CALL FOR PAPERS
African Studies Association UK 2012 Conference
Leeds, Thu 6 Sept to Sat 8 Sept 2012

Convenor: Dr Lizelle Bisschoff
(University of Edinburgh & Africa in Motion Film Festival)
Email: l.bisschoff@ed.ac.uk / lizelle@africa-in-motion.org.uk

This series of panels will consist of presentations looking at new
innovations and trends in African cinema in the 21st Century. The past decade has seen an explosion of filmmaking activities from across the continent, with many new and innovative styles, themes, genres and production methods, and new trends in training, exhibition and distribution.
The purpose of this series of panels is to consider contemporary African cinema from all these angles. The growing recognition and importance of African cinema is evident from the number of academic institutions worldwide now incorporating teaching in this area, the number of film festivals, in Africa and internationally, dedicated to African cinema, the expanding international recognition and awards that African directors are receiving, and the growing accessibility to African cinema in terms of DVD distribution and general cinema exhibition. Of particular interest are papers that consider cross- and inter-regional, trans- and international collaborations and influences in African cinema from across the continent.

Some suggested themes for papers include:
- Francophone West African cinema, often considered the birthplace of
indigenous filmmaking in sub-Saharan Africa, has shown a great deal of development and expansion in recent years. How can we detect the influence and legacy of the pioneering francophone West African directors such as Ousmane Sembene, Dribril Diop Mambety, Souleymane Cisse and Safi Faye in more recent work from directors such as Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Abderrahmane Sissako, Mansour Sora Wade, Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, Mama Keita and Fanta Regina Nacro? What new themes and styles are being explored in contemporary films from francophone West Africa, moving beyond the social realist, historical confrontation, and pre-colonial films (as outlined by Manthia Diawara in 1992) of the first few decades of indigenous film production?

- Since the end of apartheid South African cinema has been undergoing a process of re-integration into African cinema as a whole. A large volume of films are being produced, South African films are increasingly gaining international recognition (Yesterday, Tsotsi, Life Above All and Skoonheid (Beauty), amongst others) and more black South African filmmakers are entering the industry. What is the state of the South African film industry today? What are the main genres and themes being explored? Who are the audiences for contemporary South African cinema?

- North African cinema has a prominent presence in world cinema, with contemporary films from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco increasingly being screened in cinemas and film festivals worldwide. North African films such as Making Of (Tunisia), VHS Kahloucha (Tunisia), The Yacoubian Building (Egypt), What a Wonderful World (Morocco), Française (Morocco), Pegasus (Morocco), The Yellow House (Algeria), Days of Glory (Algeria), and Barakat! (Algeria) are gaining worldwide recognition and exploring new genres and themes. How do these films express the social realities of the Arab, Islamic
and North African world? What might be the influence of the recent popular uprisings during the Arab Spring on filmmaking in these countries?

- The short film genre, which has always been an important format for
African filmmakers, with a strong presence at festivals such as FESPACO, is showing new developments with more experimentation with form and content, and a number of very talented young African filmmakers emerging. How can these new developments in African short filmmaking be observed in, for example, the work that has been funded by Focus Features' Africa First short film programme? How is short filmmaking in Africa used as a steppingstone to
feature film production?

- Popular filmmaking in Ghana and Nigeria (with its Nollywood phenomenon) has historically been at the forefront of low-budget, digital, video-film production, but this method has now been adopted by many other African countries such as Uganda (Ugawood), Kenya (Riverwood) and Tanzania (Bongowood). What are the relationships between these different video-film industries, how do they influence each other in terms of themes, narratives and style and how do they adopt and adapt each others' production and distribution methods? What are the similarities and differences between these video-film industries and the older (celluloid) film industries from regions such as francophone West Africa? Could/should digital filmmaking be regarded as the future of African cinema?

- The youngest indigenous film industries are those from countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and Namibia. In addition to these upcoming film industries, we also see high profile feature films being produced in countries which have not received the same kind of attention in African film studies as North African and francophone West African cinemas. Films such as Viva Riva! (DRC), Imani (Uganda), From A Whisper (Kenya), The Rugged Priest (Kenya), and The Hero (Angola) are receiving high acclaim and gaining recognition for these previously under-represented film industries. Which new regions are producing films and what are the main genres, themes and styles that can be observed in these films? Where do these filmmakers receive their training and funding?

- Documentary filmmaking remains an important genre in African cinema, and is employed by filmmakers for purposes such as to educate, to raise awareness about crucial social issues, to reinterpret history and myth, and to express individual and social identity. Long burdened by the development agendas of international donors, new developments can now be observed in African documentary filmmaking, with a large number of talented contemporary African documentary filmmakers such as Jean-Marie Teno, Osvalde Lavat, Katy Lena Ndiaye, Leila Kliani, Khalo Matabane and Jihan El-Tahri. How have these documentary filmmakers developed their own unique voices and what stories do they tell? Who are the audiences for African documentary films?

- What is the state of the distribution and exhibition of African cinema
today? What role do African film festivals such as FESPACO, Zanzibar
International Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival and Kenya International Film Festival play in increasing accessibility to African cinema on the continent and internationally? What are the main current distribution channels and what cross-regional streams and collaborations could be observed within distribution and exhibition of African cinema?

How to submit a paper:
To submit a paper for the ASAUK Conference you need to register via this link:
https://asauk.conference-services.net/authorlogin.asp?conferenceID=2615&language=en-uk

Once you have registered you can then log into the online submission system and submit your paper. Select "Click here to make a new submission" and you will be presented with a list of the panels currently proposed for the ASAUK Conference. Please select the panel into which you wish to submit your paper and click next to proceed. All papers require abstracts of no more than 250 words.

It is worth noting that you can use your one email and password to propose several papers. Should you wish to amend your personal or paper details you can this by logging into the system at any time up until the close of submissions.

The deadline for paper submissions is the 27th of April 2012.
For further information on ASAUK and how to register for the conference, please see:
http://www.asauk.net/conferences/asauk12.shtml

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Dr. Stefanie Van de Peer
University of Stirling
Scotland