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Cinephile 16.1 – Constant/ChangeDeadline for draft submissions: October 9th, 2021The past year has been a time of unprecedented change, but it has also led to important engagements with some long-standing ideological lived material practices. The film industry is no exception to these considerations, as media production, consumption, and criticism are constantly redefined by the evolving political, economic, social, industrial, and technological contexts in which they inhere. Some key historical shifts include, but are evidently not limited to, the advent of sound, colourized film, censorship, the Red Scare, feminist and civil rights movements, television, the multiplex, and the rise of the Internet. Some very recent radical changes include the COVID-19 pandemic and its temporary worldwide disruption of film production, distribution, and exhibition (as well as some of the unique opportunities that the pandemic presented to many independent producers and artists); global movements for social justice, which have uniquely highlighted the relationship between film production and the communities with which filmmakers engage; the meteoric rise of streaming services and social media platforms; global pop culture powers like South Korea, Japan, and Mexico increasingly influencing mainstream Western culture; and the unique existential threat of climate change, which will impact the creation of media in ways yet to be seen. With a focus on change, this issue of Cinephile hopes to interrogate the link between social and industrial development.However, while it is tempting to focus exclusively on these crucial changes and shifts, film and media practices are also shaped by myriad long-standing ‘constants’ that inform their artistic, technological, and industrial components. These include studio systems, the ‘standardization’ of film form and language, the stylistic supremacy of Hollywood classical style, ongoing formal challenges posed by global New Wave cinemas, the technological obsession with creating ever-more faithful and perfect replications of reality, mainstream cinema’s elision of marginalized communities and experiences, and even the persistence of the the medium itself, despite innumerable predictions forecasting the ‘death of cinema’. While the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a major disruption to media production and distribution, the ensuing lockdown and social distancing measures also created a unique sort of stasis wherein many groups found themselves unsure of how to proceed on both the practical and philosophical levels of filmmaking. The Wall Street Journal reported that worldwide online video streaming subscriptions reached 1.1 billion while movie theatre revenues dropped by $30 billion, revealing how the pandemic exacerbated a pre-existing tension between the two exhibition models. The tension between theatrical and online exhibition practices functions not only on the level of varying economic concerns between studios and artists, but also fundamentally impacts the nature of cinema as a shared experience.This issue of Cinephile welcomes submissions that consider how new technologies, practices, and social, political, and economic contexts inform media production, scholarship, and consumption – as well as works that can account for the aforementioned and other constants in media practices. Our aim is to account for longstanding constants in a medium so heavily defined by key changes and innovations, while simultaneously exploring how these seemingly fixed constants shift and evolve as they absorb new changes.Possible topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- The influence of technological development on film form
- Changing approaches to race, gender, sexuality, and disability in film production and scholarship
- Encounters between classical and experimental cinematic forms
- The stability of classical and experimental forms across various eras of film history
- The impact of COVID-19 on film production, including production stoppages, new safety protocols, and “pandemic productions”
- Non-theatrical distribution models including streaming services and pay-per-view releases.
- The evolution of home entertainment
- Globalization and media
- The proliferation of short, online video content via TikTok, Quibi, Snapchat, etc
- Film production and climate change
We encourage submissions from graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and established scholars. Papers should be between 2,000-3,500 words, follow MLA guidelines, and include a detailed works cited page, as well as a short biography of the author. Submissions should be directed toward SUBMISSIONS@CINEPHILE.CA and general inquiries toward INFO@CINEPHILE.CA.
Submissions are due by October 9th, 2021.
The Center for Film and Moving Image Research housed at the Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University and published by the University of Michigan Press has launched the inaugural issue of the Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Image.
Global Storytelling is a peer-reviewed, biannual journal that serves as an international and interdisciplinary forum for intellectual debates concerning the politics, economics, culture, media and technology of the moving image. The new journal emphasizes storytelling as a particular field of inquiry and covers modes ranging from narrative features to documentaries, journalistic videos, personal essays, broadcast series and serial dramas, and user-generated content.
“No cinema or media journal has before focused on storytelling across multiple platforms and genres, theatrically and digitally both in its affect (emotional engagement) and effect (social impact). Examining how audio-visual narrative works and functions in its multifaceted formations and formats, this journal fills that void,” says Professor Ying Zhu, the Founding Chief Editor of the new journal, who is also Director of the Academy’s Centre for Film and Moving Image Research.
The inaugural issue (https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/gs/) includes 11 articles written by prominent academics and researchers on themes of Hong Kong and social movements, building and documenting national and transnational cinema, Sino-US relations, and the narrative of virus.
Global Storytelling also invites articles, editorials, and book/film reviews. Potential contributors can find the open call guidelines at: https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/gs/submissions/
Enquiries: gstjournal@hkbu.edu.hk or https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/gs/contact/
CALL FOR PAPERS
POSTHUMANISM AT THE MARGINS: ON FILM, MEDIA, AND NEW WAYS OF BEING
The term posthumanism has, throughout its relatively short lifespan, swelled to encompass any number of definitions and permutations, ranging from a descriptor for a technological afterlife of the “human” to a critical look at ways of being within a wider ecology. The immediate quandary that any scholar of the posthuman faces is the wrangling of a proper definition for such an expansive yet timely topic. It is precisely this ambiguity that we hope to engage with in this issue of Synoptique, as the amorphous idea of the posthuman offers us the chance to re-examine the “human.”
Traditionally, posthumanism has remained “committed to a specific order of rationality, one rooted in the epistemological locus of the West” (Jackson 2013, 671). By building upon such legacies of radical perspectives that decentre traditional Western humanist paradigms, such as deanthropocentrism, decoloniality, feminist, and Queer lenses, we aim to place posthumanism in conversation with film and media studies, with the goal of highlighting the historically marginalized perspectives central to this intersection. We believe that film and other new media are uniquely situated to address these sets of questions due to the breadth of disciplines they intersect with, as well as their positions between the technological and the cultural. We invite submissions to consider how different forms of media may challenge, transform, and transcend traditional paradigms of the posthuman; we especially invite submissions of alternative media such as video essays, zines, or other art pieces.
