-spatial 
power of global film production.

The Film Festival Cartographies symposium endeavours to reflect on 
issues of global distribution, transnationalism, and on the social 
imaginaries and political economies embedded in film festivals. The 
symposium looks for contributions seeking to tackle the ‘social 
production’ of festival spaces (Lefevre, Harvey, Massey). Based on the 
idea of ‘critical cartographies’ (Harley, Wood), the event aims to 
explore the ways in which the festival ecosystem is constituted and 
marked in the world chart, and how festival maps could be understood as 
sites of power and knowledge. This involves thinking critically about 
the mapping strategies of both the festivals and the people working in 
the festival world. It also implies addressing the ways in which the 
festival circuit is imbedded in a particular ‘geopolitical aesthetic’ 
(Jameson) and how they reproduce certain ‘geographical imaginaries’ 
(Said). The discussion will be open to reflect on the various 
articulations between the dynamic s
tructures of festival circuits and subjective festival experiences. 
Thus, it seeks to tackle, for example, the overlapping ‘mental maps’ 
(Jodelet, Lynch) that come into play at the festivals, related both to 
the personal trajectories at the festivals (Benjamin, de Certeau), and 
the festival‘s global position.

Therefore, we are interested in contributions that aim to explore, or 
challenge, the maps of international and regional film festivals. This 
mapping can be theoretical (on the various socio-political, 
morphological and economic aspects of festivals), as well as 
methodological, introducing new research approaches to the festival 
ecosystem.

The symposium seeks to continue enhancing the field of film festival 
studies, promoting the encounter between professionals and scholars from 
different academic backgrounds, and encouraging an interdisciplinary debate.

Confirmed keynote speakers are Dina Iordanova (University of St Andrews) 
and Marijke de Valck (University of Amsterdam).

Suggested topics for paper presentations include, but are not limited to:

- Circuits, geographies and hierarchies in international film festivals
- Subjective festival experiences: film festivals’ mind maps and perception
- Mapping the “international” circuits, structuring the festival ecosystem
- “Cosmopolitan” and “world cinema” imaginaries and film festivals
- “Regional”, “national”, “international” festival categories and 
transnational festival practices
- Global and local festival audiences
- Travel, transit, and movements through the film festival network
- Political economies of film festivals
- Methodological approaches in film festival research

Please send a 200-word abstract proposal, and 3-5 keywords, along with 
your full name, institutional affiliation and short biography (ca. 50 
words) to Enrico Vannucci and María-Paz Peirano at 
(modenasymposium /at/ gmail.com) by 4th July 2014.

English will be the only official language of the symposium.

Participating papers will be eligible for publication in a volume edited 
by “Mimesis International” (http://www.mimesisinternational.com/about) 
in April 2015.

Registration for the symposium will be available on 
http://www.ozufilmfestival.com/en/2014-edition/ozu-events/ffcs/ later in 
the year.


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