April 21-22, 2027

Thessaloniki, Greece

Deadline:  January 5, 2027

Organized by Laboratory for the Study of Greek Cinema and Television (LSGCT) School of Film, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Keynote Speaker: Vrasidas Karalis, Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Sydney

Call for Papers

On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the military coup of 21 April 1967, the international conference Images in the Years of the Dictatorship, Sixty Years Later seeks to undertake a critical reassessment of the relationship between the military dictatorship and Greek cinema during the period 1967–1974.

Despite the substantial scholarship that has developed around cinematic developments during the years of the dictatorship, many aspects of film production, distribution, and exhibition during the period remain either insufficiently studied or confined within established interpretive frameworks. The sixtieth anniversary offers an opportunity for a broader reconsideration of the ways in which the cinematic culture of the seven-year dictatorship has been approached in academic research: from censorship and propaganda to commercial cinema, aesthetic transformations, the operation of the film industry, and forms of political expression.

The conference proposes a re-evaluation of Greek cinema during the dictatorship beyond simplistic binaries—such as commercial/political, resistance/compliance, or art/industry—and seeks to explore the contradictions, continuities, and transformations of the period through new historiographical, theoretical, and archival approaches. 

At the same time, the conference welcomes approaches that draw upon public history, oral history, and digital methods of research, documentation, and curation of film culture, highlighting new ways of accessing, interpreting, and disseminating the cinematic heritage of the period.

Particular emphasis will be placed on:

• revisiting established narratives of cinema during the dictatorship;
  
• studying neglected genres and filmmakers;
  
• making use of archival sources;
  
• reconsidering the relationship between aesthetic form, censorship, and the ideological function of the image.
  

The conference aims to bring into dialogue film historians and film scholars, researchers of visual culture, archival institutions, doctoral researchers, and practitioners around the following thematic areas, which are indicative rather than exhaustive.

No payment from the participants will be required

Conference Themes

Censorship and Institutional Control

• Mechanisms of censorship in Greek cinema
  
• Self-censorship and strategies of adaptation
  
• The dictatorship's cultural policy towards cinema
  
• State institutions, committees, and administrative practices of control
  

Commercial Cinema and Popular Entertainment

• Comedy, musicals, and melodrama during the dictatorship
  
• Social, historical, and war dramas of the period
  
• Film production and distribution under the junta
  
• The star system and the public image of actors
  
• Representations of gender in genre cinema
  
• The relationship between commercial cinema and ideology
  
• Reconsidering Old Greek Cinema from the perspective of the present

New Greek Cinema

• Aesthetic ruptures and the new cinematic language of New Greek Cinema
  
• Political implication and allegory
  
• The Thessaloniki International Film Festival as a site of confrontation and renewal
  
• Revisiting historiographical narratives of New Greek Cinema and its relationship to the dictatorship 
  

Production, Distribution, and Exhibition Culture

• Figures of film production: the people behind the camera
  
• Film journals, the press, and film criticism during the period
  
• Movie theatres during the years of the dictatorship
  
• Film distribution and exhibition during the dictatorship
  
• Film posters, advertising, and marketing
  
• Cinema audiences and cinephilia during the period

Documentary, Newsreels, and State Propaganda

• Official newsreels of the dictatorship
  
• Military celebrations, parades, and national ceremonies in the moving image
  
• Tourist and promotional films of the period
  
• The aesthetics of propaganda and its international influences
  

The conference also welcomes proposals dealing with: 

• comparative approaches to other dictatorships;
  
• international cinematic influences;
  
• new methodological and historiographical approaches to the period 1967–1974;
  
• public and oral history approaches to Greek cinema during the period;
  
• digital methods for the documentation, curation, and presentation of film archives and cinematic works from the period 1967–1974.

Participation Formats

The conference welcomes:

• individual papers of 20 minutes;
  
• panel proposals consisting of 3–4 participants;
  
• presentations of archival or research projects;
  
• practice-based approaches related to the moving image and film restoration.

Submission Guidelines

• Prospective participants are invited to submit:
  
• title of the paper;
  
• an abstract of 200–300 words;
  
• a short biographical note (up to 150 words);
  
• contact details.
  

  Submissions should be sent to emekt@film.auth.gr

Conference languages: Greek and English.

Important Dates

• Abstract submission deadline: 5 January 2027
  
• Notification of acceptance: 30 January 2027
  
• Conference programme announcement: March 2027
  
• Conference dates: 21–22 April 2027

Scientific Committee

Christina Adamou, Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Maria Chalkou, Associate Professor, Ionian University

Christos Chrysanthopoulos, Special Scientific Staff, Institute of Historical Research / National Hellenic Research Foundation

Betty Kaklamanidou, Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 

Elli Lemonidou, Professor, University of Patras

Paraskevas Mouratidis, Special Laboratory Teaching Staff, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Eleftheria Thanouli, Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Yannis Tzioumakis, Professor, University of Liverpool

Elpida Vogli, Professor, Democritus University of Thrace

Christos Xenos, Special Teaching Staff, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Organizing Committee

Eleftheria Thanouli, Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Director, Laboratory for the Study of Greek Cinema and Television (LSGCT)

Christos Xenos, Special Teaching Staff, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Paraskevas Mouratidis, Special Laboratory Teaching Staff, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Akis Laskaris, Undergraduate Student, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Eva Statheropoulou, Undergraduate Student, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 

You can find the full text of the CFP online at:  https://emekt.film.auth.gr/international-conference-images-in-the-years-of-the-dictatorship-sixty-years-later/