Paris

Radical Film Network Paris 2026
Building Fronts

Dates and place

June 12 to 15, 2026
Sorbonne Nouvelle University (Paris, France)

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 240 organisations from 58 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 — conferences 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, Genoa and Madrid, the 2026 Radical Film Network conference will take place in Paris, from Friday 12 to Monday 15 June 2026.

Ninety years after the victory of the Popular Fronts in Europe, when fascism and necropolitical imperialist projects (re)emerge in a world threatened by climate crisis, while international politico-juridical institutions risk collapse in the context of the ongoing genocides in Palestine and in other geopolitical zones, we extend an invitation to discuss the ability of cinema to document, question and transform reality — to build fronts. The 12th edition of RFN aims to incite a broad discussion on the history of militant, engaged and experimental cinema and its “state of the form,” focusing, among other aspects, on formal strategies, modes of production and distribution, pedagogical practices, and archival operations.

Proposal topics might include but are not limited to:

1. Cinemas of the Popular Fronts;

2. Collective cinemas (militant, engaged, feminist, LGBTQIA+, and other films);

3. Cinema against necropolitics: genocides, ecocides, epistemicides, femicides;

4. Film’s performativity and image-actions;

5. Film and education: emancipatory pedagogical practices;

6. Decolonising cinema and through cinema: past and present;

7. Politics and poetics of cinema: formal dynamics and aesthetics of resistance;

8. Archival operations;

9. Institutional policies: the autonomy of art and the social field; consent and complicity;

10. Internationalist circulations, yesterday and today;

11. Cinemas of territories under struggle (Indigenous cinemas, social movement cinemas, community cinemas, etc.);

12. Technological apparatuses and emancipation.

Submission details: 

We consider the following forms presentation in English or French:

• Individual presentations

• Pre-constituted panels

• Workshops

Proposals for individual papers (15-20 minutes) should include:

– a title;

– an abstract (500 words);

– 5 keywords;

– a short biography (150 words).

Proposals for pre-constituted panels require:

– a title;

– a description of the panel (300 words);

– title and individual presentations descriptions (15-20 minutes) (300 words);

– 5 keywords;

– a short biography of each participant (150 words).

Pre-constituted panel proposals will be submitted by the panel chair.

Workshops are spaces for a more open and unstructured discussion or practice on a given specific topic between participants.

Proposals for workshops should include:

– a title;

– a description (300 words);

– an outline of the session and individual interventions, with the duration of the workshop (500 words);

– 5 keywords;

– a short biography of each participant (150 words).

Workshop proposals will be submitted by the workshop chair.

All proposals should be sent to rfnfrance2026@gmail.com by December 1, 2025. Selected individuals will be informed in January 2026.

Registration and travel grants 

Beyond the funding provided by the organizing universities, the conference 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. French delegates and students with institutional funding will benefit from a special fee. 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 registration form will ask you to explain in a brief paragraph your financial situation and why you are willing to attend the conference.

Important dates 

• Deadline for submissions: December 1, 2025. 

• Notification of acceptance of proposals: January 2026. 

• Online registration opens: February 1, 2026. 

• Online registration closes: April 1, 2026. 

• Start date: June 12, 2026. 

• End date: June 15, 2026.

For any questions about the proposals, travel grants or the submission process, please send us an email to rfnfrance2026@gmail.com.

Subscribe to the RFN mailing list for more information:

https://radicalfilmnetwork.com/mailing-list/.

Bibliography 

https://radicalfilmnetwork.com/reading-list/ 

Organising and scientific committee 

Isabel Castro (PRISM, Aix-Marseille University)

Teresa Castro (IRCAV, Sorbonne Nouvelle University)

Sonia Kerfa (ILCEA4, Grenoble Alpes University)

Beatriz Rodovalho (IRCAV, Sorbonne Nouvelle University)

Raquel Schefer (LIRA, Sorbonne Nouvelle University)