Call for papers

4th ANNUAL SOUTHEAST ASIAN CINEMAS CONFERENCE
SEA CINEMAS: ETHICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

JAKARTA, INDONESIA
DECEMBER 2007

The 4th Southeast Asian Cinemas conference (2007) emphasizes the intersection of theory, practice, and ethics. How do we, as film scholars, position ourselves within this debate/discourse? What ethical responsibilities should filmmakers have towards their subjects of representation? Is there a role for the film scholar as public intellectual? How might we begin to approach and discuss the ethics and politics of film criticism? What might film curators take into consideration when they select and preserve films for the archive?

Each year, the conference has included film practitioners in recognition of the crucial role they have played in increasing film education and discourse in the region. We have previously provided space for independent filmmakers and screenings of their works, focused on curriculum development, the importance of film archival work, and highlighting alternative cultures of cinema. This year, the conference seeks to include workshops that bring together film activists and film critics from within the region.

We invite panels on Ethics, Social Justice, and Collective Responsibility in SEA cinemas, particularly questions concerning:

• Representations of the following: race / ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, minority groups, indigenous peoples (along the registers of power and voice)
• Human rights documentaries
• Role of the academic / film critic / filmmaker in relation to his/her text and /or subject
• Pedagogy
• Censorship
• Film piracy
• Underground media
• Film criticism
• Media activism (film, video, and new media)
• Film policy (government, NGOs)
• Film organizations, filmmaker unions, and actors’ guilds and their roles in shaping film policy
• Cultural criticism
• Guerilla filmmaking practices and texts

We also welcome submissions for the open call.
Abstract Submission Deadline: June 30th, 2007
Please send an abstract (max. 500 words) to: Sophia Harvey at sophfeline@earthlink.net, Gaik Cheng Khoo at gaikcheng.khoo@anu.edu.au, May Ingawanij at mayadadol@yahoo.com or Benjamin McKay at Benjamin.mckay@artsci.monash.edu.my. We are currently attempting to get funding for travel subsidies and accommodations but cannot offer any as yet.