FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS

                              Documentary Now!

 A Conference on the Contemporary Context and Possibilities for the Documentary Genre

Conference Location: Birbeck College, Malet Street, London

Dates: Saturday April 14^th & Sunday April 15^th 2007

9am-5pm

 This conference, sponsored by Brunel University,  aims to bring together scholars, filmmakers and interested members of the public to discuss current trends in documentary practice, from the return of documentary as a theatrical box office phenomenon, to broadcast television and beyond. It will explore questions of industry, audiences, questions of aesthetics, documentary theory, questions of political engagement, documentary’s relationship to the mainstream media and other issues.

Themes For The Conference

• Documentary and the public sphere
• Documentary in the 21st century (new modes and hybrids, new technologies such as internet, phones, podcasting etc).
• The changing TV climate for documentary
• Documentary audiences.
• The renaissance in theatrically-released documentary.
• Questions of 'authorship' in relation to recent documentary.
• New challenges for documentary distribution and exhibition
• Documentary in the post-9/11 and post-7/7 political world.
• New types of drama-documentary/the relationship between fiction and non-fiction.
• Documentary and investigative journalism.
• Censorship, regulation and 'fair dealing'/copyright issues; documentary and the law.

 If you would like to give a paper at the conference, please send proposals (around 150-300 words) to [log in to unmask]

 thanks

Mike Wayne