Small-Gauge Storytelling:
The Amateur Fiction Film
A One-Day Symposium
University of Liverpool, Wednesday the 9th of June 2010
This one-day event, hosted by the University of Liverpool, invites papers
exploring issues around the many meeting points between amateur cinema and
fictional film practice. For around fifty years, roughly between the 1930s
and the 1980s, cine-clubs and individuals working within the framework of the
organised amateur cine movement created many remarkable fiction films. The
works produced by these usually part-time cinephiles developed in a range of
directions, and often exhibited very contradictory attitudes towards
neighbouring professional practice, symptomatic of the amateur mode of film
production, and very distinct senses of cultural value. Some of this output
has now been incorporated into archival film collections, but often enjoys a
marginal or at least uncertain status in comparison with non-fiction
materials, with more immediately ‘preservative’ value. While recent years
have certainly witnessed growth in scholarly work around amateur cinema, this
has often focused on amateur non-fiction films, effectively ignoring the
wealth of fictional material produced by clubs and individuals over the
years. This day event aims to address the potential artistic, historical and
scholarly value of amateur fiction films from a range of perspectives.
Suggested themes include:
- Surveys of fictional sub-genres
- Micro-dramas; cameo films, sketch films
- Epic productions on a small budget
- Amateur acting/performance in the fiction film
- Cartooning and animation
- Competitions; Institute of Amateur Cinematographers, Ten Best & regional
variations
- Group fictional filmmaking in cine-clubs
- Discussions of exemplar amateur fiction films at selected archives
- Archival policy on amateur fiction films
- Screenwriting and amateur films
- Landscape and the amateur fiction film
- Technology and amateur fiction films
For enquires and further details please contact Dr. Ryan Shand
(r.shand@liverpool.ac.uk <mailto:r.shand@liverpool.ac.uk> ), Dr. Les Roberts
(les.roberts@liverpool.ac.uk <mailto:les.roberts@liverpool.ac.uk> ) or Dr.
Ian Craven (i.craven@tfts.arts.gla.ac.uk
<mailto:i.craven@tfts.arts.gla.ac.uk> ).
