May 31 – June 2, 2016, Calgary (Alberta). Deadline Dec. 5, 2015.
Poverty rows, independents, B-studios, one genre and-star studios are so many instances of small outfits that either persisted as the industry’s centripetal forces pulled toward oligopoly and vertical integration or emerged to fill in impromptu needs. Throughout history, the small outfits have served various roles: from supplying exhibitors with much needed films, to allowing down-on-their luck filmmakers and actors to work, to contesting the rigidity of the Studio system.
This panel seeks to explore the diverse history of film’s independent productions, allowing for approaches privileging studio history and aesthetic. In this spirit, we invite papers that bring to light the history of little known studios¬—especially the often forgotten one-star studios—, studio styles and narrative constructions, industry trends and relations. While poverty row, independents and B-Studios have been studied as distinct phenomena; this panel seeks to bring together scholars working on the various iterations of American independent filmmaking to highlight common threads and histories. Connecting diverse iterations of the small outfit, this panel allows for diachronic and synchronic comparative studies of independent filmmaking.
Please contact me no later than December 5 if you’re working on something that might work for the panel—I certainly welcome initial inquiries. Submissions should consist of abstract (250-500 words), bibliography (3-5 sources) and brief bio. Deadline for submission is December 5, 2015; notifications will be sent by December 10.
Andrée Lafontaine, PhD Film and Moving Image Studies
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Université de Montréal
andreelafontaine@icloud.com