In the midst of a pandemic that has both exacerbated our differences and underscored our interconnectedness – particularly through widespread digital platforms – we might ask how the posthuman may act as a remapping of humanity away from Eurocentric individualism and onto one woven through with networks of relationality first expressed by marginalized communities. This issue of Synoptique looks to re-evaluate the notion of “moving beyond” the “human,” identifying the limitations of the posthuman movement in critical academic discourse – what we are moving away from, who is permitted to be seen as posthuman, what a posthuman world may entail – as well as reframing and renegotiating the normative, hierarchical configurations of the “human” that we wish to transcend (Muñoz 2015).
Drawing on recent work by scholars such as Kathryn Yusoff, Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, and Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, this issue centres marginalized perspectives and stewardship, and departs from Western notions of linear time, uninhibited technological advancement, and individualism. In countering these traditions, we can instead expand upon the posthuman as it pertains to: postcolonial visions and our different places within those futures, technological futures and bodily enhancements, communal networks and infrastructures, ontological reconfigurations of the “human,” and temporal disruptions as decolonial knowledge production, among a vast array of other research areas. In mapping these points of tension, we hope to examine the renewed posthumanist perspectives and pathways forged by their interaction and intersection, which can be seen in works such as Asinnajaq’s “Three Thousand” and her reading of Inuit futurism, as well as Janelle Monáe’s ‘emotion picture’ “Dirty Computer,” which interrogates and queers the idea of cyborg. Through a multiplicity of such approaches including historical surveys, textual analyses, and more, we want to reassess film and media’s place in this conversation in conjunction with new ideas of what posthumanism can do, and it is our hope that you will explore these possibilities alongside us.
We are inviting submissions from scholars of all disciplines to submit works that interrogate the intersection between posthumanism and film and media, and that centre critical lenses including, but not limited to, the following:
- Critical race and/or postcolonial theory
- Afro and/or Indigenous futurisms
- Queer studies
- Trans studies
- Feminist and gender studies
- Disability studies
We ask how classic sites of interrogation for posthumanist discourse, such as the cyborg and the (post-)apocalyptic, might be re-examined in a new light through these richly vibrant and still under-explored critical formulations. Essays submitted for peer review should be approximately 5,500 – 7,500 words and must conform to the Chicago author-date style (17th ed.). Video essays submitted for peer review are also accepted. All images must be accompanied by photo credits and captions.
We also warmly invite submissions to the review section, including conference or exhibition reports, book reviews, film festival reports, thought pieces and interviews related to the aforementioned topics. All non-peer reviewed articles should be a maximum of 2,500 words and include a bibliography following Chicago author-date style (17th ed.).
Creative works and interventions in the forms of digital video, still imagery, creative writing, and other multimedia forms are also welcome. These works will be embedded on the Synoptique website, and/or otherwise linked to in the PDF version of the journal. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions regarding your submission ideas for the non-peer reviewed section.
All submissions may be written in either French or English.
Please submit completed essays or works to the journal editors (editor@synoptique.ca) and the issue guest editors Brianna Setaro (brisetaro@gmail.com), Jess Stewart-Lee (Jess.stewart-lee@mail.concordia.ca), and Marielle Coleman (marielle.coleman@mail.mcgill.ca) by August 31, 2021.
APPEL À CONTRIBUTIONS:
Aux frontières du post-humanisme : De nouvelles représentations
de l’être humain dans les nouveaux médias et au cinéma
À travers sa vie courte mais riche en recherche, le terme post-humanisme a su se développer pour englober un grand nombre de définitions et de permutations, allant d’une conception de « l’être humain » dans un futur défini par la technologie à un regard critique sur les manières d’être au sein d’une écologie plus large. Le dilemme immédiat auquel chaque chercheur.e.s fait face en étudiant le post-humanisme est qu’il est difficile d’établir une définition exacte de ce sujet aussi vaste que d’actualité. C’est précisément cette ambiguïté que nous espérons aborder dans notre numéro de Synoptique ; puisque l’identité du post-humain reste floue, nous pouvons nous interroger sur les multiples définitions de « l’être humain ».
Traditionnellement, le post-humanisme est resté « committed to a specific order of rationality, one rooted in the epistemological locus of the West » (Jackson 2013, 671). En s’appuyant sur l’héritage offert par ce type de perspective radicale, qui a pour objectif de décentrer l’humanisme occidental traditionnel, il devient possible de mettre en avant les théories avancées dans le domaine des études décoloniales, féministes et queer. Cela nous permet de faire entrer le post-humanisme en conversation avec les études cinématographiques et médiatiques, dans le but d’éclairer les multiples perspectives historiquement marginalisées dans cette discussion. Nous pensons que le cinéma et les nouveaux médias sont particulièrement bien placés pour répondre à ces problématiques, en raison de l’étendue des disciplines avec lesquelles ils interagissent, ainsi que leur position entre le technologique et le culturel. Nous invitons les autreur.ice.s souhaiteraient répondre à cet énoncé à examiner comment différentes formes de médias peuvent remettre en question, transformer et surpasser les formulations traditionnelles du post-humanisme. Nous invitons également les contributions à prendre des formes alternatives, telle que des essais vidéo, des magazines ou d’autres œuvres d’art.
En sachant que cette pandémie a à la fois exacerbé nos différences et souligné notre interconnectivité – notamment par le biais de plateformes numériques généralisées – nous pouvons nous demander comment le post-humanisme peut être redessiné pour promouvoir une idée de l’humanité loin de l’individualisme eurocentrique. De plus, comment pouvons-nous baser cette nouvelle conception sur des réseaux de relations tissés par les communautés marginalisées ? Ce numéro de Synoptique cherche à réévaluer la notion de « dépassement » de « l’être humain », identifier les limites du mouvement dans le discours académique critique – ce dont nous nous éloignons, qui ou quoi peut être considéré comme post-humain, ce qu’un monde posthumain pourrait impliquer – ainsi que le recadrage et la renégociation des normes hiérarchiques de la définition de « l’être humain » que nous souhaitons transcender (Muñoz 2015).
