Call for Papers: Current Thinking on the Western III

An international conference convened by Dr Lee Broughton (Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow, CWCDC, University of Leeds) with Dr Mark Goodall (University of Bradford).

14-15 June 2016

University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK.

Keynote speakers:

Professor Sir Christopher Frayling (Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, Royal College of Art).

Alex Cox (filmmaker (Repo Man, Straight to Hell, Walker, Sid and Nancy) and academic practitioner, University of Colorado).

The conference will incorporate a special 50th anniversary celebration and screening of Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) that will be presented in collaboration with the National Media Museum in Bradford on the evening of 14th June 2016. This special screening event will include:

i) An introduction to the film by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, author of Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone (1981), Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (2000) and Sergio Leone: Once Upon a Time in Italy (2005).

ii) A roundtable and Q&A featuring Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Alex Cox (filmmaker and author of 10,000 Ways to Die: A Director’s Take on the Spaghetti Western (2009)), Ulrich Bruckner (President of Explosive Media home entertainment and author of For a Few Corpses More: The Spaghetti Western from its Beginnings to Today (2006)) and Jeremy Wooding (filmmaker and director of the cult Western Blood Moon (2014)).

2015-16 is proving to be a significant year for the Western. The Hateful Eight, The Revenant and Bone Tomahawkhave all enjoyed critical success and there is every indication that we may be about to enter a period of renewed public interest in the genre. As ever, the genre in all of its multifarious forms continues to inspire new and fruitful avenues of academic research.

This two-day event seeks to draw together international scholars of all levels (independent scholars, postgraduate research students, early career researchers & established researchers) and media practitioners whose work engages with the Western on film.

Proposals (around 250 words in length) are invited for 20 minute papers concerning any aspect of current research or professional practice relating to Western genre films. Further information can be found here

Proposals - accompanied by a brief biography - should be sent to:

Dr Lee Broughton: L.Broughton@leeds.ac.uk and

Dr Mark Goodall: M.Goodall@bradford.ac.uk

Deadline for proposals: Monday 11 April 2016