CFP: Guaranteed Women In French session for the MLA in LA, Jan 7-10 2027
Chair: Miléna Santoro, Georgetown University
Transnational Francophone Women’s Cinema
If “[c]inema has from its inception been transnational, circulating more or less freely across borders and utilizing international personnel” (Ezra and Rowden, Transnational Cinema, 2), it is only recently that “human displacement has [acquired] increasing urgency in defining social and political experience, [such that] it has also become part of the lingua franca of postmodern culture in contemporary capitalism” (Rueschmann, Moving Pictures, Migrating Identities, 17). Immigration, migrancy, border-crossing, cultural loss or assimilation, and displacement are thus increasingly dominant themes in the cinemas of the Francophone world and in the critical discourse surrounding them. This session seeks to elucidate the particular ways in which women filmmakers or films about women deal with the nexus of issues raised by transnationalism, in life as in the cinematic industry. How do women’s experiences make a difference? What new perspectives do women directors bring to bear on the familiar issues raised by human displacement? What does the transnational dimension of our postmodern era mean for women behind and in front of the lens? Participants may consider films made by women directors who deal with transnational themes, or films about women’s lives and experiences by filmmakers of either sex, so long as the focus is on how women deal with the issues at stake. Paper proposals dealing with feature films and documentaries from all regions of the Francophone world are welcome, as it is hoped that a wide variety of examples will suggest multiple points of contrast and convergence.
Please send abstracts of 250-500 words to Miléna Santoro at milena.santoro@georgetown.edu by March 6, 2026.