En s’inspirant du travail des chercheur.e.s tels que Kathryn Yusoff, Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, et Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, cette publication se centre sur les perspectives offertes par une directive marginalisée, et s’écarte des conceptions occidentales du temps linéaire, du progrès technologique démesuré et des phénomènes d’individualisme et d’anthropocentrisme. En allant à l’encontre de ces traditions académiques, nous pouvons nuancer le terme de post-humanisme pour qu’il comprenne des sujets variés tels que les visions postcoloniales, les modifications corporelles liées à la technologie, les réseaux et infrastructures communes, les multiples reconfigurations de « l’être humain » ; ainsi que de créer du savoir décolonialisé en renouvelant certaines conceptions partiales du temps. Nous espérons examiner les points de tension qui émergent à l’intersection de toutes ces idées, permettant ainsi une exploration d’une vision du post-humanisme renouvelée. Ces points d’intersection sont particulièrement visibles dans des œuvres telles que « Trois mille » d’Asinnajaq et son interprétation d’un futurisme inuit, ainsi que le film « Dirty Computer » de Janelle Monáe, qui interroge et bouleverse l’idée du cyborg. En se basant sur une variété de méthodologies, y compris enquêtes historiques et analyses textuelles, nous souhaitons réévaluer la place du cinéma et des médias dans cette conversation tout en considérant le rôle du post-humanisme. Nous espérons que vous explorerez ces possibilités à nos côtés.
Nous invitons les contributions de chercheur.e.s de toutes disciplines à nous faire parvenir leurs travaux interrogeant l’intersection du post-humanisme avec le cinéma et les médias, et centré sur des aspects critiques tels que :
- Les études postcoloniales
- Les futurismes afro et autochtones
- Les théories queer
- Les études sur la trans-identité
- Les études féministes et de genre
- Les études sur le handicap
Nous souhaitons explorer comment les sites traditionnels d’interrogation du discours post-humaniste, tels que le cyborg et le (post-)apocalyptique, pourraient être réexaminés à travers des formulations critiques et décolonialisées. Les contributions pour la section avec comité de lecture devraient faire environ 5 500-7 500 mots et doivent suivre les directives du style auteur-date de Chicago (17e éd.). Les essais vidéo pour la section avec comité de lecture seront également acceptés. Toutes les images doivent être accompagnées de leur source et d’une légende.
Nous invitons également les contributions comprenant des critiques de conférences, d’expositions, de festivals de films, de livres ainsi que des entretiens et réflexions liés aux sujets mentionnés. Les articles sans comité de lecture doivent comporter un maximum de 2 500 mots et inclure une bibliographie suivant le style auteur-date de Chicago (17e éd.).
Enfin, les œuvres et interventions créatives sous forme de vidéo numérique, d’images, d’écriture créative et d’autres formes multimédias sont également les bienvenues. Ces œuvres seront intégrées sur le site web de Synoptique, et/ou liées à la version PDF de la revue. N’hésitez pas à nous contacter si vous avez des questions concernant vos idées de soumission pour la section sans comité de lecture.
Toutes les contributions peuvent être rédigées en français ou en anglais.
Veuillez soumettre vos essais ou vos travaux terminés aux éditeurs de la revue (editor@synoptique.ca) et aux rédacteurs invités du numéro Brianna Setaro (brisetaro@gmail.com), Jess Stewart-Lee (Jess.stewart-lee@mail.concordia.ca), et Marielle Coleman (marielle.coleman@mail.mcgill.ca) avant le 31 août 2021.
If you weren’t able to join us for this year’s Annual General Meeting, here are a few updates regarding the composition of the executive committee and the bylaws that were modified during the meeting.
2021-22 Executive committee
- Shana Macdonald, President (Waterloo) (year 2 of a two-year term)
- Louis-Paul Willis, VP (UQAT) (year 2 of a two-year term)
- Shannon Brownlee, Treasurer (Dalhousie) (year 1 of a two-year term)
- Daniel Keyes, Secretary (UBCO) (year 2 of a two-year term)
- May Chew, Member-at-Large (Concordia) (year 2 of a three-year term)
- Michelle Mohabeer Member-at-Large (York) (year 1 of a three-year term)
- Kanika Lawton, Student Representative (U of Toronto) (1 year term)
These motions were approved at the June 3, 2021 annual general meeting:
- By-laws for ensuring the executive represents diversity expanded from expression of gender and region to include racialized scholars
- The previously designated complimentary memberships to Indigenous scholars (passed at the 2019 AGM) will now include all self-identifying Black scholars and racialized scholars.
- The annual conference will institute a speaker’s panel that highlights the work of emerging Indigenous and Black scholars, thinkers, and makers to be named the Sylvia D. Hamilton Dialogues in recognition of Ms. Hamilton’s lifetime of leadership, support, and mentorship of emerging scholars.
- Approved a process to consider via online voting in fall 2021 a name change for the organization to reflect that the study of film moving forward includes the study of various media.
- Honoraria be paid to the FSAC webmaster, chairs of committees, and members of the Executive when these positions are filled by people who are not tenured/tenure-track faculty.
Calls for this year’s working groups will circulate shortly. There will be a Fall meeting to ensure fulsome input from the membership regarding the future of our relationship with the Federation and our plans for next year’s conference. More details will be forthcoming by end of summer.
Si vous n’avez pas pu vous joindre à nous lors de l’Assemblée Générale Annuelle de cette année, voici quelques mises à jour quant à la constitution du comité exécutif et à la constitution:
Comité exécutif 2021-22
- Shana Macdonald, Présidente (Waterloo) (2e année d’un mandat de deux ans)
- Louis-Paul Willis, Vice-Président (UQAT) (2e année d’un mandat de deux ans)
- Shannon Brownlee, Treasurer (Dalhousie) (1ère année d’un mandat de deux ans)
- Daniel Keyes, Secrétaire (UBCO) (2e année d’un mandat de deux ans)
- May Chew, Membre active (Concordia) (2e année d’un mandat de trois ans)
- Michelle Mohabeer, Membre active (York) (1ère année d’un mandat de trois ans)
- Kanika Lawton, Représentante des étudiant.e.s de cycles supérieurs (U of Toronto) (mandat d’un an)
Les motions suivantes ont été approuvées lors de l’assemblée générale annuelle du 3 juin 2020:
- Règlements visant à assurer que la composition du comité exécutif représente la diversité de ses membres, ajoutant l’enjeu d’individus racisés aux questions de genre et de région.
