CFP: Language/Cinema (University of Leeds)

LANGUAGE/CINEMA

An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference

University of Leeds

December 7- 8th, 2012

Call for Proposals

Deadline: August 1^st, 2012

Film theorist Christian Metz once stated that: ‘The image is like a word, the sequence is like a sentence, for a sequence is made up of images like a sentence of words’. Though ground-breaking in its day, such an understanding has been contested on the basis that a linguistically-oriented semiology cannot adequately account for all the properties of the film medium. For instance, Gilles Deleuze rejects the notion of a language of cinema, referring instead to a language in cinema.

Whether in the film form or content, language remains a crucial issue in cinema. It is fundamental in the construction of an original story and script, in particular in literary adaptations. Language is the substance of the dialogue, be it spoken or conveyed in the form of intertitles. Language is also a visual component of the film, for example, in diegetic signs and billboards, or extradiegetic subtitles. Additionally, the use of language can be the very subject matter of a film, in a transnational world where multiculturalism is constantly reflected on screen.

The association of cinema with language offers an engagement with the text that both challenges and enriches the critique of the film medium in a variety of ways. This conference seeks to expand and explore the theme of language of, in and beyond cinema. This is a call for postgraduates to submit proposals around topics which include, but are not restricted to:

• · Cinema as language
• · Film and the written word
• · Literary and theatrical adaptations
• · Verbal and body language
• · Language and New Media technology
• · Regional dialects and identities
• · Endangered/minority languages and cinema
• · Language and intertextuality
• · Intertitles in silent and sound cinema
• · Subtitles, dubbing and the question of translation
• · Language and cosmopolitanism
• · Language and national identity
• 
  

Filmmakers and practitioners are also welcome to showcase their work at the conference.

Please send a 300 word abstract along with a 150 word biography to cwcinterns@gmail.com by August 1^st, 2012. Selected participants will be informed by September 1st. Please feel free to circulate this Call for Papers to your contacts. We look forward to welcoming you to Leeds in December 2012.

This Conference is supported by:

Mixed Cinema Network (Leeds, York, Sheffield)

WUN (Worldwide Universities Network)

BAFTSS (British Association for Film, Television and Screen Studies)