Presented by: Cinema Studies Graduate Student Association
Dates: October 19 + 20, 2017
Keynote Speakers: Stephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux
Contact Email: CSGSA@mail.sfsu.edu

As the primary mode of experiencing moving images has drifted from the silver screen to home entertainment and digital devices, cinema’s role in popular culture must be interrogated. Just as the digital age has forced physical film onto the brink of extinction, so too has the movie theater become a place of decreasing significance. Simultaneously, definitions of cinema continue to expand. As disciplines have coalesced around terms like “new media” and “digital media,” the increasing ephemerality of cultural objects in the digital realm should be questioned. This conference seeks to explore contemporary moving images in the context of cinema in the digital age. Approaches may include but are not limited to: historiographical accounts of cinema and digital culture, de-centering or queering normative cultural texts, exploring new genres or categories of moving images, and investigating social implications of digital media texts.

Potential topics for consideration:

- Moving images and historicity in the digital age
- Cinematic form in relation to other media such as: video games, social networks, virtual reality, etc.
- Emergent forms of contemporary moving images
- Moving image texts that transgress boundaries through form or content
- Intersectional potentialities of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the digital realm
- Temporal displacement or ephemerality in digital culture
- Cultural studies and digital artifacts
- Traditional cinematic forms that de-center the viewer or medium such as: slow cinema, experimental film, polemic film, etc.

As a graduate student conference, we are accepting submissions from graduate students, lecturers, post-doctorate, adjunct faculty, and working artists of all disciplinary backgrounds. We welcome presentations and video essays on papers, films, and other forms of visual media. In order to be considered, please submit an abstract of the presentation (200-300 words) as well as a brief biographical statement (100 words) to Chase Menaker, Gabrielle Vasso, and Pavel Koshukov at CSGSA@mail.sfsu.edu.

Deadline for Submissions: August 31, 2017