**Apologies for cross-posting**
The Media and Politics Research Group is pleased to announce their first research seminar for this year, taking place on Tuesday, 20 October, 4.45pm-6pm, Roxby Building, Seminar Room 202 (tea/coffee at 4.45pm, seminar starts at 5pm). All welcome!
Dr Yannis Tzioumakis, University of Liverpool
Notes Towards the Periodisation of Contemporary American Independent Cinema
This paper approaches American independent cinema as a discourse that changes when socially authorised institutions (filmmakers, industry practitioners, trade publications, academics, film critics, fans, etc.) contribute towards its definition at different periods in the history of American cinema. Expanding on work I have done on the history of American independent cinema elsewhere*, my paper will focus on the changing discourse of independent cinema in the US approximately over the last 30 years. Specifically, it will offer a periodisation of contemporary American independent cinema arguing about the existence of three distinct periods: the “independent” (appr. 1979-1989); the “indie” (appr 1989-1996/7) and “indiewood” (appr. 1998/9-2008), which are marked by developments within the sector, including: the emergence and decline of independent distributors at specific times during the period; the changing nature of the classics divisions (from studio subsidiaries specialising in distributing non-US art films in the 1980s to specialty labels producing and distributing “independently spirited” films in the 1990s and 2000s); the increasing commercialisation of the sector and its negotiated place within a global entertainment economy; and the gradual questioning of the usefulness of the term “independent.”
* Tzioumakis, Yannis (2006) American Independent Cinema: An Introduction, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick and Tzioumakis, Yannis (2009) “From Independent to Indie” in The Spanish Prisoner, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp 11-27
Please visit the website http://www.liv.ac.uk/polcomm/mediapol for more details. If you are interested in the series and would like more information, or would like to be included on the mailing list, please email the organisers:
Dr Katia Balabanova ([log in to unmask])
Ms Katy Parry ([log in to unmask])
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Dr Katia Balabanova
Lecturer in Political Communication
School of Politics and Communication Studies
Roxby Building
University of Liverpool
Liverpool
L69 7ZT
UK
tel +44 151 794 2656
fax +44 151 794 3948
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.liverpool.ac.uk/polcomm
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