[Commlist] HoMER cfp

HoMER 2020 CfP, Dublin, 25–27 May 2020
Hosted by Maynooth University

CfP – Integrating Traditions
Deadline for proposals, 15 November 2019
Letters of acceptance/rejection, 8 January 2020

The HoMER Network invites submissions for 20-minute papers, as well as 
designated
roundtables, panels, and workshops to be presented at the 2020 
conference, which will take
place at Maynooth University on 25-27 May 2020.
At HoMER 2019 in Nassau, the conference explored ways of developing a 
more theoretical
and methodological grounding for New Cinema History research. Since 
emerging as a
vibrant field of research in the early 2000s, New Cinema History has 
sought to distinguish
itself from Film History by ‘shift[ing] its focus away from the content 
of films’, in order to
examine cinema as a ‘site of social and cultural exchange’ (Maltby 2011: 
3). However, in
recent years there have been calls to reconsider the significance of the 
film itself within New
Cinema History research. For the Homer 2020 conference INTEGRATING 
TRADITIONS, we
would like to continue answering that call: as cinema historians, we 
have traditionally drawn
on frameworks and methodologies found in fields such as Social 
Geography, Economics, and
Psychology, but how do we integrate these approaches with those of Film 
History and Film
Studies more broadly? Furthermore, in order to become ‘methodologically 
more mature’ as
a discipline, we must also reflect on how we approach comparative 
research as an essential
part of our studies (Biltereyst and Meers 2016: 25). Several empirical 
research projects have
already used these methods within New Cinema History, comparing the 
cinema-going
experience across cultural and geographical contexts; however, still 
lacking is the integration
of productive methodologies from Film Studies.
The aim of HoMER 2020 is to investigate how the traditional approaches 
of Film Studies –
as well as those disciplines that have shaped NCH to date – can be 
productively integrated.
Possible topics and questions to explore might include (but are 
certainly not limited to):
1. Film as text. What is the film’s appeal to audiences? When we 
investigate cinema’s
popularity, how do we relate the film’s content to its performance at 
the box-office?
The relationship between cinema memories, film text and social and 
geographical
spaces.

2. Genre and stardom and their relationship with programming and 
audiences. How
can genre theory enhance our understanding of film reception and programming
practices in specific cinemas?
3. The changing role of gender, however defined, in distribution, 
exhibition and
reception.
4. Underexplored interdisciplinary possibilities or new 
historiographical paths. Are
there potential connections with leisure or urban studies, for example? 
Can we use
film as a source for investigating a historical period? Can we further 
engage
approaches to the history of everyday life in our research?
5. The novelty in New Cinema History. In what does its (continuing) 
novelty Iie? What
are its methodologies and conceptual frameworks?
Presentations are welcome to critically explore the conference theme of 
INTEGRATING
TRADITIONS through the interdisciplinary lens of academic Film and 
Cinema Studies.
Since it was first established in 2004, the HoMER network has been 
instrumental in bringing
together researchers working in the New Cinema History tradition and 
providing
opportunities to share knowledge and exchange ideas. In keeping with 
this, the 2019
HoMER conference featured a series of discussion sessions on specific 
topics. In light of the
positive feedback on these sessions, HoMER 2020 will also feature 
discussion sessions on
each day of the conference. During these sessions, participants will be 
able to debate
research questions and methodologies, with the aim of sharing practices 
of their research,
as well as advancing and developing new ideas in NCH approaches. Last 
year the three
themes were: The geography of cinema; Cinema memories and the archives; 
Defining
contemporary cinema.
Suggestions for new themes to discuss in HoMER 2020 are welcome.
The format will follow the successful one used last year: presentations 
of key areas (10 min)
to the HoMER participants, followed by small group discussion (1 hour) 
on the key areas,
and a final plenary discussion (20 min). Possible key areas to explore 
might include (but are
certainly not limited to): Cinema and Memory; the Economics and Business 
of Film;
Programming and Film Popularity; Paratextual Analysis; the Digital 
Challenge; Distribution of
Films; Impact of Research to Non-academic Audiences; Publishing New 
Cinema History
Research: Traditional Approaches and the Alternatives.
Abstracts of 250 to 300 words, plus 3 or 4 bibliographic entries, and a 
50-word academic
biography can be submitted via the HoMER 2020 Abstract Submission Form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScDmHvICIqmjlAB6gCoBfJ_yWJpgfOApAqFq-
IW2RXUTAriKw/viewform?usp=sf_link

For any queries regarding submission, please contact conference 
co-ordinators, Clara Pafort-
Overduin ((c.pafort-overduin /at/ uu.nl) <mailto:(c.pafort-overduin /at/ uu.nl)>) and 
Daniela Treveri Gennari (dtreveri-
(gennari /at/ brookes.ac.uk) <mailto:(gennari /at/ brookes.ac.uk)>).

Programming Committee:
Clara Pafort Overduin
Daniela Treveri Gennari
Sarah Culhane
Denis Condon
Maya Nedyalkova
Åsa Jernudd
Karina Aveyard
Sam Manning
Kata Szita
Silvia Dibeltulo


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