[ecrea] CFP: Southeast Asia on Screen: From Independence to Financial Crisis

*/CALL FOR PAPERS/*

*/
/*

*/Southeast Asia on Screen: From Independence to Financial Crisis/*

**

In the last two decades there has been an increase in English-language 
scholarship addressing Southeast Asian Cinema. Such research focuses 
upon, among others, national film histories (PhAe?Ae?ng 2007; Nugroho and 
Herlina 2015; Muthalib 2016), national cinemas (Tolentino 2001; Uhde and 
Uhde 2010; Tan 2008; Millet 2006; Lewis 2006; Khoo 2006; Margirier & 
Jean-Pierre Gimenez 2011), specific filmmakers (Cheah 2004; Quandt 2009; 
Mai 2015) and the filmmaking boom in the digital era (Baumgartel 2012). 
However, while such research is a welcome addition to an underexplored 
area of film scholarship, there is as yet no concise collection 
addressing Southeast Asian cinema from the post-WW2 era up to the 1990s, 
before the revival of these region cinemas and the advent of digital 
filmmaking.


This anthology will be the first comparative analysis across Post-WW2 
Southeast Asian national cinemas. Following the end of World War 2, 
after which many Southeast Asian nations gained their national 
independence, and until the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98, film 
industries in Southeast Asia had distinctive and colourful histories. 
Much of this was shaped by national or domestic conditions, and cinemas 
in Southeast Asia have therefore been largely conceptualized as 
distinctive national cinemas, albeit ones shaped by global forces and 
developments. Whilst acknowledging the importance of respective national 
contexts, this collection aims to offer the first comparative overview 
of SE Asian cinemas by exploring thematic connections between Southeast 
Asian countries and their filmmaking histories. At various times, these 
nations experienced similar historical events that shaped their 
respective cinemas, making them more similar than different. All 
countries underwent a period of national formation in the aftermath of 
WW2 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) giving form to anti-colonial and 
nationalist movements and shaping concepts of culture, belonging, and 
modernity. The rise of authoritarian regimes (Burma 1962, Indonesia 
1966-, Philippines 1972, Thailand 1976, Cambodia 1979) increasingly 
defined film production through its relationship to the state, producing 
films addressing both state ideology and political resistance. 
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s meanwhile, many local industries 
flourished, catering to a mass local audience, while, at the same time, 
auteur figures emerged in each country, as did art cinema.


In addressing the similar themes, histories, trends, technologies, and 
socio-political events that have shaped the art and industry of film in 
this region, this edited volume seeks to identify the unique 
characteristics that continue to shape cinema, spectatorship and 
Southeast Asian filmmaking in the present and future. Such issues could 
address the conditions that have given rise to today???s burgeoning 
Southeast Asian cinemas as well as the gaps that manifest as temporal 
belatedness and historical disjunctures in the more established regional 
industries. As the tenth anniversary of the Association of Southeast 
Asian Cinemas conference (triggered by the 1990s film revival) 
approaches, this retrospective of Southeast Asian Cinemas past will 
provide a timely analytical history while also remaining rooted in the 
contemporary and reflecting on the future.


The editors seek chapters that will fit into the following thematic 
sections for a book publication with a reputable academic publisher:


1. Independence and Post-WW2 era: films that grappled with what it means 
to be postcolonial, dealing with issues of modernity, development, and 
nation-building.


2. Golden Eras, Studio Systems and Festival Success: for example, the 
golden eras for Philippines, Malaya/Singapore, Cambodia.


3. War, Propaganda and the Military: how and when have Armed forces and 
armed struggles have been venerated; these can include a focus on 
Vietnamese cinema(s), Myanmar, Indonesia, or Malaysia.


4. Under Martial Law and military authorities:  many of the countries of 
SE Asia experienced periods of martial law or authoritarianism including 
Indonesia (1966-1998), Philippines (1972-1981), and Thailand 
(1976-1988). How did these periods shape film production either in 
service of the regime or in resistance to it?


5. Cheap Quickies: Exploitation, Sex, and the Popular: prolific 
production gave form to popular culture but also cultural debates.

6. Art Cinema and Auteurs: this could focus on Rattana Pestonji, Lino 
Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Mike de Leon, Usmar Ismail, Teguh Karya, etc.

We are aiming to get the book out for the 10^th Association of Southeast 
Asian Cinemas Conference. Please submit an abstract of no more than 500 
words complete with a 100 word bio by 15 April 2017 to: 
(Gaikcheng.Khoo /at/ nottingham.edu.my) 
<mailto:(Gaikcheng.Khoo /at/ nottingham.edu.my)>, 
(Mary.Ainslie /at/ nottingham.edu.cn) <mailto:(Mary.Ainslie /at/ nottingham.edu.my)>, 
and (Thomas.Barker /at/ nottingham.edu.my) <mailto:(Thomas.Barker /at/ nottingham.edu.my)>


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please
use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------