Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium CALL FOR INTERESTING THINGS

Devin Orgeron Discussion

CALL FOR INTERESTING THINGS

 

Technology, Invention, Tinkerers, and Gadgets

 

The Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium, 2023

July 27-29

Northeast Historic Film / Alamo Theatre

Bucksport, Maine

PROPOSALS DUE: March 13

 

-Seeking presentation proposals from archivists, collectors, academics and enthusiasts-

FOR SUMMER 2023:

 

Help NHF celebrate the spirit of invention with three days of screenings, gadget demos, presentations, panels, chats, meals (lobster and otherwise), and camaraderie. And it all happens in an historic theatre/archive in the heart of beautiful Bucksport, Maine.

Please send a 250-500 word abstract outlining your presentation idea and a brief cv via e-mail to: symposium@oldfilm.org.

 

What are we talking about?

Film tinkerers, yes...and all of the gadgetry and material around that obsession. But also films ABOUT and research on tinkerers and inventors. The topic is EXTREMELY open. Let’s make the symposium heavy with screenings and the many filmy gadgets and oddball devices we have all acquired over the years. The archive is also home to the Alan Kattelle collection, so lots of material inspiration!

 

Topics might include:

patent research; inventor biographies; hands-on live gadget demos; bizarre film technologies; weird color or sound experiments; early moving image devices; slow motion; time lapse; stop-motion; early computer graphics; William Castle-style exhibition gimmicks, alternative processing methods; spy equipment; surveillance and security technologies; Hollywood and off-Hollywood “hacks;” video formats; 3D; Cinerama; widescreen formats; drive-in sound technologies; microscopic and telescopic technologies; theatre and home theatre sound; films about inventors; DIY “versions” of Hollywood titles; home movie editing rigs; cameraless films; accidental and deliberate double exposures; etc., etc., etc….

 

The Summer Symposium Program Committee is: Devin Orgeron, Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University; Liz Czach, University of Alberta; Dino Everett, University of Southern California; Mark Neumann, Northern Arizona University; Brian Real, Southern Connecticut State University; Kimberly Tarr, NYU Libraries; and Travis Wagner, University of South Carolina.

 

We are happy to discuss your presentation ideas with you in advance of a formal submission. The Symposium Program Committee will not begin reviewing proposals until March (when they are due) and will finalize the program by April.

 

Northeast Historic Film, an independent nonprofit organization, was founded in 1986 to preserve and make available moving images of interest to the people of northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts). We hold ten million feet of film in 8mm, Super 8mm, 9.5mm, 16mm, 28mm, and 35mm and 8,000 analog and digital video recordings that do not duplicate the film holdings. NHF is located in a 1916 cinema building with purpose-built cold storage and a study center in Bucksport, a town of 5,000 on the coast of Maine (for more info on NHF, please visit: http://www.oldfilm.org). In the Alamo Theatre on Main Street, NHF houses a 125-seat cinema with DCP, 35mm, 16mm, videotape, and DVD projection.