REMINDER The Representation of Youth in Contemporary French Cinema

full name / name of organization: 
NeMLA 2016

Proposals are now being accepted for the NeMLA conference that will be held in Hartford, CT March 17th-20th 2016.

The numerous accolades received by Thomas Cailley's film Les Combattants/Love at First Sight at the 2015 César Awards Ceremony (it garnered the awards for Best First Film, Best Actress and Most Promising Actor) is the most recent example of French cinema's long-standing fascination with youth. As noted by Dominique Thévenin in his foreword to Karin M. Egloff's book Les Adolescents dans le cinéma français: entre deux mondes: "[t]he adolescent dilemma, its multitude of external determinants and its internal psychological changes have been a topic of predilection among contemporary French filmmakers" (i) . Ever since François Truffaut's Les 400 coups, filmmakers have investigated the complexity of youth, while offering an honest and often uncompromising vision of society at a given time in its history. In recent years, the works of emerging film directors such as Isild Le Besco, Mia Hansen-Løve or Céline Sciamma have displayed a common desire to avoid oversimplification in order to reveal youth in all its ambiguities.
Despite its undeniable impact in French cinema, little has been done to analyze and discuss the thematic and aesthetic significance of this trend. By understanding youth in a broad sense (childhood, adolescence and young adults), this session intends to showcase the various ways in which contemporary French cinema (from the 1990's to the present) has been challenging preconceived ideas about this age group, presenting us with alternative interpretations of youth.

We particularly welcome presentations that focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics:

-Youth and sexuality.
-Youth and the banlieue.
-Coming-of-age narratives.
-Youth and the concept of film genre.
-The significance and treatment of the body in the representation of youth.

For all the information regarding the 2016 NeMLA conference and the format to submit abstracts, click on the following link: http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention.html

To submit abstracts, please click on the following link: http://www.cfplist.com//nemla/Home/S/15594

The deadline to submit abstracts is September 30th 2015.

For any further questions, please contact Dr. Romain Chareyron at the following address: romain.chareyron@wsu.edu