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Call for Papers: 'Ealing Revisited' (UK) (06/01/06; 11/04/06)

Call for papers for a one-day conference at the University of Hull, England.

Saturday 4 November 2006

'Ealing Revisited'

This conference hopes to initiate a timely reassessment of the films made by
Ealing Studios, one of the most notable studios in British cinema history.
Coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the opening of Ealing's studio
complex in 1931, this conference will provide a focus for new research into
its more familiar output (the 'Ealing Comedies', its war films and social
problem films) as well as an opportunity to foreground films which fall
outside its 'golden' period both geographically (for instance, in its
Australian projects) and thematically. This conference aims to take stock of
established approaches to the study of Ealing Studios (unearthing 'maverick'
directors working within the studio system or ways in which the studio set
about 'projecting Britain') but also to explore new directions.

Keynote speakers: Professor Charles Barr and Philip Kemp.

I. B. Tauris have expressed interest in publishing a collection of essays
based on papers from this conference.

We welcome proposals for papers on any related topic, which may include the
following:

- Case studies of individual films from a variety of theoretical
perspectives

- Commonwealth films.

- Directors within the studio system: 'mavericks' (for instance, Robert
Hamer and Alexander Mackendrick) and more conventional figures.

- Documentary aesthetics in Ealing fiction films.

- Ealing as resource: the BBC's use of Ealing facilities.

- Early Ealing (before Balcon).

- Genre and canon at Ealing: comedy, war films, horror, social problem
films, thrillers, costume dramas.

- The international reception of Ealing films.

- Legacy and afterlife: what Ealing personnel did next, types of filmmaking
influenced by Ealing, remakes (for instance, the Coen Brothers' version of
The Ladykillers).

- 'Lost' Ealing: unmade projects, critically neglected or unfulfilled films
and directors (for instance, Seth Holt).

- New Ealing: recent attempts to revive the studios.

- Producers within the studio system: Michael Balcon and Basil Dean.

- 'Projecting Britain' (England? Scotland? Europe?): Ealing and national
identity.

- Propaganda and the Ministry of Information.

- Stars and character actors.

- Teaching Ealing: reflections on classroom utility.

- Television documentaries about Ealing: biography and film history.

- Women and Ealing.

- Writers and other key personnel at Ealing (for instance, T. E. B. Clarke,
Diana Morgan, Douglas Slocombe, Monja Danischewsky, Georges Auric).

- Writing about Ealing now: critical reception; publishing academic studies;
online resources; methodological frameworks (for instance the study of genre
and studio systems).

Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words, for papers lasting no
longer than 20 minutes, by 1 June 2006. Contact: Dr Melanie Williams at
melanie.williams_at_hull.ac.uk or by post to 'Ealing Conference', Melanie
Williams, Film Studies, University of Hull, Hull, East Yorkshire, United
Kingdom, HU6 7RX.

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Received on Mon Feb 20 2006 - 19:28:52 EST