June 18-20, 2026

Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, France

Deadline: January 28, 2026

Cinema, in particular, and media, in general, have often been considered through their tensions and resolutions between the realms of visibility and of invisibility. This inherent duality – between appearance and disappearance, materiality and temporality, inner and outside world, ideality and imagination, human and non-human – has persisted, even as technologies and formats have evolved. The 2026 Conference of the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS) – taking place from 18-20 June 2026 at Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, France – will explore how in/visibility has been traditionally linked to formal and technical aspects (their aesthetics, apparatus, and most current actualizations), to economical choices, to bio-politics, and to historiographical shifts that have rearticulated these partitions within their socio-cultural and political contexts. media historiography has substantially reassessed the influence of marginalized and silenced groups, rediscovering or acknowledging the major contributions of minorities, peripheries, women, and racialized communities to filmmaking and media productions. Recent academic research has shed new light on the feminization of the media industry and their persistent discriminations, inviting us to extend this analysis to other underrepresented social groups or cultural areas. To this end, the status of archives is particularly challenging: incomplete and fragmented archival traces (including lost versions, unachieved projects, abandoned scenarios) raise the question of an “absent presence” and the efforts to recover, acknowledge, and legitimize these traces for historiographical purposes. Furthermore, the shift from analogue to digital archives, in the context of digitization of old media and the expansion of new digital screen media, deeply transforms the constructing processes of representation and memory, calling us to renew our vision of the representativity of the archive itself. Therefore, the 2026 NECS Conference will tackle more generally the processes through which invisibilization occurs, from pre-cinematographic apparatuses to contemporary screen and media industries, and how these dynamics concretely affect today’s professional landscapes. It will also consider how resisting and alternative spaces continue to redefine what can be seen, by whom, under what conditions, and how the gradual inclusion of new media and the reinvention of old ones have expanded – or restricted – the horizons of visibility.

Please submit proposals for individual papers, panels or workshops by 28 January 2026, using the submission form available on the NECS website: https://necs.org/conference/ 

There is no conference fee. However, kindly note that the submission form is only accessible to NECS members with valid membership. Every author of paper, panel and workshop proposals is required to be NECS members. Being a part of NECS gives access to a vibrant, diverse and engaging community of scholars and workgroups. The yearly NECS Conference is a privileged moment for academics from all over the world, at different stages of their careers, to come together to share knowledge and experiences and exchange ideas about the latest research in the areas of film and media studies. The beautiful Montpellier serves as the background for the NECS 2026 Conference and provides plenty of opportunities for socialization, informal networking and sightseeing.

If you experience any problem with registration or membership renewal, please write an e-mail to support@necs.org.