The 2003 Visible Evidence Conference is the eleventh in a series of
major international and interdisciplinary conferences on the role of
film and video as witness and voice of social reality.

The conference
encompasses a wide range of cultural, political, social, historical,
ethnographic and pedagogical questions and welcomes perspectives from
such fields (in addition to film studies) as anthropology,
architecture, art history, ethnic studies, ethnography, gay and lesbian
studies, history, journalism, law, medicine, political science,
psycho-social studies, sociology, urban studies and women's studies.In addition, the conference seeks to expand beyond a purely academic
schema and make links with filmmakers, curators and producers, in order
to engage in debates on contemporary documentary practice and to
explore the space between the perspectives of scholars and cultural
producers and promoters. The conference programme will include
screenings curated by Bristol Docs, Vertigo Magazine and DocHouse.

This is a call for papers, which should preferably be intended for one
of the panels but may also include free-standing papers to be included
in an open panel. Before submitting your proposal, please look at the
list of panels. You may either submit your proposal directly to the
convenor of one of these panels, or to the conference organisers. In
the latter case the proposal should be sent to Michael.Chanan@uwe.ac.uk
as soon as possible but no later than 31 July 2003.

The format of the conference is a single stream of panels, so please
note that there will only be a limited number of papers selected.

Visible Evidence is a peripatetic international and interdisciplinary
conference on the role of film and video as witness and voice of social
reality, which encompasses a wide range of cultural, political, social,
historical, ethnographic and pedagogical questions and perspectives
from fields such as anthropology, architecture, art history, ethnic
studies, gay and lesbian studies, history, journalism, law, medicine,
political science, sociology, urban studies and women's studies. First
held at Duke University in 1993, subsequent editions have been held at
the University of Southern California, Harvard and then Cardiff, before
returning to the USA, followed by editions in Utrecht (2000), Brisbane
(2001) and Marseilles (2002). There is an associated series of books
published by Duke University Press.

Conference panels are typically devoted to topics such as IMAGE,
REALITY, TRUTH; IDENTITIES, BORDERS, CROSSING; HISTORY, MEMORY &
SCIENCE; NEW FORMS, NEW IMPLEMENTS. The conference has established the
format of a single stream of around 15 panels over four days, augmented
by separate screenings with invited film makers, generally (but not
exclusively) from the host country. The conference seeks to expand
beyond a purely academic schema and make links with filmmakers,
curators and producers, in order to engage in debates on contemporary
documentary practice and to explore the space between the perspectives
of scholars and cultural producers and promoters.

The Eleventh edition will be convened by Bristol Docs (School of
Cultural Studies at the University of the West of England) with
University of Bristol Dept. of Drama (Theatre, Film, Television) and
hosted by the Watershed Media Centre. Evening screenings will be
curated by Bristol Docs, Vertigo Magazine and DocHouse, reflecting the
recent growth of interest in the UK and abroad in both the production
and exhibition of independent documentary.

http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/visible-evidence/

Brett McLennan

Screen Education Manager

Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Federation Square

Melbourne Australia