Grad Student Film Panel: Call for Papers

[Seth Graham]

ATTN: GRADUATE STUDENTS STUDYING RUSSIAN AND SOVIET FILM AT U.S.
UNIVERSITIES

A graduate student film panel will take place on Mon., April 30, 2001 at
the U. of Pittsburgh.  The panel is the opening event of the 2001
Pittsburgh Russian Film Symposium, which runs from 30 April to 5 May.

Graduate students at US universities and colleges who are doing research on 
Soviet and/or post-Soviet film are invited to submit one-page proposals for 
10-15-minute papers.  The Symposium will provide domestic travel and
lodging for up to four panelists, who will also be able to participate in
all Symposium events.

The title of this year's Symposium is

EVROPSK, RUSSIA: OUT OF european ORDER?

Russia in the twenty-first century has a split status vis-à-vis Europe and
the US.  Russia continues to contribute its own distinct national texts to
the European cultural heritage.  In military, economic, and political
terms, however, Russia exists in a different administrative and conceptual
space, outside the European order.  This contradiction poses challenges for 
interdisciplinary research, as well as opportunities for productive
dialogues with colleagues whose methodological and policy assumptions are
firmly embedded in one or the other of these two Russias.

Russia's "split personality," whether a construct of the US-European
alliance or internal to the emergent nation itself, has both fascinating
and problematic implications for its connections with Europe, as well as
for its own sense of mission as a gateway culture for the Caucasus and
other regions of its "near abroad."   The (to date) little-examined
intersection of Russia with those regions may be the beginning of a
re-conceptualization of this part of the world, and of Russia's role in
defining its position in both global culture and global conflict.

In addition to film scholars from Russia, the U.S., and Europe, Symposium
guests will include screenwriter Aleksandr Mindadze (whose creative
partnership with director Vadim Abdrashitov has produced ten films over the 
past two decades) and screenwriter and director Rustam Ibragimbekov, known
for his work in the 1990s with Nikita Mikhalkov (Burnt by the Sun, Barber
of Siberia), and also for his scripts for earlier films such as White Sun
of the Desert (1969) and The Interrogation (Dopros, 1979).

Papers should address one of the following topics:

The Caucasus in Soviet/post-Soviet cinema
Work(s) by Ibragimbekov and/or Mindadze
The screenwriter and the screenplay in Soviet/post-Soviet cinema
Trials and justice in Soviet/post-Soviet cinema

In addition to the panel, the graduate student event will include a
screening of and responses to the film The Interrogation (Azerbaijanfilm,
1979).

The working languages of the Symposium are English and Russian.  Papers and 
proposals may be in either language, but accepted panelists must provide
copies of their papers in both languages.

The deadline for submission of proposals is MARCH 5, 2001.  Please send
proposals to Seth Graham by MS Word attachment (e-mail: sbgraham+ at pitt.edu) 
or by fax to (412)624-9714.

Direct general questions about the Symposium to rusfilm+2001 at pitt.edu.

More detailed information about the 2001 Pittsburgh Russian Film Symposium
will be announced here and on the World Wide Web soon.

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