[Commlist] Call for Papers: Special Issue series 'Diasporic Cinemas'

Call for Papers: Film International: Journal of World Cinema

Special Issue series: Diasporic Cinemas

View the full call here>>

https://www.intellectbooks.com/film-international-journal-of-world-cinema#call-for-papers 
<https://www.intellectbooks.com/film-international-journal-of-world-cinema#call-for-papers>

Series overview

Diasporic Cinemas is a major multi-part thematic series for Film 
International (Intellect), bringing together several interlinked issues 
that examine the evolving ecologies of diasporic film and screen 
practice across the world. The series proposes that diasporic cinema is 
not merely a mode of representation but a dynamic site of production, 
circulation and innovation where questions of creativity, culture, 
identity, belonging, policy and technology intersect.

Over the past two decades, diasporic cinema has moved from the margins 
of film scholarship to a central position within global screen studies. 
This intellectual shift parallels real-world changes where migration and 
multiculturalism are defining features of societies – and thus of their 
cinemas. The growing prominence of diasporic filmmaking reflects the 
realities of increased human mobility, transnational collaboration and 
the emergence of new media infrastructures that have profoundly expanded 
how, where and by whom diasporic films are produced and disseminated.

Across its several parts, the Diasporic Cinemas Special Issue series 
charts a comprehensive intellectual and creative map by articulating the 
multiple conditions that shape diasporic screen cultures. The series 
seeks to consolidate a renewed critical vocabulary for understanding 
cinema’s global entanglements with migration, mobility, place and 
cultural imagination in the twenty-first century.

Dr Arezou Zalipour, Diasporic Cinemas (Film International, Intellect)

Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology

Co-editor, Film International:Journal of World Cinema(Intellect)

Diasporic Cinemas Special Issue series Part 1 – ‘Diasporic Cinemas: 
Policy and Industry across Borders’

Diasporic cinema operates within and across diverse industrial and 
policy environments that profoundly shape how films are developed, 
financed, distributed and exhibited. While the aesthetic dimensions of 
diasporic filmmaking have received considerable scholarly attention, the 
industrial and institutional frameworks that enable – or limit – these 
works remain comparatively understudied.

This first issue in the series foregrounds the industry studies of 
diasporic cinema. It invites articles that interrogate how industry 
contexts, public funding mechanisms, diversity and inclusion policies, 
transnational co-production treaties and market structures are shaped 
and how they influence the creation and circulation of diasporic films. 
The issue aims to advance critical conversations about how film 
industries, policy discourses, economic challenges and market logics 
negotiate diaspora, identity and representation.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  *

    Impacts of national film policies, diversity initiatives and
    institutional funding criteria on diaspora-led projects

  *

    Strategies employed by diasporic filmmakers to navigate public,
    private or alternative financing systems

  *

    Comparative analyses of how different national industries include or
    marginalize diasporic voices and narratives

  *

    Policy case studies addressing contradictions or unintended
    consequences within diversity and equity frameworks

  *

    The commodification of ‘diversity’ in global film markets

  *

    Transnational co-production regimes and their implications for
    diasporic creative autonomy

  *

    Historical shifts in industrial and policy approaches to migration
    and representation in national and translational contexts

  *

    The role of diaspora-led production companies, collectives and
    guilds in redefining screen industry ecosystems.

Contributors are encouraged to engage with interdisciplinary approaches 
that combine policy analysis, production studies, comparative industry 
research and critical cultural analysis. The issue welcomes both case 
studies and broader theoretical interventions that map the intersections 
of power, policy and industry in diasporic screen cultures.

Submission Guidelines

Initial inquiries and 200–400 word abstracts (with a brief biographical 
statement) should be sent to the series editor:
Associate Professor Arezou Zalipour, Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
(arezou.zalipour /at/ aut.ac.nz) <mailto:(arezou.zalipour /at/ aut.ac.nz)>

  *

    Abstracts due: 26 January 2026

  *

    Full essays: 6000–8000 words

  *

    Peer review: All completed essays will undergo double-blind peer
    review. Please note that acceptance of an abstract does not
    guarantee publication.

Publication: Rolling release within Film International’s Diasporic 
Cinemas Special Issue series.

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