The relationship between the scholarly interrogation of cinema and architecture has an established history. This symposium seeks to do two things: first, to chart this history from both disciplinary perspectives and their sometime mutual engagement, in the process offering rejuvenation; and second, to suggest new directions for research in this area, taking on both historical and recent developments in the relationship between film and architecture. We are seeking symposium papers that go beyond citing the representation of famous architecture and built environments on film, and instead look at the mutual impact of each art form and their scholarly analysis.

The symposium will be organised as plenary sessions comprising panels of three papers running 30 minutes each followed by generous discussion, so that all participants can attend each paper. Presenters are invited to propose abstracts for papers starting from diverse points of entry and background in cinema studies, architecture studies, or a mixture of both, with a focus on the combination of critical and theoretical work with specific filmic-architectural examples and analysis.

General topic areas for possible papers include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Examining the role 1920s cinema has played for film-architecture scholarship, and how best to productively understand this ‘foundational’ heritage today.
• Assessing the productive role played by the study of 1940s & ‘50s film noir (and later ‘neo’ iterations) in film-architecture scholarship.
• Examining the importance of 1950s & ‘60s post-war modernist art cinema in relation to late modernity’s transformation of urban space, and its radical impact on human experience.
• Explorations of film-architecture research on suburban built environments in the cinema.
• Explorations of (and the need for) scholarly work on small-town, village, and rural built environments on screen.
• Assessments of the extent to which post-colonial interrogations and increasingly urgent calls for a ‘world cinema’ approach are reflected in film-architecture scholarship.

The symposium convenors invite interested scholars from around the world to send proposals for proposed papers related to the above topics, or to suggest others. Please send a 300-word abstract and 100-word biography (including university staff or other relevant webpage link) to hamish.Ford at newcastle.edu.au, using the email subject line ‘New Directions in Film-Architecture abstract’, by 15 July, 2016. The symposium convenors will send out formal acceptance emails at the beginning of August.

Symposium convenors: Hamish Ford (University of Newcastle), Michael Chapman (University of Newcastle), Charles Rice (University of Technology, Sydney), Sam Spurr (University of NSW).