Call for Papers: African Cinema Today, 06/04
We are soliciting papers for our panel African Cinema's
Today at the Aegis Conference to be held in London, UK
in June 2005 (website for conference is
www.aegis-eu.org/conference)
Here is the abstract of our panel.
AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
London, June 29 to July 3, 2005
Panel Title: African Cinemas Today
In a 2003 FESPACO interview, Souleymane Cissé claimed
that African cinema was "going to the dogs." What did
he mean by that and does the current situation give any
credence to his polemical statement? For this panel,
we invite papers ranging from general evaluations of
the state of African cinema today to the analysis of a
single film in the light of one or more of the
questions raised below. The plural in our title
reflects our desire to accommodate divergent
developments within the continent.
With its roots in Third Cinema and earlier commitments
to either national cinemas and/or pan-Africanism, how
has African cinema responded to the era of rampant
globalization and the coming of the 21st century? What
is the current relationship between so-called "auteur
cinema" and commercial film production and what impact
does the growing body of scholarship on commercial
cinema have on the critical literature on African film
in general?
On the material side, what are the current contexts of
production (economical, political, geographical)
distribution and exhibition? And how do the local and
global contexts influence the kinds of films that are
being produced? What impact is digital technology
having on African cinema? And does it allow for the
inclusion of previously excluded groups such as women
filmmakers, and what are the ramifications for the
(r)evolution of film aesthetics?
In discussing the debates, polemics and trends
represented in and surrounding African cinema today,
speakers' topics may include but are not limited to the
questions raised here.
Victoria Pasley
VictoriaPasley@mail.clayton.edu
Karen Bouwer
bouwerk@usfca.edu
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.