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We are glad to announce that here you will find the BAFTSS issue of the Film Journal Frames, featuring the postgraduate student essays shortlisted for the BAFTSS Award.

The nomination process for elections to the BAFTSS Executive Committee is now complete. The election for members of the Executive Committee will be held online between 1 September and midnight on September 10. Members of BAFTSS will receive separate emails on how to vote.

BAFTSS received 9 nominations for the 7 ordinary members of the Executive Committee positions, and the election will concern those positions only. The 9 candidates and their statements in support of their election are listed below.

Only 1 person was nominated for each of the 4 named positions. In accordance with the constitution, those people are therefore declared elected unopposed for a term of 3 years, beginning after the AGM on 20 September

    Chair

1. Brian Winston (Media, Lincoln)

Nominated by: Dina Iordanova (Film Studies, St. Andrew’s)

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communications, Goldsmiths)

I have been involved in screen studies since the 1970s and have sought to serve the academic community engaged in this work in a variety of roles. I think this experience can be of value to us as we build on the excellent foundation thus far laid. Those responsible for conceiving of BAFTSS were correct in their assessment of the need for a dedicated organization — as is evidenced both by our membership and the hearings we have had with the bodies who affect our work. I am happy to continue to support the Association in whatever capacity I can.

    Vice-Chair

1. Phil Powrie (Arts & Human Sciences, Surrey)

Nominated by: Dina Iordanova, (Film Studies, St. Andrew’s)

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communications, Goldsmiths)

Phil Powrie is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences (University of Surrey), Lead of the Association for Studies in French Cinema and Chief General Editor of its journal. He has authored/co-authored ten books, edited/co-edited a further nine and published over 90 journal articles and chapters, mainly on French cinema. In recognition of his work and services to French cinema, he was made Chevalier dans l´Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French government in 1999. He is a member of the AHRC’s Peer Review College. Since July 2012 he has been involved with building the BAFTSS Postgraduate Network.

    Secretary

1. Rajinder Dudrah, (Screen Studies, Manchester)

Nominated by: Dina Iordanova (Film Studies, St. Andrew’s)

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communications, Goldsmiths)

Effective and clear communications will be important in helping BAFTSS to continue to establish itself as a key organisation representing colleagues working in and across Film, TV and Screen Studies. I will draw on my skills and experience as Head of Department of Drama (July 2007 – July 2010) and Director of the Centre for Screen Studies (2007 – present) at the University of Manchester, where I have worked with diverse individuals, creative teams, and represented and lobbied on behalf of the screen arts and humanities related subjects, to offer myself in your service as Secretary of BAFTSS.

    Treasurer

1. Lucia Nagib (Centre for World Cinema, Leeds)

Nominated by: Dina Iordanova (Film Studies, St. Andrew’s)

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communications, Goldsmiths)

I have been asked to stand for the position of TREASURER within BAFTSS Executive Committee. I have accepted this nomination as I have been involved with BAFTSS from its inception and I am an enthusiastic supporter of its mission to raise the profile of film and screen studies with the government, funding agencies, cultural industries and the general public. As IEC member I have been engaged with events coordination, with particular emphasis on postgraduate training activities. I have devised and put in place a funding scheme to foster PG students’ training that has benefitted four PG conferences and seminar series across the UK in the past year. If elected treasurer, my focus will be on channelling membership revenue towards the expansion of services available for members; and on boosting fund raising in order to enable the increase of BAFTSS-sponsored PG training events, conferences, publications and international networking.

    Nominations for 7 Ordinary Members:

1. Lucy Mazdon (Film Studies, Southampton)

Nominated by: Self

Seconded by : Tim Bergfelder (Film Studies, Southampton)

I am a Professor of Film Studies at the University of Southampton. My research lies primarily in the area of French film and television history. I have a particular interest in studying French cinema in an international or transnational context, as evidenced by my work on remakes of French film and French film in Britain.

I have been a member of BAFTSS since its inception and fully support its activities and agenda. As such I would now be keen to take a more active role in the organisation. As an ordinary member I would be very happy to take on responsibilities in any of the areas listed in the call for nominations.

