[Commlist] CfP - 4th Contemporary Greek Film Cultures conference

4th Conference on Contemporary Greek Film Cultures – CfP: Cultural 
Neighbourhoods and Co-productions in South East Europe and Beyond
Date: 3-6/4/2020 Location Thessaloniki, University of Macedonia, Dept. 
of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies

Luisa Rivi (2007) argued that in the last decades cinema turned into a 
privileged space for the examination of European identities. The shift 
to the ‘economy of signs’ (Lash and Urry 1993) reconfigured the ties of 
culture with economy. In the EU context, culture became a 
policy-oriented field (Shore 2006) supporting the processes of 
Europeanisation. At the same time, new borders transformed the European 
landscape and (re)drew the attention to south East Europe. The notion of 
‘neighbourhood’ (Appadurai 1996) became significant both in the 
reconsideration of space in a more socially and culturally sensitive way 
and in the process of Europeanisation. In this framework, although 
co-productions were often defined as economic ventures, nowadays, they 
are considered a much more complex space of interwoven economic, 
cultural and political relations. This space often draws from past 
affinities, cross-border geographies, media policies, economic 
exigencies, political agendas as well as creative visions.
Touching upon these different perspectives of co-productions, the 
conference will explore how the Greek cinema connects to other regional 
cinemas like in south East Europe, (trans-)forming ‘cultural 
neighbourhoods’. Moreover, it would explore how these shifts become 
interwoven with the European cultural policies and identity politics and 
their impact on the (re)configurations of the ‘local’/ ‘national’ / 
‘transnational’.
This thematic focus on the cultural, spatial and scalar aspects of 
co-productions responds to three interrelated circumstances:
•	Greek co-production history started in the post war period, a highly 
subsidised and ideologically divided phase for the national and regional 
cinemas in Europe.  It continued in the 1980s after Greece joined the 
EU. However, in the last decades co-productions cultivated the ground 
for a more ‘extrovert’ generation of creators (Papadimitriou 2018). The 
stress on co-production history can help us de-centre our gaze from 
bounded national perceptions of cinema by tracing inter-connections with 
Cold War boundaries and histories and how these histories create (or 
impede) meaningful regional collaborations today. •	The transnational 
approach, which tried to overcome the desire for an uncritical 
consumption of national narratives (see Ezra and Rowden 2006) can be 
found both in film-content (script-lines, character construction as well 
as creators’ biographies) as well as film production (co-productions). 
The transnational aspects of films resignify the ‘local’ so that it can 
address in a meaningful way regional, European or even global 
challenges. In this way, films attain wider circulation, increase their 
European value but also, they instigate new regional geographies (real 
or imagined). •	Film co-productions and their exploration as multivalent 
and interconnected spaces can also help us rethink dualities such as 
culture/industry, creator/producer, national-transnational generating 
more inclusive and comparative understandings that cross and bridge 
disciplines such as social anthropology, cultural studies, film studies, 
area studies etc.

Possible areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to:

•	History of co-productions (case studies, comparative analyses are most 
welcomed) •	Cinematic neighourhoods, regions and regional cinemas
•	Regional festivals and co-productions
•	European policies and regional politics, policies and practices of 
co-producing •	Narrative content/ creativity and co-productions
•	Co-productions local, regional and European audiences
•	Co-production cultures and collaborative cultures in the region and beyond
•	Co-production hierarchies (small nations and big brothers in film 
industry, minor/major co-productions)
•	European imageries, old/new regional geographies and co-productions
•	Co-production and mobility of films and creators
•	Co-productions in teaching film, cultures and regions

The conference is organised by Prof. Fotini Tsibiridou and the post-doc 
fellow Eleni Sideri, department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies 
and the Laboratory for the Study of Culture, Borders and Gender (Lab/CBG)
There will be a registration fee of €40 (students attend for free), 
inclusive of a small lunch at the two main conference days, tea/coffee 
and a conference pack.
Please send your abstract for a 20 min. paper (max. 300 words) [along 
with technical requirements and a short CV]  by JUNE 15 2019 to: 
(contemporarygreekfilm2020 /at/ gmail.com)

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