BAFTSS Special Interest Groups Newsletter – issue 2. May 2020: The BAFTSS Special Interest Groups (SIGS) scheme began in December 2016 and currently consists of 18 groups, each exploring connections and approaches to distinct areas of film, television and screen studies. The SIGS propose discipline-specific panels to the BAFTSS Annual Conference and arrange a variety of other activities, from the Euro-Bollywood Workshop: Deconstructing Complexitiessymposium to events on FS74 – A (London) Film Society Reconstruction and on British Women Amateur Filmmakers and Colour Film.BAFTSS SIGS have organised workshops that explore methodologies utilised in screen industries research and those that examine the relationship between filmmaking, practice research and the Academy. The work of the SIGs includes PGR and ECR training events, public lectures, and the Notes on Colour blog. To join or convene a SIG you must be a member of BAFTSS  – there is an option to join one or more SIGS through the BAFTSS subscription process.

The BAFTSS SIG Newsletters include details of forthcoming events and past activities that have been organised by the BAFTSS SIGS and those that are supported by the BAFTSS SIG funding scheme.

With thanks to all of our Special Interest Groups for their fantastic work!

BAFTSS Executive Committee. BAFTSS SIG Coordinator Dr Liz Watkins. Contact: e.i.watkins@leeds.ac.uk

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Welcome: New SIGs and Conveners

Welcome to the new Special Interest Groups on LGBTQI+ Cinema and East Asian Screen Cultures.

LGBTQI+ Cinema SIG: founded by Connor Winterton, the group is now convened by Daniel Sheppard (Birmingham City University), Adam Herron (Northumbria University) and Amy Harris (De Montfort University).

East Asian Screen Cultures SIG: was founded and convened by Kiki Tianqi Yu (Queen Mary University London), Victor Fan (King’s College London), Ruby Cheung (University of Southampton) and Lin Feng (University of Leicester).

Film Philosophy SIG: conveners Lucy Bolton and Catherine Wheatley have decided to step down. Thank you both for all of your work for BAFTSS and the SIG! Welcome to new conveners Davina Quinlivan (Kingston University) and Dominic Lash (University of Bristol).

French and Francophone Cinema SIG: thanks to Phil Powrie for his work as he steps down. Welcome to new conveners Kate Ince (University of Birmingham) and Will Higbee (University of Exeter).

Update: BAFTSS Conference 2020 Nine SIGS submitted panel proposals for the 8^th BAFTSS Annual Conference 2020 on Rethinking Screen Cultures at the University of St Andrews. Unfortunately the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but our thanks to all of the SIGS in bringing their work this far. We hope that authors of abstracts accepted for the conference will consider developing their work for submission to Open Screens. The journal  – Open Screens – welcomes original articles, video works and proposals for guest-edited special issues. Submissions are double-blind peer reviewed. Enquiries should be sent to the Editor, Andrew Moor a.moor@mmu.ac.uk  We look forward to reading individual and SIG panel proposals for the 9^th BAFTSS Annual Conference 15^th -17^th April 2021 at the University of Southampton. The CFP will be circulated in autumn 2020.

 Forthcoming SIG events

 Film Philosophy SIG. Philosophical Thinking and the Films of Kelly Reichardt, University of Exeter. This one day symposium on the films of Kelly Reichardt brings together a range of local and regional scholars at various levels (postgraduate, early career researchers and senior lecturers/readers) to engage in an open and enriching dialogue about Reichardt’s cinema. Date: TBC. December 2020. Contact: Davina Quinlivan, Kingston University and Dominic Lash, Bristol University.

 Practice Research SIG. Filmmaking in the Academy: Practice/Theory Interventions Symposium, University of West of England. Date: TBC. This one-day symposium is a celebration of filmmaking in the academy in which practice researchers are invited to screen their work whilst research dimensions will be critically explored with a mixed panel of established, early career and PGR researchers from both practice and traditional film studies backgrounds. The event will be rescheduled due to COVID -19. Contact: Charlotte Crofts charlotte.crofts@uwe.ac.uk

 Screening Sex SIG. Screening Sex Symposium. A research and networking event at Solent University, Southampton. Date: TBC. The symposium has been rescheduled due to COVID-19 pandemic. Contact: Donna Peberdy and Darren Kerr Email: darren.kerr@solent.ac.uk

Past Events: Reports on SIG Projects This section includes reports and photographs from BAFTSS SIG events held between September 2019 and May 2020. Information on SIG events held before July 2019 can be found in the first BAFTSS SIG Newsletter (October 2019) issue 1.

French and Francophone SIG. Approaching Contemporary French Cinema: Girlhood Symposium, King’s College London. Report by: Suzanne Présumey, Graduate Student in English and Film Studies, King’s College London.

Screen Industries SIG. Methodologies for Screen Industries Research: Symposium, book Launch and Lecture, Watershed. Annette Hill, Media Experiences: Engaging with Drama and Reality Television (Routledge 2019).

Stardom and Performance Studies SIG. Reinvigorating and Reinventing Star Studies Symposium, University of Warwick.

German Screen Studies SIG, Circulating Cinemas: Moving Image Research and the Transnational Archive, PGR and ECR workshop, King’s College, London.

Psychoanalysis and Film SIG. Femininity and Psychoanalysis: Cinema, Culture, Theory, Freud Museum, London. This symposium included a lecture by Professor Elizabeth Cowie and a discussion about Femininity and Psychoanalysis: Cinema, Culture, Theory (Routledge 2019), which is a new collection of essays edited by Agnieszka Piotrowska and Ben Tyrer.

BAFTSS Essay Film SIG members, Dr Brenda Hollweg and Dr Igor Krstic, recently published World Cinema and the Essay Film: Transnational Perspectives on a Global Practice (Edinburgh University Press, 2019). Congratulations!

BAFTSS is committed to helping its communities to develop strong, positive action around issues of equality, diversity and inclusivity. These values are displayed in the Inclusivity Statement displayed on the BAFTSS Homepage and should be embedded in all that we do. BAFTSS work to be mindful of issues of race, gender, LGBTQI+ status and disability when planning events, inviting speakers, in the constitution of conference panels and symposiums, and by being attentive to potential access issues of its communities.

BAFTSS SIG Newsletter May 2020