2. Tim Bergfelder (Film Studies, Southampton)

Nominated by: Self

Seconded by: Lucy Mazdon (Film Studies, Southampton)

I would like to nominate myself for one of the ordinary positions on the EC, ideally continuing in the role of awards coordinator that I have taken care of recently during the phase of the IEC. This appointment would ensure that I could pass on my experience to the new EC, and also develop the awards scheme further, for example by introducing new awards in consultation with other BAFTSS colleagues.

3. Joe Andrew (Film Studies, Keele)

Nominated by: Self

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communications, Goldsmiths)

I have been an active member of the BAFTSS Interim Executive Committee since its inception; I am also currently a member of the BAFTSS team planning the inaugural annual conference for 2013. I bring to these positions a wealth of experience. I have been a university teacher, researcher and administrator for 40 years, at Keele University. I have huge and diverse experience of planning and running things: at Keele I have been Head of School, and Director for a variety of programmes; I am currently Programme Director for Film Studies. I am a long-standing member of the university Senate; I have also been on the Keele AUT / UCU committee for nearly 30 years. I am committed to the future of Film Studies within the academy.

4. Beth Johnson (English, Keele)

Nominated by: Joe Andrew (Film Studies, Keele)

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communications, Goldsmiths)

As a BAFTSS member and principal lecturer in Film and Television Studies at Keele University, I am highly organised and have a strong commitment to and passion for the promotion and the recognition of screen studies disciplines, as well as representing the academic and professorial interests of those engaged in it to the academy, the cultural industries, funding bodies, the government and the public. I believe that communication and liaison are essential to attaining and shaping the recognition of the disciplines within the professional and public sphere and as such, I would like to support the work and mission of BAFTSS by operating as an elected Executive Committee member in a liaison role.

5. Alex Marlow-Mann (Film Studies, Birmingham)

Nominated by: Dina Iordanova (Film Studies, St. Andrew’s)

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communication, Goldsmiths)

I have been involved with BAFTSS since its inception, serving as the membership secretary, chairing the first AGM and helping to draft the constitution and build infrastructure (website, mailing lists, etc). I consider BAFTSS invaluable for the future of the discipline and am keen to continue serving on the Executive Committee. I am currently Lecturer in European Film at the University of Birmingham and have previously worked for the Centre for Film Studies at the University of St Andrews and the British Film Institute. I am a specialist on Italian cinema and author of The New Neapolitan Cinema (EUP, 2011).

6. Stefano Baschiera (Film Studies, Queen’s University, Belfast)

Nominated by: Dina Iordanova (Film Studies, St. Andrew’s)

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communications, Goldsmiths)

Statement:

My goal and contribution as a member of the BAFTSS Executive Committee would be to continue to develop the communication with and the interaction between the members, in particular through the association’s website. I believe that BAFTSS’s online presence is central to the growth of its community of scholars and its relationship with other institutions. In fact, it is my aim to transform the website into an important hub for discussion and exchange as well as a place for members to share information, resources and ideas on best practices in screen education.

7. Matthew Hawkins (Media, Coventry)

Nominated by: Self

Seconded by: Chris Berry (Media & Communications, Goldsmiths)

I am currently finishing my PhD at The University of East London, for which I received a studentship award from AHRC. My thesis explores the concept of ‘affective tonality’ and how this concept can be used as a tool to analyse and produce new (cinematic) narrative structures.

I am also a full-time lecturer in Media Production at Coventry University.  Both my research and my teaching explore the relationship between critical theory, continental philosophy and moving image practice. I hope that through my contribution to the BAFTSS committee I could help represent the interests of colleagues within academia, especially early career researchers.

8. Paul McDonald (Culture, Film and Media, Nottingham)

Nominated by: Self

Seconded by: Lucia Nagib (Centre for World Cinemas, Leeds)

Over the last year I have served on the BAFTSS Interim Executive Committee and now stand as a candidate for one of the ordinary member posts. It is vital that BAFTSS establishes strong cooperative relationships with external bodies, and during the last year I have contributed to meeting this aim by gaining support for the association from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) and the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC). I am committed to consolidating and expanding these links and maintain active engagement with relevant organizations in the international academic and research community. I was a founding member of the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS) and served on the NECS Strategy Committee. I’m a member of the AHRC’s Peer Review College and Knowledge Exchange College. Since 1993 I have been a member of the SCMS and recently founded and now co-chair the SCMS Media Industries Scholarly Interest Group. I am also a trustee of the BUFVC.

