Date: 17 18 19 March 2000

Without detailed analysis of individual movies film study is inevitably stranded in assertion and generalisation. While the best writing of every theoretical persuasion has always worked closely on the texture of films, there have been major disagreements and debates about the nature of film style and mise en scène, the place of interpretation in film studies and the methodological frameworks for textual analysis. The conference will be devoted to the detailed study and interpretation of films, together with historical and theoretical perspectives on close analysis.

In addition to the familiar pattern of panel discussions and plenaries, the conference will include workshops in which speakers will present frameworks for analysis of the detail of a movie, as an introduction to discussion.

Proposals for three kinds of presentation are invited:

1. Close readings grounded in detailed analysis.
2. Discussion of historical and / or theoretical issues related to film analysis, style, interpretation etc.
3. Workshop introductions, designed to open up issues about a sequence (or sequences), as a prelude to extended debate (workshops will last about 90 minutes).

Titles of films to be discussed at the conference will be circulated in advance.

Abstracts should be about 200 words (presentations will be about 20 minutes in length) and should be submitted no later than 30 June 1999, to the address below.