CFP: “New Media and Cultural Transformation” Conference

New Media and Cultural Transformation:
Film, Television, Game, and Digital Communication

Call for Papers

School of Film-TV, Shanghai University
December 7-9, 2012

Over the past two decades, the computer and Internet-based new digital media have profoundly changed our conception of cinema, television, and communication, and led to the emergence of many new forms of artistic, social and self expressions. Consequently, new terms like “transmedia,” “convergence media,” “participatory culture,” “self mass communication,” “interactivity,” “e-cinema,” and “digitextuality” have been frequently evoked to describe and theorize this cultural transformation. While it is tempting to regard this as implying a revolutionary or “paradigm” shift in artistic/cinematic expressions and media practices, it is also of vital importance to recognize the fact that more traditional models associated with “old” media remain relevant in our everyday life. To address the significant changes to contemporary culture that are taking place under the rubric of new media, therefore, is to view the current moment as a critical juncture where almost every familiar medium is being “re-invented” and “re-mediated,” but at the same time to respect the historical roots from which digital art and media emerged.

Organized by Shanghai University’s School of Film-TV, the conference aims to open the doors to an interdisciplinary examination of new media and its implications for the arts and communication in the 21st century. With a broad focus on cinema, television, gaming, and communication, the conference encourages submissions of high-quality papers from around the world on new media and/or digital technology and its role in the developing aesthetics in cinema, television, gaming, and communication.

The following topics are especially but not exclusively sought from paper and panel proposals:

• Digital technology and Film/Animation/Television/Communication
• Interdisciplinary approaches to game and gaming
• Machinema
• Interactive media and the arts
• Social Media and self-communication and artistic expression
• Web-film and e-cinema
• Digital technology and content distribution, marketing & consumption
• Human-machine symbiosis
• Screen aesthetics and transmedia platforms
• Computer programming as an artistic practice
• Mobility and perpetual connectivity: fragmented time and digital nomads

The working languages of the conference will be Chinese and English. Simultaneous translation between Chinese and English may be provided, depending on budget.

Date and Location:

Date:            December 7-9, 2012 (Registration: Friday, Dec. 7, 2012);
Location: International Conference Center, Shanghai University

Registration:

Once accepted, NO registration fee is involved. Participants do need find their own sources for international traveling and on-campus accommodation expenses.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be made electronically via e-mail. Submissions will be acknowledged within 48 hours. Submissions shall imply that at least one author will register for the conference and be present at the time designated in the conference program.

Submissions must be received by Nov. 11 (Sunday), 2012.  E-Mail submissions to:

Prof. Shaoyi Sun
School of Film & TV, Shanghai University
P.O. Box 308, 149 Yan Chang Road
Shanghai 200072, China
E-Mail: shaoyis@gmail.com

For details, download the complete version of the conference Call for Papers.

CFP: Film Theory and Semiotics

Film Theory and Semiotics: Retrospective & Prospect
A Roundtable at the 11th World Congress of Semiotics
Nanjing, China, Oct. 5-9, 2012

The World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS), in its more than 40 years’ history, will be for the first time held in China from Oct. 5 through 9, 2012 at the Nanjing Normal University. This year’s general theme is “Global Semiotics: A Bridge Linking Different Civilizations.” The spirit of the 11th IASS Congress will be exhibited along two directions: the retrospective to the scholarly achievements attained over the past 40 years and the prospect for the desirable global-semiotic developments in the future.

Nanjing Normal University, formerly Jinling Women's College, one of the Top 10 most beautiful universities in China.

As an integral part of the congress, the roundtable “Film Theory and Semiotics: Retrospective & Prospect” is the sole event dedicated to the reexamination of the relationship between cinema and semiotics. The roundtable organizers, professors Bill Nichols and Shaoyi Sun, are now calling for abstracts or paper proposals relevant to the general theme of the roundtable. If you are interested in participating, please observe the following guideline:

Deadline for Submission: June 30, 2012;
Abstract/Proposal Length: No more than 500 words;
Where to Send Your Abstract/Proposal:
Please send your abstract/proposal to Prof. Bill Nichols AND Prof. Shaoyi Sun at: billnichols99@gmail.com and shaoyis@gmail.com.

For congress details, please visit the official site of the 11th Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies.

The Rivalry between the Two Film Festivals

In the next two months, there will be two international film festivals competing for limelight in China, namely the Beijing International Film Festival to be held from April 23 through 28, and Shanghai International Film Festival from June 16 to 24.

BJIFF was inaugurated last year, and at that time, although it was labeled an “international film festival” in English, its Chinese name, which was considered “official,” indicated it was only an “international film season,” a term derived from the more informal and previously used name “screenings.” The word “season” meant a lot in China, because at least on an official level, SARFT (the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television), the powerful government agency that oversees and supervises all matters that are related to film and television, recognizes the Shanghai International Film Festival as the only approved “international” film festival in China. This sounds a little ridiculous, but in a highly controlled cultural environment, it is only normal.

The situation seems to be changing, however. This year, the “Beijing International Film Season,” its literal translation of the Chinese, has been renamed. It now calls itself the “2nd Beijing International Film Festival” in both Chinese and English, a cultural “coup d’état” from the eyes of the organizers of the Shanghai International Film Festival, who have long boasted SIFF was the only “legitimate” international film festival in China.

Thus begins the rivalry. It is a rivalry not only because the two cities have a long history of cultural competition that goes back to the 1920s and 30s, but also because the two festivals’ dates are close, and Beijing, due to its currently undisputed status as China’s cultural center, has the potential to overshadow Shanghai in attracting films and film stars from around the world, and BJIFF has the potential to overtake SIFF to become the single most important film gathering event in China.

No matter what the result might be, it seems to be clear, at least for now, that the two festivals have one thing in common: they both value red carpet, opening and closing ceremonies, and bureaucratic support more highly than film selections. This is the very reason as to why the film selections category, usually the most important one for any well organized film festival, on BJIFF’s website remains absolutely blank even to this day. One may call this “film festival with Chinese characteristics.”