WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY
MAY 10-13, 2018
The study of classical Hollywood cinema has been a central preoccupation of Film Studies ever since the discipline’s emergence in the 1960s. Initially informed by theories of authorship and genre, scholarship on studio-era filmmaking was invigorated in 1985 with the publication of The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (co-authored by David Bordwell, Janet Staiger, and Kristin Thompson), which inspired scholars’ turn toward the relationship between film artistry and industry. Today, even with the proliferation of areas and methods in Film Studies, classical Hollywood studies endures as an important area at the same time that it remains responsive to newer approaches, including women’s film history and intermediality studies. Now armed with new resources such as the Media History Digital Library and networks such as the Classical Hollywood Scholarly Interest Group of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, scholars are better equipped than ever to account for new methods, interdisciplinary connections, and archival discoveries as they pertain to classical studio cinema.
The conference Classical Hollywood Studies in the 21st Century explores where academic inquiry on classical Hollywood cinema has gone, where it is now, and — most importantly — where it is going. The conference brings together leading international scholars to exchange cutting-edge ideas about our methods, both past and present, for studying studio-era cinema. Featuring a keynote lecture by David Bordwell, one of the most illustrious and influential scholars on classical Hollywood cinema, the conference also includes panels that address the relationship between Hollywood and national cinemas, as well as that between classical and postclassical filmmaking.
The conference is made possible through the generous support of the following institutions:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Apollo Cinema, Kitchener
Princess Cinemas, Waterloo
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)
Laurier Alumni, Wifrid Laurier University
Department of Communication Studies, WLU
Department of English and Film Studies, WLU
Faculty of Arts, WLU
Office of the President and Vice-Chancellor, WLU
Office of the Provost and Vice-President: Academic, WLU
Office of Research Services, WLU
