Comparative Approaches to Movie-going, Exhibition and Reception

HoMER@NECS 2014, 19-21 June 2014, Milan, Italy. Call for HoMER papers and panels at the NECS 2014 International Conference Submission Deadline: 10th January, 2014 Please email all inquiries to Pierluigi Ercole, Email: percole@brookes.ac.uk
Following last year successful HoMER@NECS conference in Prague, The History of Movie-going Exhibition and Reception (HoMER) group is organizing a series of panels within the NECS 2014 International Conference in Milan, Italy. HoMER gathers international scholars who research the complex phenomenon of the social and cultural experience cinema-going, film exhibition and reception from a multidisciplinary perspective. After a productive review of the current state of research within this expanding field the time is right for developing comparative approaches to the numerous micro-historical national studies. The analysis of patterns and networks in film culture also calls for special attention to methodology. We aim to bring European perspectives on cinema-going and film exhibition into dialogue with US, Australian, African, South American and Asian research. We support the submission of individual papers or pre-constituted panel proposals from HoMER members and interested non-members, as we seek to bring together scholars dealing with these subjects from all over the globe. Possible topics: The attention given to top down forces of industry, commerce and ideolo gy as against bottom up forces of experience, consumption and escapism. Contesting concepts of public and private space in media experience. Questions relating to cinemas integration into to the metropolitan experience of modernity, compared to its role in the construction of community in less urbanized and rural areas. Film exhibition, cinema-going and film experience in relation to theories of imperialism, post-colonialism, etc. Long term tendencies such as the rise of cinemas in rural and urban environments, the boom of cinema-going, the decay and subsequent closure of many (provincial and neighborhood) cinemas and the rise of multiplexes. Tensions between commercial and/or ideological film exhibition, between urban and rural areas, and between provinces and regions. Institutional developments, geographical location and programming trends.

Audience and film experiences in urban and rural contexts. A comparative international perspective on cinema-going and exhibition. Diasporic cinema-going practices. Representations in films of cinema-going, film exhibition, film culture(s). Reflections on methods: How to reconcile/combine large scale analysis with in depth case study? How to link up national or regional databases on exhibition and cinemagoing?

We explicitly invite non-HoMER scholars who are working on the mentioned topics and want to share their research with international colleagues. A selection of papers presented at the conference will be published in an edited volume in 2015 (publisher to be confirmed) HoMER@NECS 2014 will also be preceded by a one day HoMER workshop (practical information on the workshop will follow). Practical information You can submit an individual paper proposal or a pre-constituted panel proposal. Panels may consist of 3 to 4 speakers with a maximum of 20 minutes speaking time each. All presenters are obliged to provide a title, an abstract of maximum 150 words, 3 to 5 key bibliographical references, name of the presenter and institutional affiliation, plus a short panel rational (150 words max.) in case o pre-constituted panels. Please submit all individual HoMER paper or HoMER panel proposals before 10th January 2014 to Pierluigi Ercole (percole@brookes.ac.uk). You will be notified of acceptance shortly thereafter. Please note that HoMER papers and panels should not be submitted via the NECS online submission system, but via e-mail to Pierluigi Ercole, as they will be reviewed separately by the HoMER 2014 programming team. The HoMER programming team: Daniel Biltereyst Pierluigi Ercole Mariagrazia Fanchi Phillippe Meers Clara Pafoort-Overduin John Sedgwick Judith Thissen Daniela Treveri-Gennari Lies Van de Vijver