Call for Papers

EUROPEAN NIGHTMARES - AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EUROPEAN HORROR CINEMA

June 1st - 3rd 2006

Manchester Metropolitan University, MIRIAD, UK
(http://www.miriad.mmu.ac.uk/visualculture/inc)

There have always been close associations between Europe and horror.
Horror cinema can be traced back to its European origins in Georges
Méliès's Le Manoir du Diable (1896), and is epitomised in the figure of
Dracula, a monster notoriously anchored in a European context. Conceived
by an Irish writer and based on Romanian myths and folktales, the
narrative of Dracula (1897) is a journey through Europe. It was first
filmed as Hungarian director Károly Lajthay's Drakula Halála (1921) and a
year later in F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), whilst actors ranging from
the Hungarian Bela Lugosi to the British Christopher Lee have made the
character a cult-figure.

European countries have often been the setting of horror films, and they
are also the places of origin for a number of highly creative horror film
directors, ranging from artistic approaches such as the Expressionist
films of Robert Wiene, to surrealist horror films such as Luis Buñuel's Un
Chien Andalou (1929). Directors such as Dario Argento, Roman Polanski,
Nicolas Roeg, Alex de la Iglesia and Stefan Ruzowitzky have produced more
popular approaches to the genre. Alongside new developments in European
horror films, there are also significant developments in their
theorisation, such as the application of work by Gilles Deleuze, Slavoj
Zizek, Jean-Luc Nancy and Alain Badiou.

This conference, conceived by the Centre for the Study of Images,
Narratives and Cultures (MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University,
(http://www.miriad.mmu.ac.uk/visualculture/inc) in collaboration with
Cornerhouse (www.cornerhouse.org), will offer a platform to explore
differences and similarities between European horror traditions, and
particularly encourages submissions which use new ways of theorising and
thinking about horror. Papers are sought that offer explorations of
individual European directors (from early directors such as Stellan Rye to
contemporaries like Neil Marshall); of horror film as a national symptom;
of the comparative analysis of different horror films; of horror
production in countries that are less associated with the genre; and of
close analyses of individual horror films. Critical methodological tools
might include historical and/or contemporary theoretical explorations, and
might explore horror films from European silent, art-house and short films
to popular, box office and B-Movies.

Papers may address a wide range of topics relevant to the focus of this
conference including, but not limited to, the following:

- Horror films from all European countries

- Horror and gender

- Ethnicities and horror

- European traumas and the horror film

- European audiences

- European box office

- Institutions and film production

- Politics and/of the European horror film

- European film censorship

- Representations of Europe in European horror films

- European histories and horror

- European folktales, myths and horror films

Details for Submission of Abstracts:

Please send a 250-300 word abstract for a 20-minute paper, preferably via
email to:
Dr Patricia Allmer, p.allmermmu.ac.uk

or to the following address:
Dr Patricia Allmer
MIRIAD
Manchester Metropolitan University
Cavendish North Building
Cavendish Street, Manchester
M15 6BG

Proposal deadline is Friday 13th January 2006. Please, include the title
of your paper, your full name and contact details and institutional
affiliation (if applicable).