[Commlist] Surviving and Thriving as a Filmmaker in the University Symposium

*North East Universities Screen Network*

Symposium

*Surviving and Thriving as a Filmmaker in the University*

Culture Lab, Newcastle University

9.45am – 4pm. June 19, 2024

/“For ethnographers I am a filmmaker, and for filmmakers I am an 
ethnographer”./

Jean Rouch

Being a filmmaker in the University can often feel like being an 
‘inbetweener’. Echoing Rouch, we are often made to feel like ‘just’ 
academics when amongst filmmakers and ‘only’ filmmakers when amongst 
academics! We find ourselves in a liminal space that invariably works to 
our disadvantage: be it a lack of understanding of our films as 
research, administrative systems that don’t support our practice, or 
pedagogic structures that do not synch with the rhythms of filmmaking.

How can we respond to and mitigate these disadvantages? What strategies 
can be developed to not only alleviate the felt disadvantages, but to 
take advantage of our distinctive academic situatedness? Indeed, is 
there something distinctive and valuable about the films we create by 
virtue of our academic position?  Perhaps it’s time to embrace our 
liminality as a creatively productive, important, and an exciting space 
of filmmaking.

This symposium provides an opportunity for academic filmmakers / 
filmmaker academics in all our diversity to come together to share our 
experiences and showcase our films, to find a way to reckon with our 
academic situatedness so that we not only survive but thrive as 
filmmakers in the University.

Timetable:

9.45am – 10.00am: *Welcome and Introductions*

10am – 12pm: *Our* *Lived Experiences as Filmmakers in the University *

A series of rapid roundtable discussions focussing on the daily 
realities of teaching and assessing filmmaking, of often navigating 
university protocols around ethics, risk assessments and funding, of 
developing relationships with the film and creative industries.

1pm – 2pm: *Panel discussion on Filmmaking as Research and Knowledge 
Production*

An invited panel of speakers**discuss the status of their films as 
research and creative forms of knowledge production.  Panellist: *Ellie 
Land*, acclaimed animation director and formerly Senior Lecturer in 
Animation at Northumbria University.*Esther Johnson*, artist and 
documentary filmmaker, Professor of Film and Media Arts at Sheffield 
Hallam University. *Christo Wallers*, filmmaker, co-founder of the Star 
and Shadow cinema in Newcastle, and Lecturer at Teesside University

**

2.30pm – 4pm: *Celebration of Practice*

**

A curated showcase celebrating the quality and diversity of our 
practices with excerpts of films.

**

4.00pm – 4.15pm: *Closing thoughts and next steps*

The symposium is intended for filmmakers, including PGR students, with 
all levels of experiences. We encourage colleagues who have an interest 
in filmmaking as research to attend. Our aim is to initiate a dialogue 
between filmmakers to better understand how we can all survive and 
thrive as filmmakers in the university.

The symposium is free to attend but registration is required. To book 
your place please register below.

*Book your place*:

_https://forms.office.com/e/n90i3prfb2 
<https://forms.office.com/e/n90i3prfb2>_

*Submit a Proposal to Lived Experience Roundtable (deadline extended to 
May 31)*:

_https://forms.office.com/e/kKPB6yk8xT 
<https://forms.office.com/e/kKPB6yk8xT>_

*Submit a Film to Celebration of Practice **(deadline extended to May 
31)**:*

_https://forms.office.com/e/ExPG7MWcX9 
<https://forms.office.com/e/ExPG7MWcX9>_

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like any more 
information.

*‘Surviving and Thriving’ Organising Team*

Lawrence Brannon (Sunderland University)

Ian Fenton (Teesside University)

Lucy Jolly (Newcastle University)

Ian McDonald (Newcastle University)

Cecilia Stenbom (Northumbria University)

Surviving and Thriving in the University is an initiative from The 
*North East Universities Screen Network* (NEUSN). This is a new body 
that seeks to facilitate collaboration between staff and students from 
the five NE Universities (Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and 
Teesside) in subject areas related to screen-based production and 
industries. We seek to maximise the potential benefits of joint 
research, teaching, employability activities, skills development and 
income generation, in support of regional and national screen sector 
partnership, resilience and growth.

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