SIGHTLINES  CONFERENCE

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​​​Call for Proposals: Joint SRN Conference and Sightlines Festival 2025 - HYPHEN

 

The University of South Australia’s Creative People, Products and Places Research Centre (CP3) in conjunction with the Australian Screen Production, Education and Research Association (ASPERA) is pleased to announce a combined Screenwriting Research Network conference, and Sightlines: Filmmaking in the Academy festival, to be held 17-20 September 2025 in Adelaide, South Australia.  

 

Since 2006 the Screenwriting Research Network has hosted an annual conference to explore innovative approaches and exciting research into the history, theory, practice and teaching of screenwriting. This conference has travelled the world. Meanwhile, since 2014, Sightlines: Filmmaking in the Academy, a symposium/festival, has provided a forum to showcase and discuss screen-based ‘non-traditional’ research outputs. In 2024 we bring these two important communities and events together to explore crossovers and connections between theory, practice and education.

 

The theme for the conference-festival is Hyphen. The between. The connected. The hybrid. What does the hyphen mean to you? What does it mean for practice? How does it appear in industry? What are the theoretical implications? From the practitioner-academic to the writer-director, to the creative-critical, to the teaching-research nexus, to documentary-drama, to the anti-hero, to the non-representational, we are interested in creative, critical and hybrid responses to the theme hyphen.

 

In this conference-festival we are keen to embrace a range of submissions that reflect the outputs of scholars, reflective practitioners, and creative-practice researchers interested in screenwriting and screen production research and showcase the full range of screenwriting and screen production that occurs within and between the higher education sector and industry, and across a breadth of platforms and methodologies.

 

We welcome submissions for in-person presentations in the following formats:

 

• 20-minute papers:

Presentations can include exhibition of screen production research in-progress or discussion of screenplay works.

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• Pre-constituted panels:

Panels can include exhibition of screen production research in-progress or discussion of screenplay works.

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• Exhibition of creative screen production works:

Screen production outputs to be accompanied by a short practitioner introduction and/or post-screening talk.

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• Table read/performance of screenplays:

A screenplay or screenplay excerpt to be read/performed, accompanied by a short practitioner introduction.

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Submission guidelines:

 

For Panels, please include a 100-word outline of the panel topic or theme under discussion.

 

For Panels and Papers please send a 300-word abstract outlining each paper, 4-6 keywords, and the name and affiliation of each presenter/panellist. References are optional (maximum five). If you are citing sources, please use APA style. Please also include a short biography (100 words maximum) for each presenter/panellist.

 

For Exhibition of Screen Production Works, please submit a preview/excerpt of your completed creative work via online link.

 

For Table Read/Performance of screenplays, please submit a PDF.

 

For all screen works and scripts, please attach the accompanying information:

 

- Title

- Name of presenter and other relevant key creative contributors

- Medium/format

- Running time

- A 300-word research statement that contextualises the work. This may be a statement that explicates the background, significance and contribution of the work. The statement should provide an understanding of the context of the work, the community of practice in which you are operating, any research question/s your work seeks to address, how the importance of the work can be understood, and/or how the impact of the work might be measured. Please also include a short biography of the presenter (100 words maximum).

 

Deadline:

 

Please send your proposals (and any queries) to srn.sightlines2025@gmail.com by Friday 14 February 2025. Please await confirmation that your proposal has been received.

 

Conference organisers: Craig Batty, Michael Bentham, Carina Boehm, Sandy Cameron, Kath Dooley and Kim Munro.

 

Please note that a separate call for creative works to be featured in a future issue of Sightlines: Filmmaking in the Academy journal will follow the conference-festival.

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