CFP: "Documents for a feminist history of Latin American cinema"
CFP “Documents for a feminist history of Latin American cinema”
Special issue of Studies in Spanish & Latin American Cinemas
Editors: Marina Cavalcanti Tedesco, Elizabeth Ramírez-Soto and Isabel Seguí
In the last decade, Latin American feminist film studies has become an increasingly visible and significant area in traditional scholarly pursuits (publications and academic conferences) but also in the broader realms of film preservation, archival work, and international networks such as the recently created Latin American Women’s Audiovisual Research Network, RAMA.
Nevertheless, much work remains to be done to ensure the preservation, systematization and access to documentary sources for the study of women’s filmmaking in the region. On the one hand, national cinematheques and film archives are often in precarious circumstances due to political, economic and/or institutional reasons (as is the case of Cinemateca Brasileira currently under threat of closure by Jair Bolsonaro’s regime). On the other hand, personal collections stored in the houses or basements of film researchers, filmmakers or family members and friends are also in danger of disappearing. Typically, these private collections are key sources when pursuing research on women filmmakers since their work has often been overlooked by official archives.
To counteract this situation, we need projects that foster a collective retrieval and resignification of those primary materials that constitute the basis of our research work, such as programmatic documents; statutes concerning the creation of associations or collectives; minutes and meeting agendas; scripts or treatments for films that were never made; unpublished interviews; photographs; letters; production materials (shooting plans, budgets); promotional materials; and documentation produced in encounters and conferences (pamphlets, programs, posters), among others.
As a necessary step in this direction, the special issue of Studies in Spanish & Latin American Cinemas “Documents for a feminist history of Latin American cinema” seeks to map, systematize, make visible and offer a critical and contextual framework for understanding archival sources about the filmmaking practices of Latin American women who have worked in cinema, video and/ or television, both inside and outside the region. Our desire is to establish a close intergenerational and cross-cultural dialogue among researchers and filmmakers. Moreover, we plan to collaborate with already existing archives and collections.
We welcome contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following issues:
• Methodological and historiographic approaches to the writing of Latin American feminist film histories (archival turn, affective turn, critical fabulation, etc.).
• Specific study cases of archives and documentary sources such as: film festivals, conferences and meetings of film and video-makers; personal or family archives; archives of collectives or production companies; and other institutional and informal archives.
• Critical introductions to key documentary resources accompanied by the original documents. Proposals that include the excerpts of textual, photographic and or audiovisual materials can be included as part of the journal’s companion website.
• Critical engagement with primary sources gathered and produced by pioneer scholars, insufficiently researched or only recently made public.
Due to the nature of this special issue, we are interested in articles of a maximum of 5,000 words (bibliography and references included), in English or Spanish. Please send us a 500-word abstract and an author’s short bio (150 words) with copy to the three editors: ninafabico@gmail.com; eramirezsoto@sfsu.edu and isabel.segui@ed.ac.uk.
We strongly encourage potential contributors to informally discuss their proposals with the editors of the special issue before sending their abstract.
• Abstract proposal deadline: May 31, 2021
• Proposal acceptances: June 30, 2021