The year 2002 marked the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Max Ophuls, whose extraordinary directorial career spanned the mid-twentieth century and half a dozen countries. While several European conferences paid tribute to Ophuls' work during the past year, this is the first conference on the filmmaker to take place in the United States. Highlights will include plenary talks by distinguished Ophuls scholars and archival screenings at the recently restored Kimball Theater in Williamsburg. Our aim is to launch the next century of Ophuls scholarship through an international dialogue on all aspects of his artistic achievement. The following are suggested paper topics but we also welcome other ideas for presentations:
Ophuls' cinematic legacy: his influence on Kubrick, Becker, McGehee & Siegel (The Deep End), P.A. Anderson, Scorsese, Minelli, Bertolucci, Demy, Astruc, Téchiné, Vecchiali, and other filmmakers; collaborations with writers, cinematographers, and production crews; direction of actors; relationship to national cinemas; working conditions in European and American studios; literary adaptations and/or influences; unfinished projects.
The role of class structure; sound and music; the photograph; the star system, gender and sexuality; the military and war; costume and art direction; the representation of Vienna; the influence and representation of the "attraction" (circuses, funfairs, Hale's Tours) in Ophuls' films.
Ophuls and other media (theater, radio, etc.); as "genre" director (melodrama and film noir) as Jewish filmmaker, radical director, and/or modernist/postmodernist; as "brand name": problematizing the notion of auteur in the context of "Ophuls'" films.
Cultural studies approaches to Ophuls' cinema (e.g., in the context of European and American colonialism and post-colonialism; the roles of European and American minorities in creating the films and as represented in them, etc.)
The roots of Ophuls' visual style (movements, directors, theatrical traditions).
Restorations and archival projects; production histories of Ophuls' films.
Critical and spectatorial responses to Ophuls' films (including comparative studies in different nations).
The cinematic relationship between Max and Marcel Ophuls.
Please send 250-word proposals by NOVEMBER 15, 2002 to Susan White (swhite@u.arizona.edu) and Michael Trosset (trosset@math.wm.edu).
Program Committee:
Local Arrangements (College of William & Mary): Anthony Anemone, Colleen Kennedy, Michael Trosset
Founded in 1693, the College of William & Mary is the second oldest university in the United States. Its scenic campus adjoins historic Colonial Williamsburg. Williamsburg is served by two international airports (Richmond and Norfolk).