Studies in Australasian Cinema – Calls for papers

6.1: Imaging Religion and Spirituality in Australasian Film
Editors: Anthony Lambert and Holly Randell-Moon

Issues of spirituality and religion have long between central to the social, cultural and political rituals of many countries and communities within the Australasian-Pacific Island and Oceanic regions. Religion and secularism have also emerged as intense sites of geopolitical conflict in Australasia since the initiation of a now decade-long ‘war on terror’. Cinema plays a vital role in the ways in which community, citizenship, nationality and morality are imagined, normalised and debated. In this special issue of Studies in Australasian Cinema we are seeking papers that focus on filmic engagements with and representations of spirituality and religion. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Representations of all forms religious and spiritual practices whether institutionally, ethnically or individually oriented, in different genres and conventions of filmmaking, e.g. documentary, fiction etc.
• Representations on any aspect of religion and spirituality from within Australasian/ Pacific Island nations or by filmmakers from across the region.
• Differences between indigenous and non-indigenous conceptions of spirituality in film production and representation
• Postcolonial spirituality and religion in film production
• Filmic engagements with questions of morality and ethics or issues not normally considered as being within the purview of ‘religion’
• The influence of secular epistemologies and practices on the economies or conventions of filmmaking
• Film, spirituality and tourism
• Post 9/11 conceptions of religious affiliation and difference in Australasia
• Religious events, their mediation and/or representation in film
• Religion and politics/ the state, including political events and their influence on filmic representations of religion and spirituality in local, national or international productions

‘Imaging religion and spirituality in Australasian film’ will be edited by Anthony Lambert and Holly Randell-Moon. Enquiries in the first instance should be made via email to either anthony.lambert@mq.edu.au or holly.randell-moon@mq.edu.au

Final submissions to this issue close on Friday December 16, 2011.