Panels are being formed on The March of the Penguins. Few documentaries enjoy so much theatrical success; most languish in limited release. What does it take to place a “nature film” into mainstream movie houses? Are compromises made to reach the wider audience? Is television a better venue for environmental issues? Must an environmental message become a romanticized narrative to be affective? How do the global warming warnings of this film connect, intersect, or diverge from An Inconvenient Truth (2006)? How do political and environmental voices help or hinder ecosystems?

These are but a few questions that might be explored and this is but one thread to be unraveled in the panels on Nature and the Environment in Documentary Film and Television at the Film & History 2006 conference. See details below and go to www.filmandhistory.org for complete conference updates.

2006 Film & History Conference—“The Documentary Tradition”
8-12 November 2006
Dolce Conference Center – Dallas, TX

Deadline: July 20, 2006

AREA: Nature and the Environment in Film and Television Documentaries

Early filmmakers often traveled the globe to introduce audiences to views of far away places. Niagara Falls and scenes of the Holy Land shared the screen with the dancing Carmencita. Later, the filmic exploration of the natural world added support to the argument that movies were educational tools.

Walt Disney, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and Carl Sagan took audiences into new natural worlds.

The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and PBS continue the tradition of nature film. NASA, too, has a television channel. Audiences continue to share a fascination for the natural world, as witnessed by the success of The March of the Penguins (2005). Why?

Environmentalist and preservationist groups use the power of film and television to disseminate information, create public awareness, and activate change. And there is a political aspect; witness the work of Al Gore and Robert Kennedy Jr.

Presentations are invited on individual documentaries, television programming, or on particular directors and cinematographers. A survey of movies analyzing our cultural fascination and identification with nature films and the ways in which nature and the environment are filmed would be welcomed.

Panel proposals, for up to four presenters, are also welcome, but each presenter must submit his or her own paper proposal.

Deadline: July 20, 2006

Send a 200-word proposal to:

Deborah Carmichael
Department of English
Oklahoma State University
205 Morrill Hall
Stillwater OK 74078
Email: debcar6569@aol.com
Phone/fax: 405.372.1883