This SAMLA special session invites papers on any aspect of southerners as represented in contemporary film. We are especially interested in essays that address the transnational turn in southern film, as well as issues of authenticity, mythology and folklore in southern film. Other topics might include (but are not limited to) the southern documentary impulse, expressions of race, class and sexuality in contemporary southern film, adaptation and re-imaginings of southern literature, and new southern studies and southern cinema. We welcome submissions considering independent or popular films. By June 1, 2009, please send 250-word abstracts, institutional affiliations, and contact information via email to Dr. James Crank, Northwestern State University, at cranka@nsula.edu.