CFP: International Conference on Balkan Cinema “Balkan Cinema on the Crossroads: From Nitrate to Digital”

Organised by: Faculty of Drama Arts , University of Belgrade Altcine Balkan Cultural Centre Filmicon: Journal of Greek Film Studies With the support of: Yugoslav Film Archive Film Centre Serbia Filmkultura, this 2 nd Inte rnational Conference on Balkan Cinema will focus on exploring the crossroads between early cinema productions and contemporary digital cinema in the region, with the aim to question the presence and/or absence of connections and similarities between the two historical periods in terms of trajectories (movement of films and filmmakers), hybrids (transmediality and interculturality of the medium), geopolitical positioning (periphery versus centre, Balkans and Europe), technology (nitrate to digital, archives, digitisation, access to film technology), and exhibition contexts (fairground, screenings in cafes and online film festivals transitory and fragmented manner of film reception).

The Balkans as an imaginary and constructed political, social, economic and geographical space, constitutes an interwoven patchwork of cultures, ethnicities, languages and artistic practices, while its borders are continuously shifting to include or exclude certain nations. With few exceptions, linguistic and political d ifferences have usually led to nation based approaches to the cinemas of the region.

This series of conferences aims to develop transnational scholarship, transcend Balkanism and exoticism, and offer critical explorations of historical and contemporary man ifestations of South Eastern European cinemas. The ambition is both to enlighten the past by proposing new ways of examining the region’s cinema history; and to build foundations for future cross cultural collaborations and mutual prospects.

Its Easy West crossroads positioning has allowed it to become a space of migration, hybridity and interculturality of people, ideas and objects throughout history and today. In this sense, the hybridity, intermediality, and transnationality of early cinema and digital cinema should be examined within the parameters of the Balkans as a concept in new and productive ways for future film studies scholarship.

To understand whether film can be a tool for uniting two seemingly irreconcilable time periods, the conference will take place during the Nitrate Film Festival (Belgrade) to celebrate the “then” through screenings of archival early cinema, and the “now” through screenings of contemporary films from the online film festival altcineAction!.

The conference welcomes papers on film history, technology, style, genres, periodisation as well as contemporary works on digital textuality, philosophy and ontology of cinema and film studi es research in relation to cultural studies and media archaeology. Proposals tying the aforementioned themes to Balkan cinema(s) will be favoured. A range of possible themes for conference papers includes, but is not limited to:
 From avant garde to modernism and postmodernism
 Nitrate legacy: research and preservation
 Digitalising moving images in the Balkans
 Balkan genres and styles
 Intertextuality and transmediality of the past, present and future
 Transnational and national approaches to film studies in the region
 Exhibition practices: from showground entertainment to online film festivals
 Connections between premodern and postmodern cinema ideologies
 Representing/deconstructing “the nation” on screen
 Cultural memory and Balkan cinema
 Rediscove ring early cinema through the digital
 Reading and rewriting film histories
 Coproductions, film markets and film circulation across borders
 Archives/film institutions in the Balkans

Keynote speakers:
 Prof. Giovanna Fossati, University of Amsterdam and E YE Filmmuseum
 Dr Lydia Papadimitriou, Liverpool John Moores University Conference language: English

Presentation time: 20 minutes

Proposal submission deadline: January 25th, 2017

Admission notification date: February 20 th , 2017

Proposal length:
 250 words + short CV (Abstract proposals, names, affiliations and short CVs should be sent as ONE Word document) to the address icbc2017@gmail.com

Registration: 30€ (university faculty)

15€ (students and unaffilia ted researchers). Free and open to the public.

Contact & Submissions : icbc2017@gmail.com

Programme Committee :
 Prof. Nevena Daković , PhD, Faculty of Drama Arts/Dept. of Theory and History
 Dr Ana Grgić , Balkan Cultural Centre
 Dr Maria Chalkou, Filmicon: Journal of Greek Film Studies and Ionian University
 Prof. Marian Tutui, PhD, Hyperion University
 Dr Gergana Doncheva, Institute of Balkan Studies , Bulgarian Academy of Sciences