[acc-cca-l] Call for Participants: Queer Futurisms

Jonathan Petrychyn jpetrychyn at gmail.com
Fri Nov 12 08:16:52 MST 2021


[△EXTERNAL]


Dear colleagues,

The Toronto Queer Film Festival is seeking participants for its 2022 Symposium on the theme of Queer Futurisms.

Details copied below. Deadline for submission is December 15, 2021.

Any questions can be directed to industry at torontoqueerfilmfest.com<mailto:industry at torontoqueerfilmfest.com>

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
Queer Futurisms
An online symposium organized in conjunction with the Toronto Queer Film Festival
April 22nd-24th, 2022
Proposal deadline: December 15th, 2021.
Everyone is welcome to apply. This is a paid opportunity for all involved.

The Toronto Queer Film Festival is seeking proposals for its annual Symposium around the theme of Queer Futurisms.

Queer Futurisms seeks to explore the future possibilities of 2Spirit/Queer/Trans existence and those who dream these possibilities for all of us through their art – be it through: speculative fiction, sci-fi, automythography, documentary, biography, etc.

In alignment with the guiding principles of TQFF, we ask that submissions to this symposium prioritize the principles of decolonization. How a decolonized existence can be realized for all in the future includes Indigenous sovereignty, Black liberation, anti-racism, accessibility for all, prison abolition, and a borderless world. TQFF seeks your perspectives and experiences on how we, as individuals, and through communal efforts, can shape the future.

Submissions to Queer Futurism symposium may consider the questions: What will resistance look like in the future? How will 2Spirit/Queer/Trans people thrive in the future? What forms of kinship are guiding us into the future we want? What forms of intimacy/relationships/sex are creating new possibilities for us? What does aging look like for 2Spirit/Queer/Trans people? How does fiction create possibilities for world-building?

As ever, TQFF’s mandate remains to decolonize Queer and Trans art and media histories and practices. This symposium seeks projects with a unique perspective that frame their work in a critical, anti-oppressive, and future-bound model. We are interested in papers, workshops, roundtables, readings, performances that critically engage and reckon with and through media and the arts.

This is an artist-run festival. At TQFF, we commit to ethical treatment of artists in two concrete ways: we do not charge submission fees, and pay all those participating in the festival (whether screening, moderating, and/or speaking) fees according to IMAA & CARFAC standard rates.

The TQFF Symposium is generously funded by the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Topics for the Symposium could include, but are not limited to:

Current, or historical uses of speculative fiction that inspire world-building;
Black speculative fiction;
Afro-Futurism;
Honoring the communal care and lives of Black, Indigenous, and POC trans women, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people, who have created foundational queer movements in history;
Sex-worker led resistance movements;
HIV and AIDS activism;
Language reclamation;
Disability justice movements and accessibility;
Oral or written traditions, folklore, or stories;
Exploring and realizing AI technologies, VR, space, time travel, etc;
The distinct futurisms of Queer/2Spirit Indigenous people across Turtle Island, and around the world;
Queer and/or Indigenous histories of organizing resistance and how this continues to influence future generations;
Care that occurs in queer spaces and what it means to create a queer space;
Anti-racism/decolonization in artistic practices and/or arts organizations;
Envisioning the future of queer and trans resistance;
Solidarity & allyship both within the 2Spirit/Queer/Trans; communities and beyond;
New technologies/ New Media as they are explored by artists and filmmakers.

*A NOTE ABOUT ACADEMIC PAPER SUBMISSIONS:
To keep in line with the intentions of TQFF as an accessible and alternative creative venue for Queer people from all walks of life, we are at this time discouraging the submission of traditional academic paper presentations. Examples of this may include academic papers that utilize institutionally focused language and academic jargon and reading directly from academic-focused papers. As such, we recommend presentations that eschew the typical academic-focused reading and that, instead, actively engage with what will primarily be a non-academic audience. Utilizing creative engagement such as visuals, clips, performances, and other hybrid forms of presentations is highly encouraged. For those who wish to present research, we require that you indicate the format and content of your presentation.

FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT SUBMISSIONS:

While papers, roundtables, workshops, moderated discussions, etc. are welcome, we especially encourage more creative formats and engagements including but not limited to: arts-based research, multimedia presentations, poetry, performances, music, readings, artist talks, and other presentation formats that innovate and encourage online participation. As a symposium organized as a part of the Toronto Queer Film Festival, we are particularly interested in contributions that engage in some way with queer and trans-media and/or art practices.

We highly suggest taking a look at previous programming from our previous years when considering your submission: https://torontoqueerfilmfest.com/symposium-2021/

As a grassroots organization embedded within our communities, the Toronto Queer Film Festival encourages contributions from folks across our community – not just academics embedded within academic institutions, but also independent scholars, activists, artists, community members, and other people with lived experience that would provide valuable perspectives to discussions on global queer liberation, art, and media.

Everyone is welcome to apply.

Please submit the following information via our online form by December 15th, 2021.
Name
Affiliation (Institutional, collectives, ad-hoc groups, etc., if applicable)
Presentation format (i.e. paper, roundtable, workshop, creative)
Presentation title
250-word abstract
The email address you can be contacted at
Accessibility needs

This symposium will be held online. We are particularly interested in submissions that take full advantage of the capabilities of online platforms. Individual papers and presentations should be no more than 15 minutes. Roundtables, workshops, panels, etc., should be no more than 1 hour, including an opportunity for Q&A. We will also accept submission for proposals with shorter durations (i.e. lightning talks, microsessions, Pecha Kucha, etc).

Only selected participants will be notified of their acceptance by January 31st, 2022.

Submit your proposal here: https://torontoqueerfilmfest.com/submissions-2022/

--
Jonathan Petrychyn, PhD (He/Him)
Mitacs Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellow
X University<https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2021/05/11/welcome-to-x-university-an-open-letter-to-the-community-from-indigenous-students/>
jonpetrychyn.com
<http://jonpetrychyn.com>

Co-chair, Film & Media Festivals Scholarly Interest Group
Society for Cinema and Media Studies
www.cmstudies.org <http://www.cmstudies.org>
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