11TH – 14TH MARCH 2014
VENUE: UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON.
THEME:
“GHANAIAN CINEMATIC PRACTICE: ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS”
The First Legon International Film Event (dubbed LIFE 1) is organised by the Department of Theatre Arts, School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon. It will be a gathering of filmmakers and scholars to look at film both as scholarship and creative professional practice. It recognizes the need for practitioners to see scholars and critics as partners in the creative endeavours that produce images and sound on screens as representations of people. The Event is a combination of an academic conference of paper presentations based on research by scholars and a festival of screenings of selected creative productions with filmmakers present to share ideas and experiences with viewers for greater understanding of the movies. The Event is also aimed at publishing authoritative books with the papers presented.
Under the theme: “Ghanaian Cinematic Practice: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects”, the Event seeks to explore the ways in which Ghanaian cinema has, at different times, composed images of national culture, with representations of several issues manifesting and serving to represent the nation to itself and to the world. The issues to be explored during the Event include:
• The history and development of film
• Thematic concerns of filmmakers
• Film policy & regulation; professional associations, guilds, agencies, etc.
• Film studies and training in higher education
• Style and technique in filmmaking
• Production technology – celluloid, digital, dubbing, etc.
• The business of Film – financing, marketing, exhibition, piracy, copyright, etc.
• The role of television
• Film theory versus practice
• Cinema audience, Star system, Film awards, etc.
• Local language movies
Paper proposals are invited on the issues above and others addressing the theme. Please send a 300-word abstract in Microsoft Word or PDF format with a short bio to: legonfilmevent@gmail.com by 15th February 2014.
We also invite filmmakers to submit films for screening. Filmmakers will be required to be present to discuss their films after screening. Interested filmmakers should send preview copy in DVD-format either through hand delivery or EMS by 15th February 2014 to: The Convener, Legon International Film Event, Department of Theatre Arts, School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. Tel: 0233 318853
Several scholars, practitioners and policy-makers have been invited to the Event. The confirmed Keynote Speaker is Professor Erik Knudsen, Professor of Film Practice, University of Salford, UK and also an award-winning filmmaker of Ghanaian descent.