- L’offre d’adhésion gratuite précédemment offerte aux membres des communautés autochtones (motion passée à l’AGA 2019) sera dorénavant offerte aux individus s’identifiant comme Noir.e.s ou Racisé.e.s.
- La conférence annuelle mettra en place un panel de conférencier.ère.s qui mettra en valeur le travail de chercheur.euse.s, penseur.euse.s et artistes autochtones et noir.e.s. Cet événement sera nommé Dialogues Sylvia D. Hamilton en reconnaissance du leadership, du soutien et du mentorat de cette dernière auprès de chercheur.euse.s émergent.e.s.
- Un processus de vote en ligne prendra place à l’automne 2021 pour déterminer si l’association devrait changer son nom pour refléter le fait que les études cinématographiques incluent l’étude d’autres formes de médias.
- Des honoraires seront versés au/à la webmestre, aux têtes de comités, ainsi qu’aux membres du comité exécutif quand ces positions seront occupées par des individus qui sont en situation d’emploi précaire.
Des appels pour les groupes de travail de cette année circuleront prochainement. Il y aura également une rencontre organisée cet automne pour discuter de la relation de l’association avec la Fédération et de nos plans pour la conférence de l’an prochain. Des détails suivront avant la fin de l’été.
– 2021 Call for Applications –
Submission Deadline: FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2021 (5pm)
For over four decades, TIFF has been committed to transforming the way people see the world through film. Central to this commitment is our pledge to preserve and promote Canada’s moving-image culture through educational initiatives and learning opportunities. TIFF is currently accepting applications for the 2021 Jeffrey and Sandra Lyons Canadian Film Scholarship, supporting the development of scholarship or research-creation that activates the archive. The award aims to:
- increase access to the reference and archival collections of the Film Reference Library (FRL);
- support research and research-creation that deepens knowledge about Canadian film and media;
- and strengthen the relationship between cultural and academic institutions in pursuit of knowledge mobilization.
TIFF encourages proposals from scholars, researcher-creators, and artists whose project would benefit from the unique collections of the FRL. Applications were previously accepted from MA, PhD, and post-doc students exclusively. In recognition of the interdisciplinary nature of film and media research, and the diversity of methodological approaches within the field, we have expanded the eligibility requirements to include those enrolled in any master’s program who are pursuing related research.
This Scholarship provides the recipient access to the extensive resources and collections of the FRL for one month between October 2021 and May 2022. On-site access to research materials will be conducted safely and in line with COVID-19 protocols. Digital research may be possible, depending on the Special Collection and the research material requested. The successful applicant will be provided with a stipend of $1,000 CAD, a designated office space, and access to the FRL’s collections in support of their research. Special Collections of particular interest include the archives of experimental filmmaker Mike Hoolboom; the Conquering Lion Pictures Archive of materials related to the works of filmmakers Clement Virgo and Damon D’Oliveira; the Deepa Mehta Archive; the Christopher Chapman archive; and the archives of score composer Christopher Dedrick.
The FRL is the ultimate free resource for filmmakers, students, researchers, screenwriters, and film and television professionals. A proud affiliate member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), the FRL is dedicated to the preservation of Canada’s cinematic history, maintaining extensive archival and research collections with a focus on Canadian cinema. The collection is a library and archive that includes a comprehensive reference collection on all aspects of filmmaking and cinema studies (books, periodicals, research files, audio-visual materials, photographs), and Special Collections representing over 100 industry figures in Canadian cinema. Visit tiff.net/library to learn more about our collections, access the online catalogue, and browse Special Collections.
The Jeffrey and Sandra Lyons Canadian Film Scholarship is generously supported by the Jeffrey & Sandra Lyons Endowment Fund at TIFF.
As part of TIFF’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in the Canadian film and media industries, we encourage and prioritize applications from equity seeking groups. We encourage you to self-identify in your application. TIFF is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to providing accommodations in our hiring process for people with disabilities. If you require an accommodation, please inform us in advance and we will work with you to meet your needs.
– Appel de candidatures 2021 –
Clôture des candidatures : LE VENDREDI 13 AOÛT 2021 (17 h)
Depuis plus de quatre décennies, le TIFF se voue à transformer la vision du monde, par le biais du cinéma. Au cœur de notre engagement, nous cherchons à préserver et à promouvoir la culture canadienne de l’image en mouvement à l’aide d’initiatives éducatives et de possibilités d’apprentissage. Le TIFF accepte actuellement les candidatures pour la Bourse du cinéma canadien Jeffrey et Sandra Lyons de 2021, afin d’appuyer le développement d’études et de recherche-création qui pourront mettre à profit l’archive. Ce prix vise à :
- donner l’accès aux collections de références et d’archives de la Bibliothèque de référence cinématographique (Film Reference Library ou FRL, en anglais) ;
- soutenir la recherche et la création de recherche qui favorisent l’approfondissement de la connaissance du cinéma et des médias canadiens ;
- et à renforcer la relation entre les institutions culturelles et académiques pour favoriser la mobilisation du savoir.
Le TIFF encourage les universitaires, chercheurs-créateurs et artistes travaillant sur des projets qui bénéficieraient de l’accès aux collections uniques de la FRL à présenter des propositions. Antérieurement, seulement les candidatures d’étudiants inscrits à un programme de maîtrise, de doctorat ou de post-doctorat étaient acceptées. En reconnaissance de la nature interdisciplinaire de la recherche cinématographique et médiatique ainsi que de la diversité des approches méthodologiques dans le domaine, nous avons élargi les critères d’admissibilité afin d’inclure les étudiants inscrits à tout programme de maîtrise qui font des recherches connexes.
