The movies in a changing world

THE Centenary of Cinema conference, entitled Projecting the Nation:

Cinema in an International Frame, at the Irish Film Centre next weekend brings together a distinguished collection of internationally-recognised academics and writers to explore what future, if any, lies in store, for national cinemas in a rapidly changing global culture.

In the keynote addresses, Fredric Jameson will discuss: the relationships between nation, nationalism and cinema, looking at four instances of national cinema in their classic phases - early Hollywood, Soviet Cinema, French Cinema and German Cinema. Dudley Andrew of the University of Iowa will examine the apogee of nationalism and of national cinema in the late 1930s, and will suggest that cinema now stands at the threshold of global media and global economics, where it offers a privileged understanding of our century. Australian writer and critic Meaghan Morris will explore recent Australian films like Muriel's Wedding and Strictly Ballroom, and the work of George (Mad Afar) Miller to investigate whether the whole idea of national cinema is an anachronism, of value only to critics band journalists.

A series of panels will also discuss such issues as the importance of peripheral visions within a globalising audiovisual culture, the industrial and commercial realities of non-Hollywood film-making practice, and questions of gender within national cinema discourses. Evening screenings include the Irish cult trash movie The Eliminator and John T. Davis's documentary The Uncle Jack.

The conference runs from Friday until Sunday at the Irish Film Centre. The fee for attendance is £50, with a concession rate available at £20. For further information contact the IFC at 01-6795744.