For our third issue (Spring 2012, online magazine) we look for articles on the topics: DREAD, GHOST, SPECTER and POSSESSION in Asian, African and Latin American Cinema. (Deadline for proposals 15/08/11).


Dread, Ghost, Specter, and Possession in Asian, African and Latin American Cinema

"For who can wonder that man should feel
a vague belief in tales of disembodied spirits
wandering through those places which they once
dearly affected, when he himself, scarcely less
separated from his old world than they, is for
ever lingering upon past emotions and bygone
times, and hovering, the ghost of his former
self, about the places and people that warmed
his heart of old?"
(Charles Dickens: Master Humphrey's Clock)

In our third issue of manycinemas we are turning our attention to the unexplainable and the supernatural. We are looking for academic essays on films in which we get in touch with “Dread, Ghost, Specter, and Possession.”

We are interested in cinematic aesthetics of films which show these phenomena out of the view of different cultural backgrounds. Like in the other issues these should be films from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Dread – cinema is a modern tale. The monsters of childhood/past come alive and haunt the protagonists on the screen. How do they meet their fears? How does the film show the fear? And, is there any escape?

Ghost – what kind of ghosts are manifested in non-western cinema? How do they haunt, or do they do such things at all?

Specter - dreams, visions, how does film show these things, from where do they come from, and what kind of meaning they have?

Possession – how is a character going to be possessed by something/someone. And how is the behavior of the possessed?

There are many movies all over the world which show one of these phenomena. We are looking for essays which analyze films on one, two, or more of the issue's topics.

We are interested in:

- the cultural anchors and meaning(s) of supernatural phenomena

- appearance of ghosts, specters, etc.

- the role of ghosts/ specters in movies (good or evil)

- dread and religion

- raising the dead

- juju films, yokai movies, etc.

- and much more

We are also looking for our rubric "Beyond the Screen" for an essay on this topic which is loosely connected to film like theater, music, dance, performance, visual culture, comic...

Please send us your proposal (300-500 words) with the titles of films you will include and a brief CV until 15th August 2011. Do not hesitate to mail us, if you have some questions.

The later articles should have a length of 3000 to 5000 words. For styleguide: look here http://www.manycinemas.org/styleguide.html

Please send your proposal to
Helen Staufer and Michael Christopher
manycinemas@anpa.de
or: editors@manycinemas.org

Manycinemas 01: urban/rural is now online.
Please have a look: manycinemas issue 01: urban/rural @
http://www.manycinemas.org/urban_rural.html