[Commlist] Call for Submissions: Decolonising Film and Screen Studies

  Call for Submissions:
  Decolonising Film and Screen Studies



*Deadline for submissions: *1 September 2021

*Submit to:* (decolonisingfilm /at/ gmail.com)



The *Screen Worlds* 
<https://screenworlds.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=693a3a12d6f97e9d3bb380e93&id=6415b6b9aa&e=77a1309ba0> project 
is delighted to announce a call for submissions 
<https://screenworlds.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=693a3a12d6f97e9d3bb380e93&id=7766b63a0f&e=77a1309ba0> to 
contribute to the broad range of research and resources on our website. 
This call builds on our belief that the decolonising of Film and Screen 
Studies is necessarily a collective task.

As Robert Stam powerfully noted in /Film Theory: An Introduction 
/(2000), film’s historical relationship with imperialism, colonialism 
and racism has been the least researched area in Film and Screen 
Studies. This is in spite of the fact that the film medium, since its 
invention in the late 1800s, was powered by White patriarchal privilege 
and racist representations of Africans, Asians, indigenous communities 
and, in particular, Black people – and which are still evident today in 
films and filmmaking practices. The discipline of Film and Screen 
Studies also remains mostly Eurocentric in its historical, theoretical 
and critical frameworks, despite important, ongoing critiques by Third 
Cinema, Black and other film scholars, and despite the attempts of world 
cinema and transnational cinema scholars to “expand” the field. This 
call is based on our conviction that a re-envisioning of our field is 
thus necessary.

We invite submissions that approach the topic of “decolonising 
film” through a diverse range of perspectives, angles, and forms (films, 
audiovisual essays, reflective essays, interviews, toolkits/syllabi and 
academic articles – see below for further information). We are 
particularly interested in approaches that:

  * Foreground films, perspectives, voices, and languages from African,
    Asian and indigenous contexts – and/or that put these in comparative
    dialogue with one another
  * Foreground films and film theory by people of colour, and especially
    Black people
  * Critique racism in films and filmmaking practices, past and current
  * Celebrate and contribute to creative responses to decolonisation
    through experimentation with form
  * Acknowledge that decolonisation, in any context, is a deeply
    affective and complex process
  * Explore how theoretical/critical Film and Screen Studies programmes
    and practice-based Filmmaking programmes in HE can help one another
    to decolonise
  * Reckon with the obstacles (institutional, political, economic, and
    cultural) that might inhibit fully decolonised Film and Screen
    Studies programmes and research
  * Demonstrate what Film and Screen Studies can learn from how other
    fields have been decolonising
  * Foreground positionality and lived, embodied experiences (cf. Walker
    1983, Christian 1985, Crenshaw 1989, hooks 1994)

Given the urgency of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and related activism 
opposing anti-Blackness in all areas of society and in all cultures 
across the world, we particularly encourage and welcome work that 
challenges anti-Blackness in Film and Screen Studies, and in filmmaking 
practices, and that is produced by people who identify as Black. For, as 
we have stated *before 
<https://screenworlds.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=693a3a12d6f97e9d3bb380e93&id=2b5d973582&e=77a1309ba0>*, 
we need to decolonise not only the /content /of films and film 
curricula, but also /participation in /Film and Screen Studies and the 
film industry.

Possible submission formats:

  * Short films of up to 30 minutes in length
  * Audiovisual essays of up to 20 minutes in length, accompanied by a
    written statement (500-2,000 words) about the research questions,
    thinking and process behind the making of the audiovisual essay
    (please note: the Screen Worlds team has produced a series of
    training videos about how to make an audiovisual essay if you have
    not made one before, which you can access *here

<https://screenworlds.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=693a3a12d6f97e9d3bb380e93&id=d04e9a2b77&e=77a1309ba0>*;
    we may also offer some training through Zoom in the future – if
    interested, please email our creative producer Anna Sowa at
    (as170 /at/ soas.ac.uk))
  * Reflective essays of 4,000 words (these could take the form of
    personal essays or case studies, for example)
  * Interviews with filmmakers (up to 4,000 words if transcribed; up to
    20 mins if submitted in podcast or film format)
  * Toolkits/syllabi (see *here

<https://screenworlds.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=693a3a12d6f97e9d3bb380e93&id=7246b8ab93&e=77a1309ba0>* for
    examples of current Screen Worlds toolkits)
  * Academic articles of 6-8,000 words (including footnotes and
    bibliography)

We encourage the use of different languages although please provide 
English translations/subtitles. Please include a biography of 200 words. 
Ideally film content will be shared via a Vimeo link but, if this is not 
possible, we can discuss other means of submission.

*Please note: **submission does not constitute acceptance; there will be 
a rigorous peer review process to select what is chosen for publication 
on the Screen Worlds website since we have limited space.*


/The Screen Worlds project has received funding from the European 
Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research 
and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 819236)./


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