Screening Social and Economic Transformations in East-Central Europe: Film and
Television as Writers and Rewriters of post-1989 History

Cluj-Napoca, Babes-Bolyai University, November 10-11, 2023

Abstracts submission deadline: August 15, 2023
Conference dates: November 10-11, 2023

This two-day interdisciplinary event brings together scholars interested in the contribution of cinema and television to the social and economic history of East-Central Europe. In focus are feature films, documentaries and television series made in the region in the twenty-first century. They can be audiovisual texts with an explicit historical ambition and an interest in delivering a social commentary on their present, a commentary that has gained historical value with the passage of time. We expect papers that, in relation to films and television shows, critically explore:
● original historical contributions, impacting topics, and specific modes of representation
● the historical testimony of stylistic choices
● budgets, financing, theatre and platform distribution, marketing, and national and international reception of historical film from the region
● capacity to challenge the metanarratives circulated by more established modes of representing the past
● specific genre conventions, subgenres and genre hybrids (docudramas, tragicomedies, slowburn thrillers)
● contribution to European heritage including issues of peripheral perspectives and self-orientalization
● connections between social history and representations of gender and sexuality
● the influence of commissioning, coproduction, and adaptation for the screen on the poetics of these texts
● the implication of public institutions in their value chain
● the role of awards and festivals in establishing heritage and historicity
● filmmakers and producers’ assumed role of historians and their participation in public dialogue
● specific methods of approaching these texts adapted to small cinemas, minor modes of representation, microhistory, second cinema, etc.
● the exploitation of these texts in secondary and tertiary education, as well as by public institutions.

We expect contributions from scholars with expertise in film and television studies, cultural studies, history, and the social sciences.

The event is organized by the exploratory research project Screening Social Transformations led by Constantin Parvulescu and hosted by the Janovics Center for Screen and Performing Arts at the Faculty and Theatre and Film at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca.

There is no conference fee. Organizers will provide coffee and snacks, and schedule a social event.

The organizing team plans to publish article versions of the presented papers in a special journal issue or edited collection.

Submit 200-300 word abstracts with a short bio and send queries to both Constantin Parvulescu constantin.parvulescu@ubbcluj.ro and Bogdan Popa george.popa@unitbv.ro.

We look forward to seeing you in Cluj!