Grad Conf on 1910s cinema at University of Chicago

[Jonathan M. Hall]

CALL FOR PAPERS

"Teenage Cinema": Cinemas in Transition, 1908-1919
Graduate Conference on Cinema
Conference Date: April 5, University of Chicago
Keynote Address: Ben Singer, "Variety Programs, Feature Films, and the
Crisis of the Late Nickelodeon"
Deadline for Abstracts: January 1st, 2003

"Teenage Cinema": Cinemas in Transition, 1908-1919 is a one-day conference
that will bring together new work being done by graduate students on the
cinema of the 1910s.  We welcome papers on a wide range of topics.  These
include, but are not limited to:

-the development of modes of narration
-questions of national cinemas
-the reciprocal influences of film cultures
-exhibition and projection practices
-the consequences of the transition from single-reel to multi-reel films
-questions of race, ethnicity, immigration, and colonialism
-the aesthetic of serials
-the relation between film and the other arts
-avant-garde, non-fiction film, and animation
-stars
-the intersection of film and modernity

Much scholarship over the past two decades has looked at the early years of
cinema, focusing roughly on the period between 1895-1908. The concept of the
"cinema of attractions" has been articulated, challenged, and developed, and
there have been investigations into early narrative forms and genres, the
composition of audiences in the nickelodeons, and so on.  Yet the period
immediately following--the cinema of the 1910s--has not received similar
sustained attention.

Its importance has been recognized: in American cinema, this has emphasized
the development of forms of narration (primarily through Griffith) that lead
to classical Hollywood cinema; in European countries, it has turned to the
beginnings of an art cinema; in Japan, Shanghai, and India, it has examined
quickly developing domestic film cultures.  Despite such recognition,
steadily growing scholarship, and the international importance of
film-makers such as Griffith, Bauer, and Tourneur, the cinemas of the 1910s
still remain comparatively unexplored.

This conference is thus intended to contribute towards our knowledge of that
period, drawing together current research being done at the graduate student
level.

The keynote speaker is Ben Singer, Associate Professor of film studies at
University of Wisconsin-Madison.  His talk, "Variety Programs, Feature
Films, and the Crisis of the Late Nickelodeon," will clarify the trajectory
and consequences of the emergence of feature films and picture palaces, with
respect to the American exhibition context.

Ben Singer's publications include the seminal essay, "Female Power in the
Serial-Queen Melodrama: The Etiology of an Anomaly," and Melodrama and
Modernity (Columbia University Press, 2001).

The deadline for abstracts (300-400 words) is January 1st, 2003.  Please
e-mail all abstracts to cine-media at uchicago.edu with "Conference Abstract"
in the subject heading.

Limited financial assistance for travel may be available for international
students.

For more information, contact Dan Morgan: drmorgan at uchicago.edu; or
Elizabeth Nazarian: enazaria at uchicago.edu
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