X-Posted from H-Urban

FILM AND HISTORY CONFERENCE, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch,
Cape Town,South Africa, 6-8 July, 2002.

Organisers:

Lesley Marx, Department of English Language and Literature
Richard Mendelsohn, Department of Historical Studies
Vivian Bickford-Smith, Department of Historical Studies

This conference aims to stimulate research in the field of film and
history in Africa by bringing together scholars from within and beyond
the continent.

The organisers particularly invite papers within the following areas:

1) Africa in film. We would hope that there would be panels on, for
example, the representation of Francophone Africa's past; Apartheid
South Africa in documentary, docudrama or feature film; Postcolonial
Africa/the New South Africa in documentary.

2) The problem of historical representation on film, whether
documentary or feature film.

3) Hollywood's historical controversies. Papers would be welcome on
Hollywood's treatment of the past in such films as Gladiator, U-571,
The Patriot or any of their predecessors.

4) Alternatives to Hollywood history. We invite papers which deal
either with the treatment of the past in national cinemas other than
the American, or on films which challenge Hollywood representations of
the past in form or content, or both.

5) The question of representing the Holocaust on film.

6) The city/urban in film. Papers would be welcome which deal either
with the representation of the urban in general in film, or which deal
with particular cities.

7) Biographical films. Papers on either feature films or
documentaries would be welcome.

8) Television histories whether documentaries or docudramas.

9) Postcoloniality in film beyond Africa.

Proposals/abstracts for papers (maximum 200 words) and an abbreviated
c.v. should be sent to one of the following by 1 July, 2001.

Vivian Bickford-Smith (vbsbeattie.uct.ac.za)
Richard Mendelsohn (rmendbeattie.uct.ac.za)

Cape Town as a venue: Cape Town is one of the world' most beautifully
situated cities, and South Africa's oldest metropolis(dating back to
the mid-seventeenth century). Not surprisingly it has seen the growth
of a considerable local film industry since the end of apartheid. The
oldest part of Cape Town lies on the shores of Table Bay -- be ath an
amphitheatre formed by Table Mountain, Signal Hill and Devil's Peak --
and at the head of a mountainous peninsula that ends in the Cape of
Good Hope and Cape Point. The winelands of the Stellenbosch, Paarl and
Franschhoek areas are an easy drive fr Cape Town. The conference
programme will allow for both organised and informal excursions to
local places of interest such as Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela
spent many years in prison).