CFP: Documentary

Velvet Light Trap
Issue #60 Documentary Now

CFP: Documentaries have undergone significant stylistic, aesthetic,
and representational shifts from early ethnographic films and the
Griersonian tradition to contemporary work by filmmakers as varied as
Trinh T. Minh-ha and Michael Moore. Debates regarding the role of the
documentarian, ethics of production, editing, indexicality, claims to
"truth" and reality, and representations of
race/ethnicity/gender/sexuality/class have altered how audiences and
scholars consider documentaries. Issue 60 of the Velvet Light Trap
continues these dialogues by seeking essays for a special issue on
contemporary documentary. Essays examining debates in documentary
theory and criticism in light of contemporary contexts,
stylistic/textual strategies, changing patterns of distribution and
exhibition, and industrial analyses are particularly encouraged. The
editorial board is especially interested in changes in documentary
theory, practice and criticism from the 1980s-present.


Possible topics for this issue inclubut are not limited to:

reality television
"reality" and hyperreality
sound style
music
documentary and transnational trade/global flows
social movements and filmmaking
production models
audiences and reading formations
distribution and technology
indexicality
technology and/or distribution
documentary theory
contemporary politics and documentary
filmmakers/movements and production philosophy
editing, style, and aesthetics
sexual/gender/racial representations
PBS/BBC/public service documentary style
News documentary
Documentaries and education
Documentaries and film festival circuits
Distribution
Cable TV and documentary texts
Case studies of particular filmmakers (e.g., Wiseman, Morris)
avant garde/experimental documentary
animation, internet, and/or new media in documentary texts
short form documentary
budgeting and financing
community organizing around the documentary

To be considered for publication, papers should be between 4,500 and
7,500 words, double-spaced, in MLA style, with the author's name and
contact information included only on the cover page. Queries regarding
potential submissions also are welcome. Authors are responsible for
acquiring related visual images and the associated copyrights. For
more information or to submit a query, please contact Kyle Conway
(krconway@wisc.edu), David Resha (djresha@wisc.edu), Charlie Michael
(camichael@wisc.edu), or Ben Aslinger (bsaslinger@gmail.com). All
submissions are due September 15, 2006.

The Velvet Light Trap is an academic, refereed journal of film and
television studies published semi-annually by University of Texas
Press. Issues are coordinated alternately by graduate students at the
University of Texas-Austin and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
After a prescreening, articles are anonymously refereed by specialist
readers of the journal's Editorial Advisory Board, which includes such
notable scholars as Charles Acland, David William Foster, Sean
Griffin, Bambi Haggins, Heather Hendershot, Charlie Keil, Michele
Malach, Dan Marcus, Nina Martin, Tara McPherson, Walter Metz, Jason
Mittell, James Morrison, Steve Neale, Karla Oeler, Lisa Parks, and
Malcolm Turvey.

Please address submissions to:
Velvet Light Trap
6th Floor, Vilas Communication Hall
821 University Avenue
UW-Madison
Madison, WI 53706

Billy Vermillion