Thursday, October 12, 2006

CFP: Time Out--Images of Play and Leisure in Maine

TIME OUT: IMAGES OF PLAY AND LEISURE
CALL FOR PAPERS
Eighth Annual Northeast Historic Film Summer Film Symposium
Thursday, July 19 - Saturday, July 21, 2007

Recognizing that play and recreation are integral facets of modern life, the theme of the Eighth Annual Summer Film Symposium is “Time Out: Images of Play and Leisure.” Since the late 19th century Maine has been known as a tourist destination for the original “rusticators,” to tastemakers who turned Acadia into a playground for the rich and famous, to working class families seeking a week of quiet camping and fun.

As Maine’s traditional economic bases in timber and fishing have declined, the state has been transformed into “Vacationland,” and tourism is now recognized as Maine’s largest employer. Other regions around the nation and throughout the world have witnessed similar changes, changes that speak to the increasing importance of play and leisure to individuals in the industrial and post-industrial era.

We invite papers and presentations that explore aspects of play and leisure as a subject of amateur and non-commercial film. We are interested in moving images that offer us a new historical, cultural, and critical understanding of play and leisure.

By examining moving images of play and leisure made by amateurs and for noncommercial purposes the aim of this symposium is to consider the details, diversity and perspectives on play and leisure time. Potential paper topics might include, but are not limited to subjects such as:

  • Involuntary leisure (e.g., TB sanitaria)

  • Work in the tourism/leisure industry

  • Shopping as leisure

  • Back to the land movements

  • Fairs, carnivals and festivals

  • The Playground Movement

  • Religious holidays

  • Hunting and fishing

  • Tourism Dept/Chambers of Commerce Films

  • Gendered play

  • Scientific studies of play

  • Travel by rail, air, automobile

  • Marginalized leisure (nudism, drug use)


  • The NHF Summer Film Symposium is a multi-disciplinary gathering devoted to the history, theory, and preservation of moving images. The Symposium is noted for bringing together archivists, scholars, and artists in an intimate setting. NHF is located in Bucksport, a town of 5,000 on the coast of Maine (for more info about NHF, visit: http://www.oldfilm.org).

    Presenters have a full hour in which to deliver their paper and engage in discussion with their colleagues. Typically, presentations are 30 minutes, including moving images, and followed by 30 minutes of discussion. The symposium is open to archivists, artists and scholars from all disciplines.

    Northeast Historic Film has become internationally recognized for its wide range of amateur, documentary, personal and industrial films of New England’s people and those who visit from throughout the world. NHF is the repository of over six million feet of film and holds an international reputation as a regional archive at the forefront of collecting, preserving and studying our moving image heritage. It houses a 125-seat cinema with 35mm, 16mm, videotape, and DVD projection, and we are looking for presentations that include interesting moving images.

    Please send 250-500 word abstracts outlining your paper ideas to the Symposium Program Committee at the address below. We prefer e-mail submissions, but will accept any format. We are happy to discuss your presentation ideas with you in advance of a formal submission. The Symposium Program Committee will begin reviewing proposals on February 1, 2007.

    Please send proposals and inquiries to:
    Eric Schaefer, NHF Summer Film Symposium Chair
    Department of Visual and Media Arts
    Emerson College
    120 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02116
    USA
    or
    eric_schaefer[at]emerson.edu

    NOTE: If I recall correctly, I attended a showing of a similar presentation by this group at the Portland Museum of Art a few years ago, and enjoyed myself immensely! Highly recommended. --Michelle

    1 comment:

    downeast misanthrope said...

    Involuntary Leisure would be a GREAT name for a band.