Intellect

Editor: Flavia Laviosa, Wellesley College (United States)

The Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies (JICMS) is a new English-language forum for theoretical, methodological and critical debate on Italian film and media production, reception and consumption. It provides a platform for dialogue between academics, filmmakers, cinema and media professionals. This peer-reviewed journal invites submissions of scholarly articles relating to the artistic features, cultural themes, international influence and history of Italian film and media as art forms and industries.  

Within the realm of a post-national and trans-cultural debate, the purpose of the JICMS is to refer to Italy as the unifying geo-cultural site for a contemporary discussion on translocal cinema. The journal aims to elaborate a multifaceted definition of Italian cinema, transcending geo-ethnic land and sea borders and moving away from merely celebratory local cinematic experiences.  

The JICMS intends to revive a critical discussion on the auteurs and celebrate the dynamic role played by new directors, revisit the historiography of Italian cinema, and devote attention to Italophone filmmakers and accented cinema. The journal welcomes contributions which explore the impact of globalization on the Italian film industry, the encounters between cinema and other art forms, the hybridization of film and media aesthetics, the relationships of multimodal communication and inter-medial practices, and the development of innovative transmedia texts and crossmedia narratives.

The JICMS also invites submissions which examine experimental cinema, video art,  short films, long/short feature and documentary animation, original and adapted screenplays, film music (songs and scores), issues of stardom and reception studies. The professional contributions of screenplay writers, art directors, cinematographers, film editors, costume designers and make-up artists are also potential subject areas for submissions.  

Interested contributors should send 500 word abstracts outlining the topic, approach and theoretical bases, relevant bibliography and filmography, and 200 word biographical notes (listing academic publications) to the Editor to the following address: flaviosa@wellesley.edu by October 10, 2011.

Notification of selected abstracts will be sent to authors by October 15, 2011.

Complete essays of 5,000-6,000 words will be due by January 15, 2012.  All papers will undergo anonymous peer-review by the journal’s international board.

Flavia Laviosa is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Italian Studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her research interests are in Italian cinema, esp. women and contemporary directors, Southern Italy and Euro-Mediterranean studies. She is also Guest Editor of a special issue of Studies in European Cinema (8: 3, 2011) and Editor of Visions of Struggle in Women’s Filmmaking in the Mediterranean (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).

Special Guest issue with Editors Amanda Williamson and Jill Hayes
 
Dance, movement and spiritualities
 
Submission of full articles: December 15th 2011
 
We invite contributions for this special issue of Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, edited by JDSP Editorial Board member Amanda Williamson in collaboration with Jill Hayes, which will introduce a new journal in the field of dance, movement and spiritualities, to be launched by Intellect in 2013. Standard articles for this guest edition will be in the range of 5000-8000 words, including a 150 word abstract, six indicative key words, institutional affiliation and a short biography. Images and other forms of visual material to support textual submissions are welcomed.
 

Intellect attended the second launch of the special issue of JAAC ‘Arts and Human Rights’ in collaboration with Amnesty International. The launch took place on the second day of Knowing Ways Conference in Edinburgh. The idea for the special issue had grown from the Freedom of Expression award, which takes place during the Edinburgh Festival each year. The award is presented by Amnesty to an outstanding play, which builds understanding and engagement of human rights.

The annual conference of the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France was held at the University of Stirling from 1-3 September 2011 and, for the first time, it featured the Postgraduate Poster Competition. The conference organisers – Fiona Barclay and Cristina Johnston – tell us that the competition attracted many high quality submissions. The prize, sponsored by Intellect, was awarded to Emily St.Denny. The judges felt Emily's winning poster demonstrated 'a superb mix of eye-catching presentation, clarity of explanation and astute judgement as to the amount of detail to offer. Furthermore, the poster represents an excellent research project which looks set to make a significant contribution to its field.'

Have a read of this thought provoking review of Cynthia Weber's masterful 'I am an American' by Rosemary Bechler on openDemocracy...

