Auteurs in the 21st Century

Fourth Annual Yale Film Studies Graduate Conference

April 6-7, 2012

Yale University, New Haven, CT

Is the concept of auteurism still valid for exploring filmmaking in the 21st century? After its introduction by Cahiers du Cinéma in the 1950s, auteur theory became both the predominant conceptual framework for scholarly analysis of innovative filmmakers’ work and the heuristic for film appreciation in the popular imagination. Although auteurism has come under sustained attack in recent decades, its allure has persisted – overwhelmingly, we still view films as being the work of a singular creative consciousness.

Since 2000, the realities of filmmaking have changed in radical ways, whether through the proliferation of digital technology, the multiplicity of distribution channels, the solidifying of a global festival circuit, the blurring of distinctions between the cinema and the gallery, or the ongoing transformation of our notions of intellectual property. With the passing of some of the titans of auteurism, an entire system of filmmaking came to an end. Others have risen to take their place, but they are subject to a vastly different structural configuration.

With a focus on recent cinema, this conference will seek to assess the continued viability of the auteurist model of filmmaking, and test it against other theoretical paradigms.

We welcome papers on topics including, but not limited to:

- Contemporary auteurs who have had their debut in the last decade (e.g. Weerasethakul, Serra, Mungiu, Alonso, etc.)

- The continued work of established figures (e.g. Godard, Oliveira, Straub, etc.).

- The validity of auteur theory, past and present, and the conceptual frameworks which could potentially supersede it.

- The current relationship between auteurs, national cinemas and the global festival circuit.

- The figure of the auteur in the context of media hybridisation.

- The expanded notion of auteur (programmers, curators, video artists, etc.)

- Auteurism in television studies

- Definitions of authorship in response to the shifting conditions of intellectual property.

The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2012. Please e-mail abstracts and inquiries to mihaela.mihailova@yale.edu and rea.amit@yale.edu. Abstracts should be limited to 300 words.

The Conference Organizing Committee

Rea Amit, Anne Berke, Jordan Brower, Daniel Fairfax, Mihaela Mihailova

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Auteurs in the 21st Century
Yale University, April 6-7, 2012
http://www.yale.edu/filmstudiesprogram/