9. Andrew Moor (English, Manchester Metropolitan)

Nominated by: Self

Seconded by: Linnie Blake (Manchester Metropolitan)

I have actively participated in BAFTSS since its launch, as a member of the Interim Executive Committee. I’ve collected census-data on film, tv and screen studies departments/subject areas across all UK universities – raw material for BAFTSS to use when lobbying about the size and significance of our field of study. I have also written a set of concrete proposals about teacher-training and schools education for BAFTSS to take to potential partners like the British Film Institute. I also have substantial experience in events/conference organisation and am confident I can play a meaningful role on BAFTSS Executive Committee.

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British Association for Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS)
Annual General Meeting (AGM)

2 p.m.
20 September 2012
Council Room (K2.29, First Floor)
King’s College London
The Strand, London, WC2R 2LS

Members of BAFTSS are notified that the AGM will be held at KCL beginning
at 2 p.m. on 20 September 2012. The room is booked for 4 hours, but it is
not anticipated that the meeting will last that long.

The primary purpose of the meeting will be to announce the outcome of the
annual elections for the Executive Committee. Details will follow very
soon on the process of nomination and voting, which will be conducted
electronically and completed prior to the meeting. The first annual BAFTSS
Awards will also be announced at the AGM.

We hope that in future years AGMs will be held during a conference,
allowing a larger number of BAFTSS numbers to participate directly in the
meeting. The absence of a conference this year means we anticipate few
members will be able to get reimbursed for coming to the meeting and
therefore attendance may be low. Therefore, the Interim Executive
Committee (IEC) resolved at its last meeting to suspend the usual AGM
quorum. However, for the election to be valid, the normal 25% will have to
participate in the elections. For this year only, participation in the
elections will be taken to constitute ceding of voting powers at the AGM
to the newly elected Executive Committee, who will thus be empowered to
make decisions on any remaining motions put before the AGM.

Chris Berry
Interim Secretary, BAFTSS

BAFTSS Update No.3

15 July 2012

1. Interim Executive Committee Meeting 24 May 2012

The meeting was attended by 13 out of 16 IEC members. The following are highlights from the minutes:

-       The meeting agreed to award each of the four postgraduate events listed in update no.1 £250, to be used to assist attendance of BASTSS student members with no access to other travel funds.

-       The 2012 AGM will take place from 2-6 p.m. on 20 September in the Council Room at King’s College London. Details on nominations and voting (including electronic voting) to follow

-       We plan to hold the 2013 AGM and first Annual Conference after Easter and before the Spring Term. The venue will be finalized before this year’s AGM.

-       IEC member Anna Clayton’s report “BAFTSS and the HEA” was received and its recommendations adopted with thanks. It has been posted under the membership section of the website.

-       Charlotte Crofts (CC) and Catherine Grant (CG)’s proposal for a practice research award was received with thanks and accepted, but for 1 award only, in the next round of awards, with CC and CG to join the awards team and run this particular award

-       Dina Iordanova presented a report on government statistics and Film, Television and Screen Studies, as part of a run-up to meeting the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) in the autumn. The figures are complex, but indicate that although our discipline does not figure directly in the statistics, it is growing.

-       Brian Winston and Chris Berry report on a meeting with MeCCSA, and the IEC agreed that BAFTSS should maintain regular communications with MeCCSA, with a view to cooperating where and as appropriate.

-       The meeting suggested that next year’s fees should be pegged at £20 full and £10 research students and postdocs. To be ratified at the upcoming AGM

-       We plan an advisory board of approximately 20 people (10 UK academics, 5 international academics, and 5 film or video-makers/screen professionals/public figures).

Developments since the IEC Meeting:

2. The BFI’s Future Horizons for UK Film

-       IEC members attended and participated in many of the local consultative meetings

-       A BAFTSS response to the report was submitted to the BFI

-       We have also written to the BFI requesting a meeting.

