[Commlist] CFP - Critical Perspectives on the Films of Adam Curtis

*Call for Papers *

*Critical Perspectives on the Films of Adam Curtis *

/Online Conference, Wednesday^8^th September 2021/

***//

Critical Perspectives on the Films of Adam Curtis//is a one-day, 
interdisciplinary conference hosted in collaboration with the University 
of Nottingham’s Institute for Screen Industries Research and the 
Institute of Historical Research which critically examines the films of 
the documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis.

The keynote speakers for the conference are Professor Laura Rascaroli 
<http://research.ucc.ie/profiles/A044/(l.rascaroli /at/ ucc.ie)>andProfessor 
Brian Winston <https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/bwinston>.

Professor Rascaroli is Professor of Film and Screen Media at University 
College Cork, where she lectures on film theory, on documentary and on 
European and world cinema. She is the author of /The Personal Camera: 
Subjective Cinema and the Essay Film/ and /How the Essay Film Thinks/, 
and is the General Editor of /Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen 
Media/. She has delivered over eighty invited lectures internationally 
in universities, cultural institutes and at film festivals and has 
taught courses in Cuba, Italy and Spain.

Professor Winston is the Chair of the Lincoln School of Film and Media, 
founding chair of the British Association of Film, Television and Media 
Studies and has served as a governor of the British Film Institute. He 
has published over 17 books as well as receiving a US prime-time Emmy 
for documentary script writing and a Special Jury prize from the British 
University Council for Film and Video.

To register for the conference please visit our Eventbrite page: 
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/critical-perspectives-on-the-films-of-adam-curtis-tickets-149549357153 
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/critical-perspectives-on-the-films-of-adam-curtis-tickets-149549357153>

Adam Curtis is one of Britain’s most prominent and controversial 
documentary filmmakers. From 1992’s BAFTA award winning warning about 
the dangers of technocracy in /Pandora’s Box/ to his critical analysis 
of the ideological origins of Islamic terrorism in 2015’s /Bitter Lake/, 
Curtis ranges over a vast historical, cultural and intellectual canvas.

For some cultural commentators, Curtis’ documentaries, like the recent 
six-film BBC series /Can’t Get You Out of My Head/, are ‘dazzling 
masterpieces’ which bring to life concepts and approaches borrowed from 
the history of emotions, sociology, psychology and philosophy. For 
others, Curtis uses his privileged access to BBC archives to patch 
together discrete phenomena – from the Sex Pistols’ /Who Killed Bambi/ 
to the revolutionary operas of Chairman Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing – into an 
incoherent and misguided grand narrative of historical and sociological 
change.

Despite this prominence (or perhaps because of it), Curtis’ films and 
the history of ideas they present has received very little academic 
scrutiny. This scrutiny could extend to the range of material collated 
by Curtis, how these are presented or constructed, as well as the 
reception of his ideas among critics and a broader public. In this 
sense, the films of Adam Curtis serve as a useful vehicle to explore 
broader intellectual questions: How do scholars approach film as a 
historical text? How to filmmakers convey political concepts and ideas? 
How are documentary films related to more conventional sources of 
political thought and cultural practice?

Potential approaches and topics could include, but are not limited to:

  * The History of Emotions
  * Intellectual History/History of Ideas
  * Conceptions of the Self
  * Capitalism/Power
  * Patterns/Time in History
  * Memory
  * The Screen Archive in Historical Practical
  * Critical Reception and Audiences
  * The BBC and Public History
  * iPlayer and YouTube as Distribution Form
  * Locating Curtis in Film Traditions

It is intended that some contributors to the conference will have their 
papers published as part of an edited collection. There will also be the 
opportunity to publish shorter articles online.

To submit a short biography (of no more than 300 words) and an abstract 
(of no more than 300 words) for presentations of 20 minutes per paper to 
Dr David Robinson at (david.robinson /at/ nottingham.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(david.robinson /at/ nottingham.ac.uk)>

The call for papers will *close on the 1^st July 2021*. Successful 
applicants will be notified no later than the 14^th July 2021.

For conference news and updates on Twitter follow: @critical_adam 
<https://twitter.com/critical_adam>

This event is sponsored by the Institute of Historical Research as part 
of their 'Our Century' centenary. For more information see: 
https://www.history.ac.uk/whats/our-century 
<https://www.history.ac.uk/whats/our-century>

For more information on the Institute for Screen Industries Research: 
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/isir/index.aspx 
<https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/isir/index.aspx>


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