"The reason why I welcome this book on openDemocracy, is because the ‘action’ that writing or indeed reading it involves - to go back to my opening contention - holds the seeds of a long-term remedy for all of us: the painstaking, individual recognition and re-weaving of relationship across the chasms of distrust and mutual ignorance which is the pursuit of a new multicultural form of ‘citizenship, identity, tolerance, patriotism and justice’ that opens onto the universal - not one predicated on the defence of a single community national standard in a diversifying world, but freely and continuously negotiated between people who have abjured violence. We can see this discovery taking place however intermittently throughout the Arab spring, and feel an ‘intimate reminder’ of it on our pulses when we read, ‘I am an American’"

Read the review in its entirety at openDemocracy.net.

Sunday 5th September saw the close of Beijing’s 18th International Book Fair. This year's event saw a record 2,100 publishing organizations from 60 countries, to showcase over 200,000 new books, periodicals, e-publications and audiovisual products, now making it one of the top four International Book Fairs in the world.

Intellect sent its Director, Mark Lewis, to investigate the Book Fair and to develop new business and relationships within the Chinese publishing and academic community.

The exhibition space was essentially divided into two areas: one area housed representatives from all the major European and Asian countries while the second area housed Chinese publishers, grouped along regional or business-related lines. All the big publishers were present such as Harper Collins, McGraw-Hill, Penguin etc, but the academic publishing community were also well represented, which included Intellect’s North American distributor The University of Chicago Press and their agent in China, Wei Zhao of Everest International Publishing Services.

A number of Chinese authors and contributors already publish with Intellect but, more recently, there has been a growing demand for Chinese translations of some of our titles. Mark met with a number of Chinese publishers and rights agencies during the fair and found genuine excitement both about Intellect’s business ethos and many of our current titles. We now confidently expect to conclude a number of rights contracts over the next few months and have developed relationships that will result in a growing number of translations in the future.

The quantity and quality of Chinese academic work is astounding and far too little of it is reaching the western world, often because of the language barrier. As the champion of the author, Intellect is determined to bring more Chinese authors’ work to the west. Outside of the Book Fair, Mark met with some of our current Chinese authors to discuss further publishing opportunities and, on his last day in Beijing, met with three professors of the Beijing Film Academy; Professor YAO Guo Qiang, Professor HAIZHOU Wang and Professor LIU Jun, and Alick, a student of Professor Yao who assisted in setting up the meeting and with translation.

The Beijing Film Academy is extremely prestigious and well known throughout the world. It has won many prizes over the years in film festivals worldwide and it’s quality of teaching and research has also won many accolades. Following a tour of the academy a wide range of topics were discussed and it quickly became apparent that there were many areas of synergy between our two organisations, which could allow us to work together both to bring their academics work to the west and to bring Intellect’s publications to China. We hope for and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.
 

Image caption: Mark Lewis (Centre) with Professor YAO Guo Qiang on his right and Professor HAIZHOU Wang on his left. In the second photo is Alick, a student of
Professor YAO, who helped set up the meeting and also helped with
translation.

Neil Mitchell the editor of Intellect's forthcoming World Film Locations: London volume yesterday posted an excellect blog on Shine a light, which is part of Vice magazine's blogging network. Here's a sample:

'Much of the discussion surrounding Chinese Internet culture has centered on the rise of online human rights activism, but the emergence of an online erotic culture that openly describes individuals' personal sexual activities has also been evident in recent years.

Associate Professor Katrien Jacobs‘ research at The Chinese University of Hong Kong on “People's Pornography” has investigated the culture of ‘Do It Yourself' amateur porn on the Chinese Internet, as well as the interplay between pornography producers and consumers within the state's censorship mechanism.'

Read a transcript of the interview here.

Guest Editors: Ketil Thorgersen (Sweden)  Lauri Väkevä (Finland) , Mikko Myllykoski (Finland) Steve Dillon (Australia), Alex Ruthmann (USA)

Call for papers

Brief description
This special issue of JMTE will examine the affordances of the application of ‘open source’ to music education. Each article will focus on one particular aspect and context.

The publication of this special issue follows on from an international symposium presentation at the Research in Music Education conference in Exeter in the UK in April 2011. The symposium revealed significant aspects of the need to apply development of philosophy and practice around the concept of open source in music classrooms.

Cynthia Weber’s I am an American project website launches today at www.iamanamericanproject.com .
 
Featuring:
 

• 13 testimonial films plus an alternative I am an American PSA
• excepts and images from Weber’s book I am an American:  Filming the Fear of Difference
• interactive ‘comments flags’ where users can express their views

 An excellent tool for public engagement, teaching, and research.