Love thinking about and discussing movies? The sixth annual Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Undergraduate Conference is coming to Wilfrid Laurier University, marking the first time the conference is being held outside the United States.

It is the world’s only undergraduate film studies conference. Thirty undergraduate students from across North America, including four Laurier students, will present their work at 10 different sessions over two days, April 6-7. The conference is being held on Laurier’s Waterloo campus, room SB107 in the Schlegel Building.

“The conference will showcase the best scholarly work in film and media studies by undergraduate students from Canada and the U.S.,” says Associate Professor Russell Kilbourn, program advisor for Film Studies and one of the conference organizers. “In the long view, this conference is the starting point for these students in their future endeavours as professionals in the world of film as critics, theorists, filmmakers, or in other capacities.”

The conference is free and open to all. Audience members do not need to register in advance and all sessions are open to drop-ins. The conference is sponsored by the Wilfrid Laurier University Student Life Levy Fund, the Society of Cinema and Media Studies, the Faculty of Arts and the Department of English and Film Studies.

Conference Schedule

Thursday, April 5

• 5-8 p.m. – Pre-conference reception and registration, Robert Langen Art Gallery

Friday, April 6

• 9-10:15 a.m. – Panel: Classical Hollywood… and Beyond
• 10:30-11:45 a.m. – Panel: Popular Culture and the Moving Image
• 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. – Panel: Cinematic Technology: Yesterday and Today*
• 2-3:45 p.m. – Panel: Superheroes, Monsters and the Post-Human*
• 4-5:15 p.m. – Panel: Identity, Sex, Gender

Saturday, April 7

• 9-10:15 a.m. – Panel: Borders, Masculinity and Adaptation
• 10:30-11:45 a.m. – Panel: Remediating Film
• 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. – Panel: Japan in Cinema*
• 2-3:45 p.m. – Panel: Bodies and Identities
• 4-5:15 p.m. – Panel: European Cinema and the Trauma of Identity*

An asterisk (*) marks panels where a Laurier student will be presenting. For more information, see SCMS U on Facebook or contact Russell Kilbourn.