[ecrea] Conference CFP: Researching Past Cinema Audiences

*Conference Call for Papers*

*Researching Past Cinema Audiences: Archives, Memories and Methods*

*Monday 26^th - Wednesday 28^th March 2018, Aberystwyth University, UK*

_In collaboration with:_

Media Industries and Institutions Research Cluster, Department of 
Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Aberystwyth University

Centre for Media History, Aberystwyth University

_Keynote Speakers:_

Professor Sue Harper, Portsmouth University, UK

Professor Daniel Biltereyst, Ghent University, Belgium

Since Allen and Gomery’s (1985) call for a revision of existing 
approaches, the emergence and rise in prominence of the New Film History 
tradition has irrevocably changed what it is to be a film historian. No 
longer solely concerned with film aesthetics or viewing cinema as a 
‘reflection’ of society (Chapman, Glancy and Harper, 2007: 2–3), films 
themselves are now not necessarily the chief focus of a historical 
investigation of cinema. Indeed, over the past twenty years there has 
been a notable shift towards the study of all kinds of past film 
exhibition spaces (both public and private) and the tastes, responses 
and habits of the audiences who frequented them. This is illustrated by 
the growing number of publications, networks and research projects on 
past cinema audiences which cross and connect the disciplines of film 
and media studies, cultural and leisure studies, and history and 
cultural geography.With this shift towards researching spaces of 
exhibition and their audiences, film historians have met the call to 
look beyond traditional film history methodologies and incorporate the 
use of a wide range of sources, from archival, industry and reception 
sources, to audience memories elicited through interviews or questionnaires.

This conference offers a platform for both established and emerging 
scholars who share this desire to research past cinema audiences – prior 
to 2000 – through a wide range of investigative foci. The conference 
will allow for the showcasing and sharing of current research and, 
consequently, for the consideration of current and future directions and 
debates within the field. We welcome proposals for twenty minute papers, 
as well as for poster presentations, the latter of which may be ideal 
for masters or first year PhD students. Please send paper proposals (of 
250 words maximum) to Jamie Terrill and Kate Egan at (hcastaff /at/ aber.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(hcastaff /at/ aber.ac.uk)> by *Friday 1^st December 2017*. Panel 
proposals (of 3 or 4 speakers) are also welcome; please include a brief 
panel introduction (of 150 words maximum) with paper proposals in these 
cases.

Paper and panel topics may include (but are not limited to):

·Past audiences for cinemas in particular cities, towns or villages 
(rural, seaside, etc.)

·Past audiences for cinemas in particular eras or decades

·Past cinema audience responses and experiences in relation to gender, 
class, nationality, age, race or sexuality

·Audience responses to – or recollections of – past film controversies 
(local, national or international)

·Changing audience tastes, including in relation to particular stars, 
genres or modes (documentary, experimental, avant-garde, underground, 
cult cinema)

·Audiences for past forms of home media (Super 8, analogue video, laserdisc)

·Considerations of particular archives, sources or methods for 
researching the habits or experiences of past audiences

·Audience responses to past technological developments (in relation to 
sound, colour, widescreen, 3D, etc.)

·Audience habits or experiences associated with particular kinds of 
cinema or forms of exhibition (picture palaces, art cinemas, fleapits, 
grindhouse cinemas, multiplexes, drive-ins, midnight movies and cult 
screenings, matinee screenings, film societies and clubs)

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