CFP -- Conference: Global Exploitation Cinemas: Historical and Critical Approaches, University of Lincoln, May 2015

American theatrical poster for 'The Party Crashers' (1958)

Find below the CFP for a conference I am helping to co-organise. The event is being funded by the University of Lincoln and will take place on 28 and 29 May 2015 at the historic Ritz Cinema and Theatre (http://ritzcinema.org/)


GLOBAL EXPLOITATION CINEMAS:
HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL APPROACHES

An academic conference and film event
The Ritz Cinema and Theatre, Lincoln (UK), 28 and 29 May 2015

CONFIRMED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Eric Schaefer (Emerson College, US)
author of Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959 (Duke University Press, 1999) and editor of Sex Scene: Media and the Sexual Revolution (Duke University Press, 2014)

I. Q. Hunter (De Montfort University, UK)
author of British Trash Cinema (BFI, 2012) and Cult Film as a Guide to Life (Bloomsbury, 2015).

The academy's approach to film history has undergone a significant shift in the 21st century, with previously marginalised, despised and neglected aspects of popular film being afforded unprecedented levels of attention. This process of revaluation has occurred on a global scale, highlighting the development of rich and relatively uncharted alternative film cultures and histories, including those of "exploitation" films, and in turn enabling fresh empirical and critical methodologies.

The academic conference and film event "Global Exploitation Cinemas"-which is being funded by the University of Lincoln (UK) and is working in conjunction with the forthcoming Bloomsbury book series of the same name-aims to bring together an eclectic and diverse range of approaches to exploitation cinema, welcoming any perspective that adds to the burgeoning scholarship in this field of study. Proposals which emphasise the international dimensions of exploitation cinema are especially welcome, but the conference will remain broad and inclusive in considering topics for discussion.

Potential subjects and approaches include, but are by no means limited to:

* Critical reception and/or re-assessment
* Socio-historical dimensions and debates
* Form and aesthetics
* Global and transnational perspectives
* Sexploitation
* The pornographic feature film
* Media controversies and censorship
* Publicity and advertising
* Stardom
* Directors, writers and producers
* Movements, cycles and sub-genres
* Exhibition and distribution
* Geographies
* Restoration and re-appropriation
* Exploitation in the video age
* Nostalgia
* Publishing
* "Mainstream" infiltrations
* DVD documentaries/special features
* Festivals and conventions
* Ephemera and the collector
* The internet and participatory cultures
* Neo-exploitation in the 21st century

Abstracts (of around 300 words) and some brief biographical information (of around 50 words) should be sent no later than FRIDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2015 to the following email address: [email protected].

For more information about the event (and its affiliated book series) go to: http://globalexploitationcinemas.weebly.com.

We look forward to receiving your abstracts!

Organising committee:

Dr Shaun Kimber (Bournemouth University)
Dr Neil Jackson (University of Lincoln)
Dr Johnny Walker (Northumbria University)
Mr Thomas Joseph Watson (Northumbria University)