Network activities will coalesce around three online network symposia, with the aim of providing a focus for research exchange among network participants. The three symposia will be centred on three core concepts relating to the circulation and translation (in the broadest sense) of film theory: Symposium 1: sites: places where there is intensive exchange around theory, for example, film schools, festivals, cinemas/cinematheques, conferences, archives, universities; Symposium 2: practices: film criticism, filmmaking, translation, publishing, and programming; Symposium 3: circulations:of people, films, texts, technologies, for example, distribution, exhibition, migration, and exile.
In conjunction with these symposia, BFI Southbank will host public-facing workshops led by network participants. These workshops will provide important stepping-stones towards curricular innovation. The network will develop teaching resources to reflect the more expansive understanding of the global circulation of theory resulting from its research. These will be shared in the form of teaching toolkits in the ‘Resources’ section of this website.
The network will culminate in a major international hybrid conference at King’s College London, 30-31st August 2024, involving network participants and other delegates committed to continuing and developing further conversations about the decolonization of film theory.
- Third Network Symposium
The third of our network symposia took place online on Friday 8 March. We are pleased to share the recording of the event below. The topic of this symposium was the ‘circulations’ of film theory. Like the themes of the first and second network symposia, on the ‘sites’ and ‘practices’ of film theory, the ‘circulations’… Read More »Third Network Symposium - Second BFI Workshops
The second series of BFI workshops ‘Decolonising Film Theory Through Asian Cinema’ was held at BFI Southbank on 6, 13, and 20 February 2024. - Call for Papers: Global Circulations of Film Theory Conference
This conference aims to revisit the question of what film theory is by asking where it takes place, how we recognize it, and where we find it across international locales. Starting from the premise that film theory is global, multiple, and coeval rather than something that emanates from the West and then spreads, the conference will focus on bringing to light marginalized or hitherto unknown histories of film theorizing, as well as new engagements with entrenched theoretical debates from different geopolitical perspectives. - Second Network SymposiumThe second of our network symposia took place online on Saturday 16 September. We are pleased to share the recording of the event below. The topic of this symposium was the ‘practices’ of film theory, prompting discussion of the porous boundary between theory and practice, with practice being understood in a broad manner to encapsulate… Read More »Second Network Symposium
- First BFI Workshops
The first series of BFI workshops ‘Re-envisioning Film Theory: Sites of Circulation between Europe and Africa’ was held at BFI Southbank on 13 and 20 June and 4 July 2023.