The two-day conference on “Images, Film, and Video of Atrocity” invites scholars and researchers from diverse disciplines to submit their papers and join us in exploring the complex and multifaceted realm of non-fictional representations of atrocity. The conference is particularly interested in non-fictional representations of atrocity beyond the Holocaust and invites contributions that engage with photography, video, television, or feature film. Our disciplines are at the intersection of film and media studies as well as history and we are equally interested in close-readings as well as expansive overviews and macro-analyses.

We welcome papers lasting 20 minutes, with additional time for questions, on any of the following (non-comprehensively listed) topics:

  • the uses (and abuses) of archival images of past and recent conflicts
  • comparisons of image-representations across atrocities, time, geography, or media
  • the rhetoric of images in documentary and propaganda film
  • representational configurations of particular groups (victims, perpetrators, bystanders, and any complex combinations of these)
  • the agents, processes, infrastructures (e.g. festivals, platforms, social media), and institutions behind these images that shape the images or how they reach (or fail to reach) their audiences
  • narratives that (seek to) establish or perpetuate national memory and identity as well as narratives that aim to establish transnational representation
  • research into the impact of such images on audiences and consumption patterns

Keynote speaker: Dr Piotr Cieplak, University of Sussex

Please send a 300 word abstract by November 30 to: Julian.koch@hum.ku.dk

The first day of the conference will feature the keynote, your presentations, and possibly a screening. The second day of the conference will be a workshop in which we will review and give constructive feedback on each other’s papers. For this purpose, please have a draft paper ready. These drafts should be a maximum of 8000 words, but can be as short as 3000 to 4000 words. Please ensure that your draft is prepared at the latest two weeks before the start of the conference (reminders will be sent). Papers will then be circulated and each participant will be expected to review two papers.

The conference is organized together with the Ethics and Violence cluster at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies of the University of Copenhagen and is funded by the HORIZON EUROPE Framework; grant number 101025897.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!