3. BAFTSS and the AHRC

-       We received a response from the AHRC to our letter, recognizing BAFTSS as a stakeholder and subject association

-       The AHRC invited BAFTSS to attend their annual subject association meeting, which IEC Yosefa Loshitzky (YL) attended on our behalf.

-       YL’s report on the meeting has been posted in the membership section at the website

4. The BAFTSS awards for 2012 have closed and judging is currently underway.

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1. Membership (spokesperson: Brian Winston)

Membership has grown further to 282 individuals, with 589 subscribing to

the listserv.

The membership committee has completed the first stage of research into

the size of the field, identifying the number of departments offering

film, television or screen studies degrees in the UK and that this

information will be used for statistical analysis and will feed into our

various lobbying and liaising activities. (see 5).

2. Events (spokesperson: Lucia Nagib)

The PG events mentioned in the last update are going ahead. In addition:

2.1 Meeting with British Libray staff, Maja Maricevic and Luke McKernan,

20 March 2012.

On Dina’s suggestions LN & CB met Maja Maricevic (Head of Higher

Education) and Luke McKernan (Lead Curator, Moving Image) to discuss BL

open days for organised groups of BAFTSS PGRs. The outcome was

inconclusive, if not disappointing. BL is at the stage of planning their

budget for next year hence their interest in hearing suggestions as to how

they can improve their current programme. They offer bursaries to PhD

students interested in attending their open days, and they are massively

oversubscribed. They held 5 open days last year to some 400-500 students.

Their open days are divided in two parts: 1) A general introduction 2)

Curators of the different collections conduct workshops to breakout

groups. My understanding is that they put an emphasis on their best

collections, and film is not among them, because it is seen as simply

complementary to the major BFI holdings. Maricevic made it clear that Film

is not a priority among the disciplines they address. However Luke showed

a great interest in BAFTSS and volunteered to attend our PGR events, in

the quality of both speaker and listener.

2.2. Stefano Baschiera has created a tab for PGR events on the top menu of

BAFTSS website.

2.3. Logo competition: a call has been launched by Sabi Shah, under

supervision of Rajinder Dudrah, with deadline on 18 May. See Call

attached.

3. Awards (spokesperson: Tim Bergfelder)

Entries for Best Monograph, Best Article in a Refereed Journal, and Best

Student essay are coming in. The deadline is 31 May 2012, and we will make

a final effort to encourage additional submissions, especially in the last

category. For further details on how to submit, please go to the website:

http://www.baftss.org/awards/.

Catherine Grant and Charlotte Crofts have urged the establishment of a

practice research award. They have been encouraged to submit a proposal

for the next round of awards to the 24 May Interim Executive Committee

meeting.

4. Political Agenda (Dina Iordanova)

5.1 As previously reported, REF have responded positively to our letter,

and now added BAFTSS to the list of nominating bodies.

5.2 A list of Film Studies departments has been compiled, with assistance

from Andrew Moor and Joe Andrew, and passed on to the statistician officer

at St. Andrews, who will provide information about the numbers of students

graduating with a BA degree in film in due course (this will serve as a

basis for an approach to HESA).

5.3 Brian Winston and Chris Berry met with Sue Thornham, Maire

Messenger-Davies, and Mark Jancovich of MeCCSA to discuss how to work

together wherever possible. Proposals will be tabled and discussed further

at the 24 May IEC meeting.

5. Funding (Dina Iordanova)

We have received a detailed paper from Anna Claydon outlining funding

opportunities from the HEA, which will be discussed at 24 May IEC meeting.

6. Communications (Chris Berry and Stefano Bascheira)

We continue to work on our PR list of contacts and to maintain the website

(see 2.2 above).

Dear colleagues

The BAFTSS mission statement prioritizes “the recognition of the

discipline and represent the academic and professorial interests of those

engaged in it to the academy, government, funding agencies, the cultural

industries and the public.”

BAFTSS is pleased to report that following a representation from BAFTSS

officers requesting recognition as a body that represents an academic

discipline, Graeme Rosenberg, REF Manager for HEFCE, has added BAFTSS to

the list of nominating bodies for the current and future REF exercises.

