CFP - "In Retrospect: The Life and Films of Abbas Kiarostami" - SCMS March 2017 Panel(s)

Call for Papers

"In Retrospect: The Life and Films of Abbas Kiarostami"

Sponsored by SCMS Middle East Studies Caucus

SCMS 2017 Conference - March 22-26, 2017

After the recent passing of Abbas Kiarostami, Dora Khazeni, a translator who collaborated with the late director, noted in a tribute: "He had the authority of poetry, the authority of art and the authority of cinema... That really truly went beyond the confines of the time and place he happened to be in [in] Iran. He would take a small subject and by paring it down and excluding so much in that small subject, he was able to capture a truth in time and place that transcended the particularities and that was decipherable to any viewer, anywhere." The timelessness and transcendence of his films, and their importance in garnering international acclaim for Iranian cinema, has resounded globally in print, broadcast, and online media since Kiarostami's demise earlier this summer. On this occasion, the Middle East Caucus invites papers that explore aspects of Kiarostami's life and films. Papers may address topics that include, but are not limited to:

Kiarostami and world cinema
Kiarostami and adaptation
Trajectories of Kiarostami's career
Iranian cinema and international festivals
Production and/or circulation histories of specific Kiarostami films.

Please send a title, brief bio note, abstract (up to 200 words), and bibliography (3-4 sources) to Middle East Caucus co-chairs (scms.mes.caucus@gmail.com) by August 5th. We are happy to submit multiple panels, pending enough responses to the CFP. All abstracts will receive acceptance/decline notifications by August 15th.

SCMS Middle East Caucus Co-Chairs - Samhita Sunya & Kaveh Askari