Panel Proposal for 2007 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference
Chicago, March 8-11, 2007

European Cinema in Postwar America
Organizers, Karl Schoonover and Chris Cagle

Increasingly, film historical scholarship argues against conceiving
of national cinemas as self-contained entities, focusing instead on
transnational influence and international imbrication. This panel
aims to juxtapose and unite different approaches to understanding the
industrial, social and political impact of European cinema on U.S.
movie-going and filmmaking from roughly 1945 to 1965. It is broadly
accepted that the distribution of European films in the United States
at the end of the Second World War heralded a new era of interest in
international cinema here, but beyond box office how do we measure
the influence of these imports upon the social field of American
cinema?

We invite approaches to this problem. Papers may be readings of
individual texts or directors or may offer broader studies of genres,
national cinemas or industrial practices. Ideally, panel participants
will use the textual and historical studies to touch on broader
theoretical issues, though the avenues of inquiry are open. Such
issues may include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Hollywood imitations of European genres, styles and movements
(Neorealism, the Rank - Studios "quality" film, French New Wave,
kitchen sink drama, the exploitation-art film)
- Effects of the American market on European films and production
- Distributor or exhibitor marketing practices
- Art cinema as place: exhibitor strategies or local film cultures
- Co-production as an industrial practice before 1965
- The relation between art cinema and "low" genres
- The place of imported films or foreign production companies in the
U.S. film industry
- National quotas, trade policy, or international regulation
- Cosmopolitan taste and the rise of the critic
- Stateside discursive or industrial conception of "Europeanness"

By contributing to the growing historiography that attends to the
industrial and aesthetic details of this transatlantic exchange, we
aim to revisit and interrogate the social and political assumptions
that accompany the concept of art cinema. We hope to enrich our
understanding of a period of transnational influence that is often
acknowledged but rarely explored in depth.

Send a brief abstract or any queries to Chris Cagle
(Chris_Cagle_at_mindspring.com). DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS: August 8.

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Received on Tue Jul 18 2006 - 17:43:46 EDT