From the world’s largest film producing industries and cinemas such as Hollywood, Bollywood, European, to diasporic, Third World, Post-colonial, Middle Eastern, and even nascent industries from conflict-ridden regions such as Afghanistan, ‘women filmmakers’ and ‘women’s cinema’ remain classified as a separate category (feminist or otherwise) within film studies. Similarly, their auto/biographical cinemas, inextricably linked to portrayals of personal and experiential histories, remain a peripheral area. Particularly, recognition of women filmmakers whose works reflect an alternative ‘lived’ history from a personal and feminist lens merits attention and critical discussion of their gendered representations.

With a focus on autobiography, biography, first-person, diary, and essay films, the Women’s Auto/biographical Cinemas: The Gendered Story Symposium focuses on discussion of the contribution of global women/feminist filmmakers who have used the film medium to record, archive, and disseminate women’s stories, to share their experiences, build cross-cultural solidarity for change, consciousness-raising, and pedagogical purposes.

The symposium will include two live events, both starting at 5 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), UTC +0. The events will be held on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 November, respectively, both on MSTeams. Closer to the date, the links for the live events will be published on the symposium website and announced on social media and subject lists.

Event 1

Saturday 27 November 2021, 5–6.30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), UTC +0.

In Conversation: Penny Siopis + Sarah Nuttall

Event 1: In Conversation with Penny Siopis and Sarah Nuttall

Event 2

Sunday 28 November 2021, 5–7 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), UTC +0.

Round Table: Women’s Auto/biographical Cinemas

Event 2: Round Table Discussion

A set of pre-recorded talks are now available for viewing online here.

Speakers:

Dr Laura Busetta (University of Messina)

Dr Brenda Hollweg (University of Leeds)

Dr Rahat Imran (University College Cork)

Prof. Bill Nichols (San Francisco)

Prof. Sarah Nuttall (University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg)

Prof. Laura Rascaroli (University College Cork)

Penny Siopis

Prof. Lizzie Thynne (Sussex University)

Dr Kiki Tianqi Yu (Queen Mary, London)

Organisers:

Dr Rahat Imran, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow
Department of Film and Screen Media, University College Cork, Ireland
Email: nazsfu@gmail.com, imran.rahat@ucc.ie

Professor Laura Rascaroli
Department of Film and Screen Media, University College Cork, Ireland
Email: l.rascaroli@ucc.ie

The symposium is organized as part of the H2020 MSCA-IF project, Locating the Storyteller: Muslim Women’s Auto/Biographical Cinema from the Muslim World.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 837154.