Cette Bourse offre au chercheur l’accès aux vastes ressources et collections de la FRL pour une période d’un mois entre octobre 2021 et août 2022. L’accès sur place au matériel sera effectué en toute sécurité et conformément aux protocoles de la COVID-19. La recherche numérique peut être possible selon la Collection spéciale et le matériel de recherche demandé. Le candidat retenu recevra une allocation de 1 000 $ CAD, un bureau désigné et l’accès aux collections de la FRL pour soutenir leur recherche. Les Collections spéciales d’intérêt particulier incluent les archives du cinéaste expérimental Mike Hoolboom ; l’archive Conquering Lion Pictures du matériel lié aux œuvres des cinéastes Clement Virgo et Damon D’Oliveira ; l’archive Deepa Mehta ; l’archive Christopher Chapman ; et les archives du compositeur de musique de film Christopher Dedrick.
La FRL est la ressource ultime pour les cinéastes, étudiants, chercheurs, scénaristes, et professionnels du cinéma et de la télévision. Fier membre affilié de la Fédération internationale des archives du film (FIAF), la FRL se voue à la préservation de l’histoire cinématographique du Canada, par le maintien de vastes collections d’archives et de recherche axées sur le cinéma canadien. La collection est une bibliothèque et une archive comprenant une vaste collection de références sur tous les aspects des études concernant la production de films et le cinéma (livres, périodiques, dossiers de recherche, matériels audiovisuels, photos), ainsi que des Collections spéciales représentant plus de 100 chefs d’industrie du cinéma canadien. Consultez tiff.net/library pour en apprendre davantage sur nos collections, pour accéder au catalogue en ligne et pour découvrir les Collections spéciales.
La Bourse du cinéma canadien Jeffrey et Sandra Lyons bénéficie du généreux soutien du fonds de dotation Jeffrey & Sandra Lyons au TIFF.
Dans le cadre de l’engagement du TIFF à l’égard de la promotion de la diversité et de l’inclusion dans les industries canadiennes du cinéma et des médias, nous encourageons et priorisons la soumission de demandes de groupes luttant pour l’équité. Nous vous encourageons de vous auto-identifier dans votre demande. Le TIFF souscrit au principe de l’égalité en matière d’emploi et s’engage à accommoder les personnes handicapées dans notre processus d’embauche. Si vous avez besoin de mesures d’adaptation spéciales, veuillez nous en informer à l’avance et nous travaillerons avec vous pour répondre à vos besoins.
Call for Applications – Postdoctoral Fellowship
“The Sociability of Sleep: Careful Design for Collective Conditions”
Université de Montréal and McGill University, Montreal, Canada
DEADLINE: June 15, 2021
We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow for a 10-month position to work on the new interdisciplinary research-creation project: The Sociability of Sleep. The candidate will work directly with Professors Aleksandra Kaminska (Director of the Bricolab, Université de Montréal, Communications) and Alanna Thain (Director of the Moving Image Research Lab, McGill University, English) and have the opportunity to work with project collaborators. These include researchers and practitioners from communication and media studies, media arts, cinema and performance, psychiatry, psychology, and clinical medicine across Montreal’s universities.
The Sociability of Sleep is funded through a special initiative to support interdisciplinary, experimental, and intensive projects. We explore exceptional and everyday experiences of sleep and its problems to generate new knowledge and empathies for sleep conditions, defined as a disordered and debilitating relation between sleep and wakefulness (including, but not limited to somnambulism, insomnia, narcolepsy, parasomnias, dreams and nightmares, sleep apnea, chronodiversity, etc.). Through collaboration between artists, scientists, and media studies scholars, we aim to generate novel sleep situations that make perceptible, and thus actionable, our key intuition: that sleep is much more social than it might seem. In sleep, we become radically vulnerable in a way that requires social forms of care: individuals are experts of their somatic experience, and yet access to the sleeping self relies on the perception of human and technological others. How might exploring a sleeper subjectivity—the quotidian ways we navigate time, space, ourselves, and others—help us rethink and reanimate the sociability of sleep itself?
We engage these questions by working on 1) developing interdisciplinary approaches to sleep research taking advantage of the tools, methods, and insights of arts, humanities and social sciences; 2) thinking critically and historically about technologies of sleep, including biometrics and sleep tracking apps; and 3) identifying, analysing, and producing artistic interventions into sleep in design, media, and performance, to see how they might enrich normative treatment of sleep conditions. Our approach is rooted in art-science experimentation, collaboration, prototyping, and various forms of “critical making” that integrate and engage with qualitative or quantitative research data. Over the two years of the project, we have planned a series of experimental events, including Sleep Salons, maker labs and prototyping workshops, artist residencies, pedagogical videos, a summer school, and a final exhibition.
We are looking for a critical and engaged researcher with an established interest and expertise in sleep. We are open to a variety of (inter)disciplinary backgrounds, including: media studies, communications, cinema studies, performance studies, science and technology studies, media arts, visual and sound arts, disability studies, design, urban planning, architecture, Indigenous studies, gender, feminist and sexuality studies, critical race studies, visual and material culture, information science, history of science, neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, research-creation, curation, critical making, etc.
The fellow’s primary responsibilities will be to facilitate the collaborative activities across the team, while also developing their own research within the project. They will have the opportunity to be implicated in all aspects of the project with specific responsibilities to be determined according to their particular interests and profile. These may include curation, programming, medical or public outreach, publishing collaborations, workshop design, prototyping, exhibition design, etc. The position is best suited for someone with strong organizational and communication skills, experience working collaboratively, and an enthusiastic approach to interdisciplinary teams and research.
The fellow will have a workspace and access to equipment, mentoring, and support through the project headquarters at the Bricolab and the MIRL, as well as the opportunity to access partner resources and expertise, including the Topological Media Lab (Concordia), the Visualisation Laboratory and Screen (UdeM), Artefact Lab (UdeM), Hexagram, GRAFIM, the Dream & Nightmare Laboratory within the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine (UdeM, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur), and the Sleep Lab (McGill Health University Centre), among others.
Eligibility: Candidates must have received a PhD within the past 5 years, or have a doctoral defence scheduled prior to Sept. 15, 2021. Regardless of field or discpline, they must have demonstrated expertise in a relevant area of sleep-related research. The fellowship is open to both national and international scholars. Fluency in English is essential; working knowledge of French is an asset.
We welcome and encourage applications from racialized persons/visible minorities, women, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as from all qualified candidates with the skills and knowledge to engage productively with diverse communities.
