[ecrea] 23rd International Bremen Film Conference

*_23rd International Bremen Film Conference – April 25^th – 29^th , 2018 
_**__*

*Call for Papers: Cinema Crossing Borders***

*Since its invention, cinema has been exploring the practice of creating 
and identifying borders, including: geographical borders, national 
borders, the abolition of borders and the construction of walls to 
delimitate borders. However, despite the existence of borders, films 
have travelled and continue to travel around the world: in former times 
through classic trade routes to cinema theatres and film festivals but 
nowadays also as digital information. The cinema’s narratives, as well 
as the journeys of the films themselves, represent and describe national 
boundaries as products of a political, social and aesthetic practice 
that culturally changes. Following contemporary studies on migration and 
cinema, cinema in exile and diaspora, as well as in the context of 
interdisciplinary border studies, the 23rd Bremen International Film 
Conference invites international experts to reflect on “Cinema Crossing 
Borders” as practices of border and cross-border cinema.*

The concept of cross-border cinema is linked to specific characters: 
vagabonds, migrants, merchants, tourists or terrorists – but also to far 
less defined and less related phenomena – such as “strangers” or 
“aliens”. Cross-border cinema is only seemingly anchored to classic 
genres – such as: road movie, western, war film and science fiction; or 
to contemporary forms, including: postcolonial and transnational cinema, 
multicultural cinema etc.As a genuine portrayal of movement, 
cross-border cinema encompasses all of these genres – including 
Hollywood cinema, documentary film, essay film, animation, etc. From its 
origins to the present, cinema seems to be a predestined medium for 
staging and transcending border transitions but also it allows 
participation in border practices, shaping and reshaping them.

Cinema has, since its beginnings, become a key part of the global 
economy, as well as of colonialism and of the appropriation of the world 
through images, audio-visual documents and productions. Films are 
themselves specific products of the global trade, they tell of their own 
border crossings, rendering them visible and audible, thus contributing 
to border negotiations. International co-productions, festivals and 
distribution channels are a proof of this. Furthermore, the theoretical 
and historical discourses also shape and reflect the overcoming of 
national-state boundaries as the object of cinematic creation, as well 
as its context in a globalised world. These discourses include, for 
example, historical considerations of the possibility for a 
cinematographic universal language, concepts for multilingual film 
productions, but also research into exile. From a more contemporary 
perspective, these discourses include cinema and migration and cinema of 
diaspora which explicitly address the above developments.

Abstracts are invited on topics related, but not limited to:

- Cinema and migration

- Cinema in exile and diaspora

- Transnational cinema

- Colonial and postcolonial cinema

- Genre and boundaries

- “disorientation”: lack of border/grey zones

- The European crisis

- Border between USA and Mexico

- Comparative approaches to the representation of boundaries in films

- Multilingualism in the film / International distribution

- Limits and cultural identity. Race and Identity

- New Media Formats and borders: Virtual Reality / Network Projects

The *_23rd International Bremen Film Conference_* aims to explore all 
the varieties of analytical approaches to “Cinema Crossing Borders” and 
to enhance the debate/discussion on how cinema forms and informs our 
idea of borders. Furthermore, it will also facilitate the analysis of 
critical and affirmative audio-visual productions as discourses on 
borders. The 23rd International Bremen Film Conference offers a platform 
for interdisciplinary exchange on border narratives and representations 
on screen. The conference will combine talks, panel discussions, film 
screenings, and Q&As with artists, and will take place from April 25th 
to 29th, 2018 at Bremen’s communal cinema CITY 46. Abstracts for papers 
that address the above topic with an interdisciplinary and film-theory 
approach are welcome. If you wish to participate in the 23^rd 
International Bremen Film Conference please submit an abstract (2000 
characters) with a short curriculum vitae in German or English by 
October 1^st 2017. A small travel allowance may be granted but funds are 
limited.

Contact: Rasmus Greiner / (rgreiner /at/ uni-bremen.de)


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