[Commlist] Call For Essays #48 Cinéma & Cie.: Ageing on European Screens

Call For Essays #48 Cinéma & Cie.
Ageing on Contemporary European Screens: Dialogues Between Film Studies 
and Cultural Gerontology

Over the last two decades, scholars from different disciplinary and 
theoretical backgrounds have devoted increasing attention to 
representations of advanced age and the ageing process in film and other 
audiovisual media: e.g. Robinson /et al/. 2007; Chivers 2011; Wearing 
2013; Cohen-Shalev 2012; Jermyn & Holmes, 2015; Swinnen 2015; Bolton & 
Lobalzo Wright 2016; Shary & McVittie, 2016; Courcoux, Le Gras & Moine, 
2017; Dolan 2017; Ureczky, 2018; De Rosa, Mandelli & Re 2021; Tracy & 
Schrage-Früh 2022. The growing interest in later life and its onscreen 
configurations speak, on the one hand, to “the cultural turn [that] came 
relatively late to gerontology” (Twigg and Martin 2015: 1) and 
contributed to the expansion of its theoretical-epistemological 
frameworks as well as the socio-historical questions that this 
discipline addressed. On the other hand, it reflects the renewed 
centrality that later life has acquired in public and political debate, 
following the ongoing trend of demographic ageing, which is projected to 
affect countries worldwide soon, regardless of income level (World 
Health Organization 2025). Europe has been the first region in the world 
to experience a shift in the composition of the population towards older 
age groups: between 1950 and 2025 the median age of the population in 
Europe has increased by 65% (United Nation 2024), and today, with more 
than one fifth of its population aged 65 or over (up 16% since 2014), 
most of whom women, Europe is the “oldest” continent in the world 
(Eurostat 2025). Although an extended lifespan is viewed positively at 
the individual level, the “graying of Europe” (McKinsey Global Institute 
2005) has largely evoked concern, if not catastrophist reactions – 
epitomized by the “silver tsunami” metaphor (Tragaki 2024) – due to its 
anticipated disruption of national economies and welfare systems. 
However, the issue of ageing cannot be approached solely from an 
economic or demographic perspective. Cultural gerontology provides a 
reconceptualization of later life, powerfully encapsulated in Margaret 
Morganroth Gullette’s notion of being “aged by culture” (2004). This 
means that, before being a statistical fact or a biological and 
chronological process, ageing is also embedded in a field of power 
relations, strategic games, struggles, and social negotiations (Gilleard 
and Higgs 2015). Ageing is far from self-evident, and its understanding 
cannot overlook the relationships that societies and cultures establish 
with it, notably through public policies, industries, and 
representations in the arts and the media. These elements contribute to 
shaping individual identities around ageing while also generating 
tensions in their formation.
This thematic issue of /Cinéma & Cie/ aims to offer a platform for 
disciplinary and theoretical cross-fertilization between the fields of 
film studies and cultural gerontology, with a specific focus on 
contemporary European productions. One of the tenets of cultural 
gerontology is the conceiving of age and ageing as cultural constructs. 
In this sense, film studies can provide a fruitful framework for 
understanding the “cultures of ageing” (Gilleard and Higgs 2000), and 
their influence on other forms of cultural production, as well as on 
societies more broadly. Similarly, film and media scholars examining 
visual narratives around ageing cannot but benefit from the rich 
scholarship produced by cultural gerontologists and the ways it fosters 
radical yet rigorous interdisciplinarity. Europe provides a useful 
testing ground for examining established and evolving socio-cultural 
perceptions of ageing for reasons that extend beyond the mentioned 
demographic factors. One of the objectives of this thematic issue is to 
explore whether and how the “Europeanness of European cinema” (Liz, 
Timoshkina and Harrod 2014) informs representations of ageing in 
contemporary productions. What transnational narrative patterns, 
thematic or iconographic motifs can be identified in European films that 
portray ageing and age-related subjects? How do cinematic 
representations of ageing reflect or challenge geographical, cultural, 
and historical differences along Europe’s traditional dividing lines of 
North vs. South and East vs. West? What role, if any, is played in this 
by the ‘silvering of stardom’ and ‘the silvering of audiences’ (Dolan 
2017) across the European region? How can these representations be 
viewed in light of the specific industrial and institutional dynamics 
that characterise film production in Europe, including supranational 
funding schemes and co-production agreements? These are just some of the 
questions that we aim to investigate by putting in dialogue the 
theoretical perspectives and methodological tools of film studies and 
cultural gerontology.
We will prioritize contributions that focus on films released after 2010 
and incorporate transnational or comparative approaches between European 
countries.
We invite contributions from scholars in film and media studies, 
cultural gerontology and age studies working on a variety of subjects, 
including, but not limited to:

  * Representations of ageing, later life, and/or intergenerational
    relationships in contemporary European cinema (post-2010)
  * Representation of older age at the intersection with other identity
    traits, such as gender, sexuality, race, class, disability in
    contemporary European cinema
  * The “silvering” of European stardom: lasting stardom, cinephilia,
    cultural memory
  * Representations of older age across specific genres of contemporary
    European cinema
  * Visual aesthetics of ageing bodies across cinematography,
    performance, make up, VFX
  * Ageing and authorship: late style, career trajectories of European
    filmmakers, and creative productivity in later life
  * Narratives of ageing in European cinema beyond the decline vs.
    success paradigms
  * Industry and/or policy approaches to the study of age-related
    European film productions
  * The “silvering” of European audiences and its impact on film
    circulation, film promotion and box office performances

Submission Details:
Please send an abstract between 300 and 400 words with bibliographic 
references and a short biographical note to _gloria.dagnino@uniud.it_ 
<mailto:(gloria.dagnino /at/ uniud.it)> and 
_adrien.valgalier@sorbonne-nouvelle.fr_ 
<mailto:(adrien.valgalier /at/ sorbonne-nouvelle.fr)> by 18th May 2026.
Authors will be notified of the outcome of the selection by mid-June.
If accepted, the author(s) will be asked to submit a full article by 
13th November 2026.
Articles must not exceed 6000 words (including bibliography) and must be 
accompanied by 5 keywords, author name(s) and a 100-word max bio, 
institutional affiliation(s) and contact details.
Authors guidelines and further information about the journal are 
available here: 
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/announcement/view/1019 
<https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/announcement/view/101>
Articles will be submitted to double blind peer review. Submission of a 
paper will be taken to imply that it is unpublished and is not being 
considered for publication elsewhere. Authors who are not native English 
or French speakers are asked to have their manuscripts proofread by a 
native speaker before submission. No payment from the authors will be 
required.
The publication of this thematic issue is scheduled by June 2027.
For any queries do not hesitate to contact the editors at the email 
addresses listed above.
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