Start date and duration: The position is from Sept. 1, 2021 to June 2022, with the possibility of a renewal for a second 10-month term (July 2023-April 2023).
Salary: The salary is $35,000 CAD for 10 months, plus 17% in benefits. The fellow will also have access to a research stipend for materials and research dissemination.
TO APPLY
Documents required: 1) a current CV, 2) a cover letter describing your training, relevant research interests and a brief description of the work you would like to pursue in relation to the project including, if relevant, any anticipated material needs (max 2 pages), and 3) contact information for 2 referees.
Please send your application as a single PDF file to both a.kaminska@umontreal.ca and alanna.thain@mcgill.ca. Zoom interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held on June 17-18.
Deadline: June 15, 2021
For its third issue, The Neutral is soliciting contributions for ‘The Unhuman’
The human body is already unhuman, populated by a microbiome that sustains its life, and yet, discourses of the unhuman are harnessed to draw the parameters of what it means to be human. This construction of the human depends upon what is jettisoned as unhuman in order to reaffirm the position and borders of what or who is considered human, particularly as marginalized groups are subjected to dehumanization. By the term “unhuman,” we aim to invoke an unmaking of the human or category of the human, in keeping with the proliferation of scholarship that has emerged as a response to the posthuman turn in the humanities and the rise of the anthropocene discourse, both of which have been critiqued for not fully engaging pressing issues such as colonialism, race, capitalism, disability, and more. In this issue of The Neutral, we seek essays that address the unhuman, that think with the unhuman, and in doing so, offer ways of critiquing anthropocentrism, particularly as it is bolstered by a Western, imperialist concept of the human, through moving image media.We also seek to examine how the human is already enfolded within the unhuman, and integrated with its environment, other species, and technology, and imaginings of monstrous and alien life forms.
The distinction between the human and nonhuman animal has long troubled philosophers, including Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, and Heidegger, who have attempted to index attributes that belong to humans alone. Derrida, however, acknowledges the positionality of the animal, an animal that returns one’s gaze. He proposes to examine the relationship between species as an “abyssal rupture,” as a multiplication of differences, which also gestures towards the limitations of what the human can know, and the aporia in its knowledge of other species. And Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of “becoming-animal” which follows their rhizomatic methodology in which they counter prevailing tendencies to categorize organisms according to stable characteristics, instead, opening up to the possibilities of continually shifting relationalities. Other thinkers draw us towards the place where the border of the human collapses, including Julia Kristeva’s abject, Georges Bataille’s eroticism, and Sigmund Freud’s unconscious. Potential papers might ask: How do moving images visualize or theorize the abyssal rupture, or rhizomatic structures? How does film present vegetal or subterrestrial ontologies?
Posthumanism offers philosophical frameworks and practices that have engendered the impetus to decenter traditional human subjectivity and subjecthood, marked temporally as coming after humanism and its search for an essential, universal human subject with sovereign agency. However, the turn towards the study of nonhuman life forms is a premature move for scholars such as Sylvia Wynter and Paul Gilroy, who rightly point out that racialized persons are still struggling to attain recognition of their rights as humans. Afropessimists like Frank B. Wilderson III go further still in asserting that the human is given coherence by anti-Blackness and that the Black/human relation is structurally irreconcilable. Meanwhile, scholars such as Mel Y. Chen take up questions of the nonhuman to illuminate new perspectives on racialized, queer, and differently abled bodies. Potential papers might ask: What limitations or illuminations do discourses of animality, monstrosity, or technologization hold for marginalized populations, and how does moving image media navigate these tensions?
Posthumanism is also symptomatic of a convergence of anti-humanism, post-humanism and post-anthropocentrism within the technological and digital age. Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics or using feedback as a way to communicate with the inhuman produces potentials of understanding technology as systems of interactions. Recognizing sense organs as key components in relations between machine and multispecies life, the use of systems enables a bounded relation of humans, ecology, and machines. Richard Grusin, more recently, in his anthology named The Nonhuman Turn (2015), invites proponents of posthumanism and new materialism to consider that which falls outside the domain of ‘human’ altogether. Contemporary scholarship that emerged in recent years which engages the “other-than-human” often maintains that the continuum between bodies human and nonhuman has been eroded by our ever-increasing entanglements with technology. Yet, it also seems to gesture at the idea that the nonhuman has ultimately always resided within the human. How can we begin to address the ways in which this scholarship remains problematic, for its attempts to expand the prescribed categories of human still perform exclusion? Have we indeed moved past humanism, or simply reworked its main tenets so that it can begin to account for our contemporary moment?
As the representations of what defies “normality,” monsters are aberrations of the human, and such become the site upon which humans work out their anxieties about sexuality, gender, and race. Monstrosity also offers ways of re-examining what constitutes the human, as Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s “zombie-oriented ontology” emphasizes human corporeality, and thinks through the body as a vessel that has been emptied of its subjecthood. Science fiction also grapples with unhuman life forms, presenting imaginative possibilities of what extra-terrestrial beings might be, from the malevolent forces of epics disaster films to a more nuanced approach that considers the alien as communicating an understanding about what it means to be earthly, to be human, and the human’s responsibilities to its planet. Potential papers might ask: How might we understand horror, sci-fi, and ecocinema in light of thinking beyond the human? What do speculative fictions help us understand about the limitations of being human?
For this issue, ultimately, we ask: What role(s) do film and moving image media play in the construction and/or conceptualization of the unhuman? How does it emerge as both a condition and a discourse? How have the ontological and epistemological pressures that animate the “unhuman” been facilitated, crystallized, and/or reflected by media?
Please submit completed essays between 5,000-7,000 words in length, including endnotes and citations, as a Word document in Chicago style by registering on our website’s submission portal by July 15, 2021.
