CFP: Film Exhibition History: From the Canister to the Cloud

The journey from nickelodeon to multiplex traces the hopes and dreams of Mom and Pop entrepreneurship, the vertical integration of the movie industry, and the SCOTUS mandated ownership shifts in the history of film exhibition. Moviegoers detoured to the drive-in theaters in post-war America leading to the breakdown of many city-center theaters.

This area will examine multiple perspectives on film exhibition from early itinerant showmen to the re-imagining of the business in the 21st century examining all the theatrical elements that affect[ed] movie going from management styles to technologies; from Saturday morning kiddie shows to midnight premieres, from concessions stands to dinner and drinks at the movies.

Topics may include but are not limited to:
* Movie theaters and local history
* Alternative exhibition sites
* Economic exigencies across the decades
* Theater managers as community leaders
* Promotional practices and showmanship
* Technology from sprocket to Internet
* Movie theater preservation campaigns

Proposals for complete panels (three related presentations) are also welcome, but they must include an abstract and contact information, including an e-mail address, for each presenter. For updates and registration information about the upcoming meeting, see the Film & History website (www.filmandhistory.org).

Please e-mail your 200-word proposal by June 1, 2015, to the area chair:
Deborah Carmichael
Michigan State University
Carmic28@msu.edu