Radical Film Network Madrid 2024
Archives of Radical Cinema
Dates and place
June 19 to 22, 2024
La Corrala, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Call for participation
The Radical Film Network (RFN) was founded in 2013 when a group of activists, academics, filmmakers and programmers involved in radical film culture in Britain met to discuss the ways in which they could work together to support its development, growth and sustainability. Since then, the RFN has grown rapidly, and now consists of more than two hundred organisations from forty countries around the world: from artists’ studios and production collectives to archives, co-ops, distributors, film festivals and exhibition venues, as well as a host of other less easily categorised groups and individuals.
RFN gatherings — conference and unconferences, festivals and meetings — aim to offer a space open to everyone interested in radical film cultures to meet, come together and share experiences and knowledge on how we conceive and develop our practice. Following the previous RFN conferences in Birmingham, Glasgow, New York City, Tolpuddle, Dublin, Nottingham, Berlin and Genoa, the 2024 Radical Film Network conference will take place in Madrid, from Thursday June 20 to Saturday 22, 2024.
As the chosen theme for this year’s conference, we extend an invitation to discuss the archives and counter-archives of radical cinemas in their material and symbolic dimensions. We aim to explore the ways in which we engage, produce, activate, and reflect upon archives coming from political movements, grassroot organizations, artists-run cooperatives, and alternative spaces—those archives that allow us to understand the shared, although complex, genealogies that inform our contemporary commitment to audiovisual practices. Specifically, we anticipate a significant focus on the topical relevance of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, and will foster debates in the form of film screenings, panels, and/or workshops. For these reasons, and in light of the prevailing persecution of critical perspectives within the film industry, exemplified by recent regrettable incidents at IDFA and Oberhausen, we enthusiastically welcome proposals addressing the archival uses of images within the long history of Palestinian struggles in the spheres of film and media.
Taking our pressing moment as a trigger for broader reflections, we have special interest in inviting filmmakers, activists, curators, artists, film archivists, preservationists and anyone interested in radical film cultures to reflect on archival practices of our radical pasts and multiple presents. In this manner, we aim to discuss strategies for reactivating neglected traces and working with what is lost, suppressed, or ignored. In so doing, we invite to reflect on how films as archives, and archives of films, may challenge dominant heritage politics as well as contemporary media discourses, and creatively reappropriate audiovisual traces to produce new counter-archival practices.
Moreover, disregarded archives often imply disregarded geographies. We are interested in discussing and sharing experiences related to minor, diasporic, non-aligned, exiled, and accented (counter) archives. By hosting this conference in a Spanish speaking city, we have particular interest in engaging with these issues as they are practiced and thought in Latin America, as well as in other regions from the Global South. The event will be in English and Spanish (with translation). However, those who can contribute to debates and sessions in English are invited to do so to ease the pressure on our volunteer translators.
We welcome submissions that delve into the following themes and their interconnected aspects:
- Decolonisation of archives: methods, theories and political interventions through archival practices
- Transnational archives: contestations and collaborations between geographies
- Forms of activation of film and media archives
- Queer and LGBT archives
- Feminist archival interventions
- Archives of the commons and politics of access
- Ethical challenges: negotiating in/visibility of traces
- Environmentalism and media archives: archives of environmentalist activist movements and ecosystemic dimensions of film archives
- Fourth cinema and community archives
- Archives of radical networks: encounters, festivals, organisations, collectives, exhibitions
- Media activism as radical archival practic
- Archiveologies, or cinema as a counter-archival practice (film interventions in/through archives)
We encourage diverse perspectives and innovative approaches in addressing these themes. Submissions should aim to contribute to the collective understanding of radical archives and their dynamic role in shaping cultural, social, and political narratives.
Participation and submission guidelines
We will try to avoid too many parallel activities, even if at the expense of the size of the event. We want to encourage participation and foster a sense of vivid community. For this reason, the conference will be in-person only, except in very specific cases that will be discussed within the organising committee. However, we will stream the sessions so they can be followed online and will be uploaded to the conference’s website and video platforms upon previous permission. We consider the following forms presentation:
Individual presentations
Preconstituted panels
Workshops
All panels will run for one hour and forty-five minutes, and each individual presentation will not be longer than 15 to 20 minutes to give space for discussion. Proposals for individual presentations will consist of a text document with a title; a 300-word abstract; 5 keywords; and a 150-word biography. Proposals for preconstituted panels require a title; a 300-word description of the panel; 5 keywords; titles and individual presentation descriptions (200-word max); and 150-word (max) biographies of each participant. Each panel will have a chair that will collect and submit the proposal. Workshops are spaces for a more open and unstructured discussion or practice on a given specific topic between participants. Workshop organizers (4-6 people) may prepare 5-minute introductions to the topic and share materials (texts, performance, video, audio, or any other media) with participants. The rest of the time will be dedicated to discussion. Workshops proposals require a title; a 300-word description of the workshop; 5 keywords; a brief outline of the session and individual interventions (up to 300 words in total) and 150-word bios of each organizer. Each workshop will have a chair that will collect and submit the proposal.
All proposals should be sent here, using the conference online platform, upon (free) registration.
Registration and travel grants
The meeting will work with a redistributive funding model. After acceptance of proposals, a registration fee of 125€ will be required for participants with access to financial support from their institutions and/or organisations. A pay-what-you-can registration system will be offered to those that can afford the expenses, upon personal possibilities. Finally, registration will be free to all unwaged participants. Funds raised will be used for limited bursary support to help with travel costs for those with financial needs. To apply for the travel grant, the submission form will ask you to explain in a brief paragraph your financial situation and why you are willing to attend the conference.
Important dates
Submission of proposals – extended deadline: February 1, 2024
Notification of acceptance of proposals: February 15
Online registration opens: February 16
Online registration closes: April 15
For any questions about the proposals, travel grants or the submission process, please send us an email to rfnmadrid2024@gmail.com or visit the conference website.
Organising committee
Miguel Errazu (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Concha Mateos (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid)
Alejandro Pedregal (Research Council of Finland, Aalto University)
Event Link: http://eventos.uam.es/go/archivesofradicalcinema