Version Française
Pour son troisième numéro, The Neutral sollicite des contributions pour ‘The Unhuman’
La distinction entre l’animal humain et non-humain a longtemps troublé les philosophes, dont Aristote, Descartes, Kant et Heidegger, qui ont tenté d’indexer des attributs qui n’appartiennent qu’aux humains. Derrida, cependant, reconnaît la positionnalité de l’animal, un animal qui renvoie le regard. Il propose d’examiner la relation entre les espèces comme une « rupture abyssale », comme une multiplication des différences, ce qui signale aussi limites de ce que l’homme peut savoir, et l’aporie dans sa connaissance des autres espèces. Et le concept de « devenir-animal » de Deleuze et Guattari qui suit leur méthodologie rhizomatique dans laquelle ils contrarient les tendances dominantes à catégoriser les organismes selon des caractéristiques stables, ouvrant au contraire les possibilités de relationalités en constante évolution. D’autres penseurs nous entraînent vers là où la frontière de l’humain s’effondre, notamment l’abject de Julia Kristeva, l’érotisme de Georges Bataille et l’inconscient de Sigmund Freud. Des articles potentiels pourraient demander: comment les images en mouvement visualisent-elles ou théorisent-elles la rupture abyssale ou les structures rhizomatiques? Comment le film présente-t-il des ontologies végétales ou souterraines?
Le posthumanisme offre des cadres et des pratiques philosophiques qui ont engendré l’élan pour décentrer les subjectivités humaines traditionnelles et la subjectivité elle-même, marquées temporellement comme venant après l’humanisme et sa recherche d’un sujet humain essentiel et universel avec une action souveraine. Cependant, le tournant vers l’étude des formes de vie non humaines est une décision prématurée pour des universitaires tels que Sylvia Wynter et Paul Gilroy, qui soulignent à juste titre que les personnes racialisées ont encore du mal à obtenir la reconnaissance de leurs droits en tant qu’êtres humains. Des « Afro-pessimistes » (issue de l’Afropessimism) comme Frank B. Wilderson III vont encore plus loin en affirmant que c’est l’anti-noirceur qui rend l’humain cohérent et que la relation Noir / humain est structurellement inconciliable. Pendant ce temps, des chercheurs tels que Mel Y. Chen abordent les questions du non-humain pour éclairer de nouvelles perspectives sur les corps racialisés, queer et ayant des capacités différentes et/ou handicaps. Des articles potentiels pourraient demander: quelles limites ou potentiels éclairages les discours sur l’animalité, la monstruosité ou la « technologisation » présentent-ils pour les populations marginalisées, et comment les images en mouvement permettent-elles de surmonter ces tensions?
Le posthumanisme est également symptomatique d’une convergence de l’antihumanisme, du post-humanisme et du post-anthropocentrisme à l’ère technologique et numérique. La cybernétique de Norbert Wiener ou l’utilisation du feedback comme moyen de communiquer avec l’inhumain produit des potentiels de compréhension de la technologie en tant que systèmes d’interactions. Reconnaissant les organes sensoriels comme des éléments clés dans les relations entre la vie des machines et la vie multi-espèces, l’utilisation de systèmes permet une relation délimitée entre les humains, l’écologie et les machines. Richard Grusin, plus récemment, dans son anthologie intitulée The Nonhuman Turn (2015), invite les partisans du posthumanisme et du nouveau matérialisme à considérer ce qui ne relève pas du domaine de « l’humain ». La recherche contemporaine qui a émergé ces dernières années et qui engage « l’autre qu’humain » soutient souvent que le continuum entre les corps humains et non humains a été érodé par nos enchevêtrements toujours croissants avec la technologie. Pourtant, elle semble également suggérer l’idée que le non-humain a finalement et ultimement toujours résidé dans l’humain. Comment pouvons-nous commencer à aborder la manière dont ces courants et discours académiques restent problématiques, car leurs tentatives d’élargir les catégories prescrites d’humains continuent d’exclure? Avons-nous en effet dépassé l’humanisme, ou simplement retravaillé ses principes fondamentaux pour qu’il puisse commencer à rendre compte de notre moment contemporain?
En tant que représentations de ce qui défie la « normalité », les monstres sont des aberrations de l’humain et deviennent ainsi le site sur lequel les humains développent leurs inquiétudes concernant la sexualité, le sexe et la race. La monstruosité offre également des moyens de réexaminer ce qui constitue l’humain, car « l’ontologie orientée zombie » ou « zombie oriented ontology » (dans son anglais original) de Jeffrey Jerome Cohen met l’accent sur la corporéité humaine et pense à travers le corps comme un vaisseau vidé de sa subjectivité. La science-fiction engage aussi des formes de vie inhumaines, présentant des possibilités imaginatives de ce que pourraient être les êtres extraterrestres, des forces malveillantes des films catastrophes et épiques, à une approche plus nuancée qui considère l’extraterrestre comme communiquant une compréhension de ce que signifie être terrestre, être humain, et les responsabilités de l’homme envers sa planète. Des articles potentiels pourraient demander: Comment pourrions-nous comprendre l’horreur, la science-fiction et l’écocinéma à la lumière d’une pensée qui va au-delà de l’humain? Qu’est-ce que les fictions spéculatives nous aident à comprendre sur les limites de l’être humain?
Pour ce numéro, ultimement, nous demandons: quel (s) rôle (s) les médias cinématographiques et de l’image animé jouent-ils dans la construction et / ou la conceptualisation du un-humain? Comment émerge-t-il à la fois comme condition et comme discours? Comment les pressions ontologiques et épistémologiques qui animent le un-humain sont-elles facilitées, cristallisées et / ou reflétées par les médias?
Veuillez soumettre les articles composés entre 5 000 et 7 000 mots, y compris les notes de fin et les citations sous forme de document Word dans le style de Chicago à submission portal avant le 15 juillet 2021.
First Forum Graduate Student Conference 2021
October 21, 22, 28, & 29
Division of Cinema and Media Studies
School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
POST(ING) CALL FOR PROPOSALS
We’re posting through it. All of it.
- posting on social media
- trolling and shit-posting
- post-theoretical paradigms and movements
- digital labor, content moderation and algorithms
- the postal service and infrastructure
- fans and celebrities
- posters and physical media
- going postal
- doomscrolling and attention economies
- the post-network TV era
- post-Covid-19
- bots and computation
- publics and publicity
- signposting and speech acts
- Postmates and gig economies
- outposts, fence posts, and borders
- post-production
- posting through it
- job posts and impostor syndrome
Our Call for Posts — The organizing committee of the 2021 First Forum Graduate Student Conference invites our fellow graduate student scholars to submit abstracts that explore the wide range of meanings suggested by the word “posting” as it relates to the fields of cinema and media studies, communication, gender and sexuality studies, ethnic studies, and science and technology studies.