Of course, this is just a first step. But it is very encouraging.

Hopefully, more good news along these lines will follow.

Chris Berry

Interim Secretary, BAFTSS

15 March 2012

Dear BAFTSS Members and BAFTSS Listserv members

As indicated on the home page, we set up work teams at the last meeting of

the Interim Executive Committee on 5 January 2012. We are gathering

periodic reports on progress from those teams, and I plan to put together

regular short updates to keep you all in touch with what the organisation

is doing.

Chris Berry, Interim Secretary.

1. Membership (spokesperson: Alex Marlow-Mann)

The membership drive has been successful beyond our greatest expectations.

We have recruited far more rapidly than expected and currently have 235

members. Behind the scenes this has involved many hours of technical work

as well as active and targeted emailing.

The membership team is currently researching departments where Film,

Television and Screen Studies is taught across the UK, to provide data for

use in the drive for recognition nof the field (see 5).

2. Events (spokesperson: Lucia Nagib)

The organisation of a number of Postgraduate Research Student events is

underway in cooperation with various colleagues:

2.1 Two BAFTSS sponsored panels at the Scottish Consortium programme,

“Film and Film Initiatives in Scotland,” 8 June 2012, Birnam Institute,

Dunkeld.

2.1. PG Conference “Genre beyond Hollywood,” University of Southampton, on

8th July, organised in association with BAFTSS.

2.2. The University of London PG Training Day will be held on 27 October,

and will be open to BAFTSS members. This year’s theme will be “The

Senses.”

2.3. PG Conference Language in Cinema, a BAFTSS event being currently

organised by PGRs from the Centre for World Cinemas, University of Leeds

(PhD students Tamara Courage and Jo Gilbert), with the support of

Manchester (PhD student Sabina Shah), on 8-9 December at Leeds.

2.4 Chris Berry and Lucia Nagib are opening discussions with the British

Library about a thematic open day to be held there.

4. Awards (spokesperson: Tim Bergfelder)

The awards competition has been announced and publicized, with awards in 3

categories for this year: Best Monograph, Best Article in a Refereed

Journal, and Best Student essay. The deadline is 31 May 2012. For further

details on how to submit, please go to the website:

http://www.baftss.org/awards/.

Commissioning editors at publishers have been contacted and procedures for

electronic submissions of awards have been established and appear to be

functioning.

5. Political Agenda (Dina Iordanova)

5.1. JACS/HESA subject classification, We have identified a “catch-22”

situation. On the one hand, so long as our discipline does not exist as

category for which statistics are collected, we will not have a designated

REF panel to submit to, nor will grants and postgraduate award bodies

specifically assign to our field. On the other hand, so long as there is

no statistical evidence of the existence of the field, it’s had to get

people to collect the statistics. The success of the membership drive is

one step towards addressing this problem. We have also made inquiries

related to the way in which the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS), the

Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), and UKAS collect information

and classify categories related to film, television and screen studies. We

are seeking consultation with

statisticians who are advising on how to address the current

inconsistencies of coding and work out a plan on how to take up the matter

with the respective organisations.

5.2 We have had a meeting with Richard Paterson of the BFI to explore

areas of possible cooperation. These include: advising the BFI on possible

use of some of its lottery funds for research (an announcement is expected

imminently, and we will respond to it); working with the BFI to help

secure recognition of the field from HE sector fields, because this is of

mutual interest.

5.3 We have increased the range of fraternal links with other

organisations, as reflected on the resources page of the website

(http://www.baftss.org/resources/) and the relationships with other

organisations page (http://www.baftss.org/relationship/).

5.4 We have responded the UK Film Report.

6. Funding (Dina Iordanova)

We are looking into various possibilities to secure funding for

BAFTSS-related projects from organisations such as the HEA, Leadership

Foundation for Higher Education, and the BFI. If members are aware of

further funding opportunities that could be explored, we would appreciate

it if you could let Prof. James Chapman (jrc28@le.ac.uk) know.

7. Communications (Chris Berry)

Stefano Baschiera has revamped and expanded the website. We are also

building a PR list of contacts to send announcements to, and we plan more

regular updates like this one.

Chris Berry