AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

SYMPOSIUM: CALL FOR PAPERS

DATES: October 15-17, 2010

LOCATION: School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California

CONTACT: Stephanie Sapienza, Los Angeles Filmforum

E-MAIL: stephanie@lafilmforum.org

Los Angeles Filmforum is the only venue in Southern
California dedicated exclusively to the ongoing,
noncommercial exhibition ofindependent, experimental, and progressive
cinema. In keeping with ourmission to feature the
underrepresented voices and visions of trulyindependent filmmakers, and
in conjunction with the Getty's $3 millionpostwar LA art
initiative, Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980, we
are planning a 16+ screening series in 2011 related to the history of
avant-garde media in Los Angeles. The purpose of the
Getty's initiative is to broaden awareness and exposure of LA's
contemporary art history.

Filmforum's project, entitled Alternative Projections: Experimental Film
in Los Angeles 1945 – 1980,aims to expand understanding of how
experimental filmmaking (includingworks created on film, video and
other forms of time-based media)evolved in Los Angeles. The task
is to contextualize experimental filmin its place in postwar art
history.It will focus on the community of filmmakers, artists,
curators andprogrammers who contributed to the creation and
presentation ofexperimental cinema in Southern California in the years
after World WarII. To read more about the project, be sure to
bookmark our Blog where
we post updates and interesting materials and clips.

As part of this three-year research and planning project, Filmforum will
hold a symposium in October 2010 focused on some of the key aspects
of this movement and time period. We would like to invite scholars,
historians, curators, filmmakers, and artists to submit proposals for
papers, panels and presentations relating to experimental film
production and organizations in Los Angeles from 1945-1980. Proposals
should be in the form of a 250-word abstract describing your suggested
presentation, though more fully developed and even completed papers
are encouraged. Topics could include:

• Analytic explications of specific films or groups of films

• The relation between filmmaking and the LA exhibition and
distribution infrastructure

• Collaborations between artists and curators, especially as these
fostered new creative voices

• Exploration of the connections between experimental film work and
contemporaneous works in other arts, such as painting, dance,
photography, poetry, music, and theatre

• Relations between experimental/ avant-garde developments and the
film industry

• Filmmaking's responsiveness to the spatiality of Los Angeles
and Southern California.

These topics are not intended as limits, and we hope to discover new
methodologies and approaches. Presentations shouldbe 20 minutes
long, including the use of media if appropriate. Scholarswho present
will also have the option to revise and expand their workto
incorporate it into our supplementary exhibition publications.

For consideration, submit the abstract via email by Friday March 26,
2010 to Stephanie Sapienza at stephanie@lafilmforum.org. It should be
noted that the archival research phase of our project is well
underway and we may have valuable resources to contribute to the writing
of your proposal. Ifyou would like to discuss the projected scope
and content of yourproposal, including specific artists, films, or
organizations, pleasecontact us and we can provide assistance by
granting access to thisresearch.

For further information please contact Project Director Stephanie
Sapienza at stephanie@lafilmforum.org, or Project Supervisor Adam
Hyman at adam@lafilmforum.org.

--
Stephanie Sapienza
Project Director
Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in LA 1945 - 1980
Los Angeles Filmforum
cell: 626-676-6451
stephanie@lafilmforum.org