Ethos: A Digital Review of the Arts, Humanities, and Public Ethics—a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary online journal and digital forum based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—invites submissions for its April 2015 issue, entitled "Contemporary Film and Public Life." For this issue of Ethos, we invite submissions of original scholarly work that consider recent films (roughly defined in terms of the past twenty years) and the weight they bring to bear on our contemporary public life. What patterns and preoccupations characterize the current generation of films? How do certain popular genres of film (the Western, the romantic comedy, etc.) differ from their predecessors? How may the idea of genre itself be altered in contemporary film? What are the politics underlying the institutions (such as festivals and academic departments) supporting film studies? Where in public life do films surface, and how do they seem to inform public discourse? Other approaches might include:

• Film's changing place in the contemporary "media ecology" of the public sphere
• The documentary and filmic representations of historical "fact"
• The cinematic avant-garde
• New paratextual relationships of film to its viewership, pre- and post-release (crowdfunded films; microbudget films; films with a cult following; commercial camp)
• Cinema and celebrity culture
• Historical trauma (e.g., 9/11 or the conflicts in the Middle East)
• The short film

This issue will also consider studies of foreign-language films, although the essays themselves must be written in English and must translate quotations from the films. Furthermore, we invite essays that make interventions in recent film theory.

Ethos welcomes all submissions that engage with topics related to "Contemporary Film and Public Life." Articles should be between 4000 and 7000 words in length and should be submitted in a format adhering to the MLA guidelines. Ethos publishes articles written for a wider intellectual audience, so authors are encouraged to avoid—or, in the least, explain—technical jargon whenever possible. Submissions received before May 15, 2015 will be considered for the October 2015 issue.

Ethos is a digital project maintained by scholars based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to our referred journal, the project also features weekly review posts on cultural criticism and public life. To learn more, visit the project at www.ethosreview.org/.