Locating the Lost Archive of Arab Cinema
À la recherche des archives perdues du cinéma arabe
Published on Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Abstract
This special issue asks how our histories of Arab cinema might change if we tackle the problem of Arab cinema’s lost archive(s). From most of the films made in Lebanon prior to 1975 to the cinemas of Iraq, Yemen, Palestine, Sudan, and elsewhere, there are many reasons why films and their histories may have been lost to current memory. From structural and environmental issues and the lack of investment in proper storage facilities and maintenance.
Announcement
Argument
This special issue asks how our histories of Arab cinema might change if we tackle the problem of Arab cinema’s lost archive(s). From most of the films made in Lebanon prior to 1975 to the cinemas of Iraq, Yemen, Palestine, Sudan, and elsewhere, there are many reasons why films and their histories may have been lost to current memory. From structural and environmental issues and the lack of investment in proper storage facilities and maintenance, to films lost to censorship and forgotten in the ravages of conflicts and time as they fell out of fashion or did not find distribution circuits; or, indeed, found them only on ephemeral channels, like now-defunct TV stations or fleetingly-lived digital sites. While, as Jacques Derrida wrote, the archive conveys both structures of power and gatekeeping, it also gestures to a space – perhaps online – where the materials of the past are collected. Yet, despite and with awareness of these structural limitations at the intersections of power and knowledge, archives remain crucial to our ability to research and develop sophisticated narratives of the past. A dearth of official and unofficial well-maintained film archives across the Arab world compounds our ability to understand the cinematic past.
The October 2021 special issue of Regards - revue des arts du spectacle (Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth) solicits articles on the problematics of writing cinema history sometimes without the films themselves, and often without archives. Building on scholarship by film scholars like Allyson Nadia Field (Uplift Cinema, Duke University Press, 2015), contributors are invited to submit scholarly pieces on topics that include, but are not limited to:
- Archiving film history in the Arab Middle East
- Formal and Informal Archives
- Studying cinema without films
- Digitization and the archive
- Histories and geographies of cinemas and cinema-going
- Histories of film-watching outside of cinemas
- Writing alternate film histories: The popular press and Arab cinema in its early decades
- What is a minor cinema?
- The forgotten genres of Arab cinema
Submission guidelines
Authors wishing to submit an abstract (in French, English or Arabic) are invited to send it to the following address: regards@usj.edu.lb.
Before January 15, 2021.
Authors should provide the following information:
- An abstract of the article (approx. 500 words).
- A mini bio-bibliography (approx. 100 words).
The abstracts will be examined by the editorial committee, and the authors will receive an answer before January 30, 2021.
Scientific Committee
- Hamid Aidouni, PR (Université Abdelmalek Essaadi, Maroc)
- Karl Akiki, MCF (Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth, Liban)
- Riccardo Bocco, PR (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Genève, IHEID, Suisse)
- Fabien Boully, MCF (Université Paris Nanterre, France)
- André Habib, PR (Université de Montréal, Canada)
- Dalia Mostafa, MCF (University of Manchester, Angleterre)
- José Moure, PR (Université Paris Panthéon Sorbonne – Paris 1, France)
- Jacqueline Nacache, PR (Université de Paris, France)
- Ghada Sayegh, MCF (IESAV, Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth, Liban)
- Kirsten Scheid, Associate PR (American University of Beirut, Liban)
Editor-in-chief
Joseph Korkmaz, PR (Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth, Liban)
Edition editor
Ghenwa Hayek, Associate PR (University of Chicago, Etats-Unis)
Subjects
- Representation (Main category)
- Mind and language > Representation > Cultural history
- Zones and regions > Asia > Middle East
- Mind and language > Representation > History of art
- Mind and language > Representation > Heritage
- Mind and language > Representation > Visual studies
- Mind and language > Representation > Cultural identities
- Periods > Modern > Twentieth century > 1945-1989
Places
- Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth, Campus des Sciences Humaines, Rue de Damas
Beirut, Lebanon
Date(s)
- Friday, January 15, 2021
Keywords
- arab cinema, archive, history of cinema
Contact(s)
- El-Khoury Toufic
courriel : toufic [dot] khoury [at] usj [dot] edu [dot] lb
Information source
- El-Khoury Toufic
courriel : toufic [dot] khoury [at] usj [dot] edu [dot] lb
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Locating the Lost Archive of Arab Cinema », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, https://doi.org/10.58079/15py