While posting might immediately refer to the work of participating in digital networks and the increasingly visible labor, affect, and resources that participation demands, we invite submissions that touch upon a range of mediums, methodologies, and approaches, from post-production to the postal service. “Post-“ might suggest the numerous post-intellectual moments scholars speculate we have been entering and exiting since the 1970s. Yet, even the formation of these post-modern, feminist, racial, historical moments themselves have been called into question, leading some to ask if we are now in the post-post-modern, the post-post-feminist era or if there was anything “new” about these moments in the first place. Meanwhile, many of us try to imagine a post-Covid era as old and new social arrangements struggle to emerge. The tireless Twitter troll and commenter on the human condition @Dril asks us to consider “posting ethically, within reason,” a position the organizing committee asks applicants to take seriously as they reflect on the multivalent meanings of “posting.” Clearly, the novel social, historical, and political arrangements that make posting and the “post-” meaningful are being reevaluated by people across a wide range of contexts that invite scholarly attention and interrogation.
In order to encourage attendance, reduce burnout, and ensure the health and safety of participants, students, and the broader Los Angeles community, First Forum 2021 will be a virtual conference, with panels and events held over two weeks on October 21, 22, 28, and 29.
Submissions should include an abstract (-300 words) and a short biography (-150 words). Conference presentations will be 15-20 minutes. Applicants must submit their materials by June 9, 2021 to firstforumconference@gmail.com. Please include “Name + First Forum 2021 Submission” in the subject line. We warmly welcome non-traditional projects, including but not limited to, video essays and art exhibitions alongside traditional academic papers.
| Posting Date: | May 5, 2021 |
| Job Title: | Post-Doctoral Fellow |
| Department: | Film and Media |
| Description of Area or Topic of Research: | Media Archives |
The Vulnerable Media Lab located in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University is inviting applications to a 1-year MITACS Accelerate Post-Doctoral Fellowship to work with our partners Reelout Queer Film Festival and Archive/Counter Archive to begin August 1, 2021.
Candidates must have defended their dissertation by July 15th, 2021. (This is a firm deadline)
The successful candidate is expected to focus on research into archival processes, including ethical best practices and community-based methods for digitization, restoration, preservation, metadata production, and data management for analog and/or digital-born media, with particular engagement with LGBTQ2, Indigenous, Black or BIPOC communities in the Americas.
We invite applications from archivists and/or digital humanities interdisciplinary scholars who have earned a doctorate in one of the following areas, in order of priority: media preservation/archival or information studies, museum studies, communications, digital media, cultural studies, art history or related discipline, and have expertise in such fields such as asset/collections management, Indigenous knowledge architectures, digital media production. The position requires that the candidate has strong skills and experience in community arts engagement, and familiarity with open-source content management systems and, ideally, post-production software. Required soft skills include outstanding writing and communication skills, a strong collaborative working style, good time management, and adaptability. Working knowledge of Spanish or French would be considered an asset.
This Post-Doctoral position will include opportunities to produce publications and curate media online and onscreen, participate in conference presentations and directly contribute to content design for VML and Reelout’s platforms, as well as for Archive/Counter-Archive’s hybrid publications. Working with a range of Queen’s partners (including Art Conservation, Queen’s Library and Archives, The Agnes Etherington Art Centre, and the Centre for Advanced Computing) and with graduate students in Cultural Studies, Art History, Art Conservation, and Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies, the successful candidate will be well positioned to develop their projects and expand their skills. It is expected that the candidate will divide their time between the Vulnerable Media Lab on Queen’s Campus and Reelout’s office in Kingston, with research trips to archives in Toronto.
The Vulnerable Media Lab is a state-of-the-art CFI-funded facility serving as the base for a number of research projects related to Indigenous, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ and women’s histories. The researchers aim to develop methods and processes to ensure this media is preserved and made available according to culturally specific and ethically driven forms of access, thus engaging in new conversations about cultural heritage.
| Remuneration: | $55,000 |
| Start Date and Duration of Appointment: | August 1, 2021-July 31, 2022 |
| Required Qualifications: | PhD in one or more of the following areas, in order of priority:media preservation/archival or information studies, museum studies, communications, digital media, cultural studies, art history or related discipline, and have expertise in such fields such as asset/collections management, Indigenous knowledge architectures, digital media curation and design. Strong skills and experience in community arts engagement, and familiarity with open-source content management systems. |
| Required Documentation: | Cover letter describing experience and research intention; CV; names and contact information of two references. |
| Application Deadline: | June 15, 2021 |
| Application Procedure: | Apply by email to Dr. Susan Lord, Director of the Vulnerable Media Lab <vml@queensu.ca> |
EMPLOYMENT EQUITY: The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Queen’s is strongly committed to employment equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace and encourages applications from Black, racialized/visible minority and Indigenous/Aboriginal people, women, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQ+ persons.
ACCOMMODATION IN THE WORKPLACE: The University has policies in place to support its employees with disabilities, including an Accommodation in the Workplace Policy and a policy on the provision of job accommodations that take into account an employee’s accessibility needs due to disability. The University will provide support in its recruitment processes to applicants with disabilities, including accommodation that takes into account an applicant’s accessibility needs. If you require accommodation during the interview process, please contact Dr. Susan Lord vml@queensu.ca
Anishinaabemowin: Gimaakwe Gchi-gkinoomaagegamig atemagad Naadowe miinwaa Anishinaabe aking
Kanien’keha (Mohawk): UNe Queen’s University e’tho nońwe nikanónhsote tsi nońwe ne Haudenasaunee tánon Anishinaabek tehatihsnónhsahere ne óhontsa.
English: Queen’s University is situated on traditional Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe territory.
For more information on the history of this land, and why it is important to acknowledge this land and its people, please see this link to the Queen’s Encyclopedia: http://www.queensu.ca/encyclopedia/t/traditional-territories
PSAC Local 901, Unit 2 – info@psac901.org
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