September 12-14, 2019 

Portland, Oregon, USA

Deadline: May 15, 2019

Keynotes: Amanda Ann Klein, East Carolina University, and Matt McCormick, Gonzaga University

In holding this year’s conference in downtown Portland, one of the most environmentally conscious cities in the United States, we invite attendees to consider the themes of “repurpose” and “recycle,” broadly conceived. What function—socially, politically, and economically—do sequels, remakes, and reboots serve in media culture? How do reboots and remakes allow creators and audiences to not only revisit, but reimagine familiar narratives? What historical precedents might we return to in our attempts to better understand the nature and influence of series, serials, and (trans)media franchises today? And how might adaptation studies play a vital role in these critical discussions? While we welcome papers on any aspect of adaptation studies, we are especially interested in presentations that address one or more of the following concerns (or similar topics):

• transmedia storytelling
• media franchising
• recombinant culture
• questions of authorship in adaptation
• film genres and genre cycles
• economic and industrial perspectives on remakes
• rebooting television series
• evaluating sequels, remakes, and reboots
• the question of originality and artistry in adaptation
• environmental media and ecocritical perspectives
• ecocinema and ecomedia
• media and the anthropocene
• historical precedents in series, serial, and franchise storytelling
• formalist and narratological approaches to series, serial, and franchise storytelling
• narrative extensions into new media, including video games
• the impact of #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo on reimagining adaptation
• teaching adaptation

The LFA also welcomes work in media studies, more broadly. We have significant interest in broader studies of American and international cinema, film and technology, television, new media, and other cultural or political issues connected to the moving image. In addition to academic papers, presentation proposals about pedagogy or from creative writers, artists, and filmmakers are also welcome.

We are excited to feature two outstanding keynote speakers this year:

Amanda Ann Klein, Associate Professor of Film Studies in the English Department at East Carolina University, is author of American Film Cycles: Reframing Genres, Screening Social Problems, & Defining Subcultures (University of Texas Press, 2011) and co-editor ofMultiplicities: Cycles, Sequels, Remakes and Reboots in Film & Television (University of Texas Press, 2016). Her manuscript, Identity Killed the Video Star: A Cultural History of MTV Reality Programming, is under contract with Duke University Press. Her scholarship has appeared in Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Jump Cut, Film Criticism, Flow, Antenna, Salon, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and The New Yorker.

Matt McCormick has for many years been a key figure in the Portland art and film scene and is currently Assistant Professor of Integrated Media & Art at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA. Matt’s work crosses mediums and defies genre distinctions to fashion witty, abstract observations of contemporary culture and the urban landscape. His films, which include The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal, Some Days Are Better Than Others, The Great Northwest, and Buzz One Four, have screened in venues ranging from the Sundance Film Festival to the Museum of Modern Art, and have been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, Art Forum, and many other media outlets. Matt has also directed music videos for bands including The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, and Broken Bells.

Please submit your proposal via this Google Form by May 15, 2019. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Pete Kunze atlitfilmconference@gmail.com. Accepted presenters will be notified by June 1.

All sessions will be held at the University of Oregon in Portland, located at 70 NW Couch St. in downtown Portland. Limited travel grant support is planned to be available for select graduate students, non-tenure-track faculty, and/or independent scholars and artists. Details for an added application process for such support will be shared following proposal acceptances.

The conference registration fee is $200 ($150 for students and retirees) before August 1, 2019 and $225 ($175 for students and retirees) thereafter. All conference attendees must also be current members of the Literature/Film Association, and all presenters must be registered by September 1 to appear on the final conference program. Annual dues are $20. To register for the conference and pay dues following acceptance of your proposal, visit the Literature/Film Association website at http://litfilm.org/conference and use our PayPal feature.

Presenters will be invited to submit their work to the Literature/Film Quarterly for potential publication. For details on the journal’s submission requirements, visit http://www.salisbury.edu/lfq