CALL FOR PAPERS
‘Stars and Screen’
Cinema and Media History Virtual Symposium
May 16, 2026
The ‘Stars and Screen’ Cinema and Media History Virtual Symposium is an Interdisciplinary Symposium dedicated to Film History, Archival Research, Cinema and Media History.
In the ‘Golden Age’ of Classical Hollywood Cinema, MGM was known as the motion picture studio with “More Stars Than There Are In Heaven.” In fact, ‘Stars’ have illuminated cinematic screens for over 100 years, from classic movie stars (Bogart, Bacall, Hepburn, Chaplin) to films about Hollywood’s star factory (A Star Is Born, What Price Hollywood?) to shooting stars (Deep Impact), falling stars (Sunset Boulevard, Raging Bull), and stars in ‘space, the final frontier’ (Star Trek) in a ‘galaxy far, far away’ (Star Wars). Digital video streaming and binge watching of films and media also re-imagines and creates new moving image ‘stars’ transforming the cinematic or televisual production, distribution, and viewing reception experience. What does this nostalgic re-imagining of film history and cinematic production of stars on screen tell us about the cultural moment we find ourselves in? The Cinema and Media History Symposium explores the theme of “Stars and Screen.”
The ‘Stars and Screen’ Cinema and Media History Virtual Symposium invites paper proposals from all areas of Film History, Cinema and Media Studies and interdisciplinary submissions from across the humanities, arts, sciences and social sciences, including:
- Film History,
- Classical Hollywood Cinema,
- Archival Research,
- Film/Media Industry,
- Historical Development of the Studio System,
- Women Writers, Directors and Producers in Hollywood,
- Film Noir, Femme Fatales, Hard-Boiled Antiheroes,
- Star System, Major Studios, Independent Production,
- Censorship, Film/Media Propaganda,
- Film Genres (Science Fiction, Musical, Comedy, Western, Gangster, Thriller, Horror),
- Hollywood ‘Star Factory,’
- Women and Men in the Dream Factory, Labor, Authorship,
- Émigrés, Immigrants, and Refugees,
- Filmmakers as behind-the-scenes ‘Star’ Auteurs, Performance, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Design,
- Hollywood Blacklist,
- Evolution of Stars (Bogart, Bacall, Chaplin, Hepburn, Cagney, Hayworth, Brando) from the Silent Era to ‘Contract’ Studio Creative Talent to Independent Filmmakers/Producers
- International Cinema,
- TV/Netflix/Long-Form Cinematic Drama and Streaming Media,
- Motion Picture Technology, New Media,
- Convergence between Film and Television,
- Television History,
- Music, Jazz, Soundtracks, ‘Star’ Musicians, Musical Stars,
- Hollywood and Democracy,
- Radio, Music/Recording Industry
- American Studies,
- Documentary, Third Cinema,
- Popular Culture, Animation, Avant-Garde Cinema,
- Images of Women, Gender, Ethnicity/Race, History, Science, Politics in Film and Media.
Paper proposals are invited from ALL AREAS of cinema history and media studies. Proposals relating to the symposium theme are encouraged, but also of interest are submissions on film history, classical Hollywood cinema, archival research, national cinemas, film genres and stars, auteur studies, film and music, media industry, television history and new media, science fiction, and cultural or political issues connected to the moving image. Proposal abstracts should be 200-300 words in length and are due by February 1, 2026.
Please submit your proposal electronically by entering your abstract on the Stars and Screen Symposium Submission Form: https://forms.gle/oauYWNCQiK7B1s8s5
The symposium speakers include:
Thomas Schatz, Professor, Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin and author of Power Surge: Conglomerate Hollywood and the Studio System’s Last Hurrah; The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era; Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s; and Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and the Studio System. He is working on a study of the history of Universal, and a revised edition of Hollywood Genres.
More information at:
https://starsandscreen.blogspot.com/