*CFP* "FILM, AUDIOVISUAL FICTION AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY", SPECIAL CHAPTER COVID-19, Nº 47, QUADERNS DEL CAC

The next issue of Quaderns del CAC will devote its monographic section to linguistic diversity and audiovisual production. It also will have a specific chapter for research on communication and Covid-19. Below you will find more details about each section: Monographic Section. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that citizens consume a very high share of fiction, both in films and series. There have also been changes in the way we access these audiovisual products, in favour of OTT services, and to the detriment of movie theatres and traditional television. This reality has placed the spotlight on the presence (or absence) of linguistic diversity in the audiovisual works that shape our media diets.

This focus has amplified the voices of alarm about the future of the audiovisual market that produces in languages other than the most spoken in the world: English, Chinese, Hindi, or Spanish. To guarantee the survival of this industry and the diversity of its content, we must first solve several problems. The viability of the audiovisual sector that produces in the languages of smaller nations or stateless nations, or regional or minority languages, depends on ensuring a significant supply of films and series for speakers of these languages, and on achieving a prominent circulation that reflects the diversity of cultures.

There is a consensus among experts on the need to strengthen the production sector with significant public funding, allowing the industrial consolidation essential to gain competitiveness and to overcome the limits to its circulation. Likewise, it is necessary that online platforms incorporate local works into their catalogues, facilitate their findability and prominence, and invest a percentage of their profits in local production in other languages. Public support policies and the principles of EU audiovisual policies concerning European works must be in line with this strengthening. The transposition of the last Directive on audiovisual services to the legislations of the states and regions should include obligations for European works created in all the languages of each member state.

Cinema and audiovisual fiction are complex objects of study that bring together technological innovation and creativity, value for change, and value for use due to its socio-cultural dimension. We propose an approach to this subject from a broad perspective that goes from audiovisual communication policies in film and television studies.

Indicatively, it may include articles on the following topics related to linguistic diversity in cinematography and audiovisual:

• Covid-19 effects. 
• The meaning of cinema in minority languages. 
• European policies. 
• Circulation of films and other audiovisual fiction. 
• Subtitling strategies. 
• The dubbing. 
• Diversity and accessibility. 
• Production. 
• Consumption. 
• The "glocal" strategy. 
• Prominence and findability.

 

Covid-19 Chapter

Exceptionally, the journal Quaderns del CAC opens a specific section for articles on how the Covid-19 health crisis has affected the field of audiovisual communication. We encourage you to disseminate your research on different communication topics related to the pandemic, such as those proposed below:

• Audiences and consumption. 
• Disinformation and fact-checking. 
• Incidents in the audiovisual industry. 
• Advertising. 
• Dissemination and public service. - Economy of the sector. 
• Consequences in the labor and professional field. 
• Synergies facing the crisis.

 

Finally, we also encourage submissions addressed to the miscellaneous ‘Articles’ section, focused on the ongoing research on audiovisual communication and culture. The call for papers for this section remains permanently open.

All texts must be original and unpublished and not subject to the selection procedure of another journal. They will be submitted to the double-blind peer review process. Quaderns del CAC commits to inform the authors of the positive or negative outcome of the evaluation within a maximum of one and a half months after submission. Texts must be presented according the journal’s style guidelines. Originals in Catalan, Spanish and English are accepted.

Articles should be sent to quadernsdelcac@gencat.cat. There is no article processing charge.

Quaderns del CAC is an annual electronic journal published entirely in English, Spanish and Catalan. For further information, back issues are available here.

Here you can find the call for papers also in Catalan and Spanish. 

Deadline: 26 April, 2021