Pordenone, information meeting, 2011

Information Meeting Minutes

Women in Film History International, October 6, 2011, Pordenone, Italy

1. Report on Women and Silent Screen Conference, Bologna 2010:
   Monica Dall’Asta sent word that the plan to create a journal, Protea, and publish papers from the conference is slowly progressing.

2. Report on Women Film Pioneers Project:
   Jane Gaines sent word that there are technological problems slowing down the launch of the Women Film Pioneers website.

3. Report on Doing Women’s Film History Conference, Sunderland, UK, spring,  2011:
   Christine Gledhill described how rich in diversity this conference was.  Papers came from UK and abroad including Iran and China.  Participants were scholars and practitioners, graduate students and seasoned researchers.  It was very successful and Doing Women’s Film History 2 is being planned for 2014.  Christine also discussed the Women’s Film and TV Network, and she distributed a flyer describing the goals and activities of the organization.  Its goals include “To encourage, support and disseminate information about women’s participation in film and television across the full range of activities, including:  scriptwriting, producing, directing, designing costumes, sets, props, acting, dancing, singing…” and more.  The group has a WIKI:  http://wfh.wikidot.com.  There are also plans to publish an e-newsletter three times a year among other activities.

4. The Importing Asta Nielsen conference organized in Frankfurt at the Deutsches Film Institute by Martin Loiperdinger on 27-29 Sept. was a success. There were many young female scholars presenting papers on the dissemination of Nielsen’s films in different countries including Egypt and Japan.  Kinothek Asta Nielsen has as its goal to bring Asta Nielsen’s films to contemporary audiences and it has been very active.  It distributed a new promotional booklet and has plans for future exhibitions and projects including Women and Football.

5. Eye Institute in Amsterdam encourages researchers to contact them about holdings.  There are many films waiting to be studied.   http://www.eyefilm.nl/

6. Marianne Lewinsky sent word that the films of Lois Weber will be shown this summer at the Cinema Ritrovato this summer.  http://www.cinetecadibologna.it/en/vedere/festival/cinemaritrovato

7. Scott Curtis reminded us that Domitor is meeting in June in Brighton, UK and that the deadline for the call for papers is approaching: 31 Oct.

8. Victoria Duckett sent word that plans for the 2013 Women and the Silent Screen Conference in Melbourne are firming up. There is great excitement among several departments at the University of Melbourne and there is hope that holding the conference in Australia will make participation by scholars in Australia, New Zealand and Asia much easier.  She asked for suggestions for dates for the conference and, after discussion, we proposed the second half of June.  She also said they are thinking about different topics strands for the conference and are open to suggestions.

9. Leslie Midkiff DeBauche presented our newly created website:  www.wfhi.org, and urged everyone to visit the site, add to its offerings, and send her any suggestions you might have.  Her email address is ldebauch@uwsp.edu.  Updates on conferences and any new information that we receive about items pertaining to women and film history will be posted on the website.

Recorded and reported by Leslie Midkiff DeBauche.