Cinema of the Arab World

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:  “Cinema of the Arab World”

The American University in Cairo

Film Program, Department of the Arts

P.O. Box 74 – AUC Avenue

New Cairo, Egypt 11835

Contact:  Terri Ginsberg, Director, AUC Film Program

Abstracts are sought for a film studies conference to take place March 3-4, 2018 on the New Cairo campus of The American University in Cairo.

Papers are welcome which problematize contemporary scholarship on cinema of the Arab world by offering critiques of colonized theory or by offering new lines of inquiry which carry the discourse beyond prevailing tendencies.

We seek papers that engage critically with, for example,

• the contemporary gravitation toward “world” and “transnational” cinema, including message-driven narrative films purporting socio-political commentary and critique
• the limitations of Arab cinema classics and festival darlings
• the longstanding practice of general and descriptive, theme-, genre- and auteur-based national cinema surveys
• the scope for research into commercial cinema audiences
• the culturalist emphasis on issues of “identity” and “difference,” religious “fundamentalism,” violence and “terrorism”
• intersections between experimental cinema and video art
• the seemingly endless deference to Continental philosophical fashions and trends (e.g., Agamben, Rancière, Deleuze, Foucault)
• new formations of celebrity and fan culture
• the relationship between satellite television, online platforms and contemporary cinema

In order to accommodate screening of clips and encourage more in-depth inquiry, papers are expected to run 30 minutes and will be organized into panels that will run approximately 2-¼ hours each.

Depending upon the availability of funds, every effort will be made to supply conference participants with 2 nights’ sleeping accommodations.  Meals will be provided during the conference.

Please submit 300-400-word abstracts, including a short biographical statement and a 5-entry bibliography, to Terri Ginsberg and Iman Hamam by August 31, 2017.  Acceptance notices will be circulated by October 1, 2018.  Participants must submit their completed papers by February 4, 2018 in order for their names to appear on the conference program.