Call for Submissions 2017 "Gesture in East European Cinema"

2016-09-03

Gesture has proven to be one of the most discussed and controversial notions both in historical and current film and media research. It is a “mobile”, or “migrating” concept (Noland/ Ness), which has been omnipresent since the beginning of cinema and film theory. In an oscillating manner, it reappears in film discourse either as a concept inherent to acting style and, thus, as a rival of film montage in expression of movement (Tsivian, Iampolski), or as the very core of film image (Agamben); sometimes as a universal, interdisciplinary and anti-ideological category capable of overcoming the disconnection between natural sciences and the humanities (Flusser). Being a kind of mediumterminus, gesture can suture various concepts crucial to cinema theory:  mise-en-scène, movement, action, affect, rhythm, acting style, montage, etc.

The online academic journal APPARATUS invites applications for a themed issue on the concept of gesture in film and film theory with the focus on Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Тhe special issue welcomes  paper proposals exploring gesture as a cinematic concept both in historical and theoretical perspectives. We seek to discuss a possible inner connection of corporeality, film techniques and modes of thinking. The issue is to be published in autumn 2017. Papers can address, but are not limited to one the following issues:

  • national characteristics of bodily comportments, mimic and gestures on screen;

  • (history of) film gestures in Eastern Europe in view of sociologically conceived “techniques of body” (Mauss); “somatic codes of social discrepancies” (Bulgakowa) or alike;

  • projects of gesture theory and of related concepts in East European context: e.g. “defining gesture”, “line”, “geometrical flourish”, etc. (Eisenstein), “physiognomy” (Balázs), “gesture of filming” (Flusser), “carpalistics” (Tsivian);

  • theoretical approaches to gesture and film apparatus (e.g. camera movement, perspective, framing, montage, colour, sound);

  • intermediality (film gesture and theatre practices/literature/art/dance/fashion, etc.);

  • gesture in interrelation with and as transcendence of concurrent categories, such as hand, face, movement, affect, and others.

Abstracts:

Please submit the title and abstract in English, German or Russian (300-500 words) alongside a short biography including name, affiliation (or ‘Independent Scholar’), email, and the most important publications if applicable as Word-documents to apparatusjournal@gmx.com. Deadlinefor abstract submissions: October 1st, 2016. A selection of authors will be invited to submit full papers on October 15, 2016.

Articles:

Deadline for article submission is January 1st, 2017.  Please submit your paper online. URL: http://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus/author/submit. All articles are subject to peer review, and will be published according to the journal’s editorial policies. These are: double-blind peer review, multilingual contents, multimedia format, and open access. Articles can be submitted in any Eastern European language, English or German and should be between 4,000 and 8,000 words (including endnotes, bibliography, abstracts, etc.). Contributors are encouraged to include clips and images. A style guide can be found here: http://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus/about/submissions#authorGuidelines.


Should you have any questions on this particular issue, do not hesitate to contact us: apparatusjournal@gmx.com.