List members may be interested in the following conference:

Reproduction on Film conference
23-25 September 2015
Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge

Reproduction is one of the most persistently generative themes in the 
history of cinema. Storks, cabbage fairies, golems, homunculi, robots, 
parasitic aliens, and clones have fascinated film-makers and audiences for 
more than a century. Today we have grown accustomed not only to the once 
controversial portrayals of sperm, eggs, and embryos in science and 
medicine, but also to the artificial wombs, monstrous creations, and 
dystopian futures of science fiction and fantasy. Yet, while scholars have 
explored key films and genres, especially in response to the recent cycle 
of Hollywood 'mom coms', the analytic potential of reproduction on film 
remains largely untapped. This conference aims to explore reproduction as a 
theme to unite diverse strands of film history that are not usually 
considered in the same frame. Reproduction can link films across a wide 
range of periods, national cinemas, and genres as different as slapstick 
and horror, melodrama and social realism, sex education and experimental. 
Moreover, biological reproduction is a potent metaphor for the mechanical 
reproduction of cinematography.

The conference will bring together scholars representing various 
disciplines and periods spanning the entire history of film. It will begin 
on Wednesday evening with a screening of short films; details to be 
confirmed. Talks on Thursday and Friday will summarize pre-circulated 
papers and be followed by discussion in 45-minute slots, in such a way as 
to promote critical engagement between fields and approaches. A preliminary 
programme can be found here: 
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/medicine/filmconference.html

The registration fee of £30 (£15 for students/unwaged) includes lunch and 
tea/coffee on both days. Registration opens soon.

Organisers: Jesse Olszynko-Gryn (Department of History and Philosophy of 
Science, University of Cambridge), Caitjan Gainty (Department of History, 
King's College London) and Patrick Ellis (Department of Film and Media, 
University of California, Berkeley)

Supported by a Wellcome Trust strategic award in the history of medicine to 
the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of 
Cambridge, and by the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and 
Medicine at King's College London.

For enquires, please email: [log in to unmask]