Newsletter #2 (2026)
Greetings from SSAAANZ! Our 2026 conference planning is in full swing with the CFP released earlier this month - we look forward to seeing you in Melbourne!
CFP: SSAAANZ 2026 Conference
We are delighted to release of the Call for Papers for the SSAAANZ 2026 Conference, which will take place from 1st to 4th December, 2026 at the University of Melbourne.
The conference tackles the theme of “Making Do” and we are seeking papers that address the creative, subversive and abundant possibilities for screen scholars, practitioners and industries. The 2026 SSAAANZ Conference will focalise making, doing, and creative problem solving in screen practice, theories, histories, and policies. We invite papers that consider how screen studies is a process of making do:
What “making do” means in screen theory and practice
Critical or creative theories of incompletion, speculation, prediction, or imagination
Cross cultural interpretations of making do
Indigenous screen histories of making do within dominant systems
Making ado: celebrating, making a fuss
The incomplete archive; archives subject to environmental, financial, political, or social pressures
Amateur, experimental, and activist filmmaking
Making do without enough money, time, resources
Screen praxes and pedagogies in the context of neoliberalism
Making do in an age of technological disruption and generative artificial intelligence
Piecing together and making do as methodology
An ethics of making do in practice and research
We invite papers from across the disciplinary spectrum of screen studies, including (but not limited to):
Cinema and television studies
Game studies and interactive media
Animation
Documentary and nonfiction screen media
Video art, multimedia, and immersive media (VR/AR)
Screenwriting and production studies
Video essay and videographic criticism
Creative practice research
Screen and creative labour
Screen environments and policy
Screen history, theory, and criticism
Screen industries, production, and distribution
National, transnational, and postcolonial screen industries
Reception, audiences, and screen cultures
SSAAANZ 2026 Abstract Submission Portal
Proposals are due by 1 June 2026. For more information, please visit our CFP site here, or contact the conference organisers via ssaaanz-2026@unimelb.edu.au.
Seeking Expressions of Interest for Special Interest Groups
SSAAANZ is seeking Expressions of Interest for new Special Interest Groups (SIGs). We are seeking to expand the number of SIGs ahead of the 2026 Conference at the University of Melbourne. SIGs should bring together scholars from specialist areas of screen studies and generate engagement.
Interested parties should complete and submit the SIG EOI Form linked below by 11.59pm AEST May 15, 2026.
MeCCSA PGN Conference 2026 - Media and Sustainability
The Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association is holding its annual Postgraduate Network conference at the University of Reading on 9 September 2026. Under the theme of “Media and Sustainability”, the conference invites a wide array of media scholars, including screen disciplines, to contribute to topics on adaptability, endurance, resistance and reimagination within current media landscapes.
Possible areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
Sustainable media industries
Sustainable creative and research methodologies
Environmental sustainability and media
Sustainable archives and preservation
Sustainable digital technologies and infrastructures
Sustainable identities and communities
Sustaining the self
For further information, visit the CFP here. The deadline for submissions is Friday 15 May.
Something you want to promote or share with the SSAAANZ Community? Email ssaaanz@gmail.com