Newsletter #1 (2026)
Welcome back to SSAAANZ for another year! 2026 is set to be a big one with our 10th Anniversary, the biennial conference at the University of Melbourne, and exciting teaching and research opportunities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
CFP - Media International Australia: Nuances and Complexities of Sexual Content Online
The Media International Australia journal has released a CFP for their upcoming issue “Nuances and Complexities of Sexual Content Online”. The issue seeks to explore “scholarship that critically investigates the multivalent nature of sexual content online—not merely as material, but as a cultural, technological, and political phenomenon.” With an intent to explore the breadth and depth of this important field, the issue addresses topics including:
Pornography
Sexual Violence
Sexual Health and Sexuality Education online
Censorship and regulation
Platform governance and moderation of sexual content
Policy-level solutions including age verification
Image-based abuse including sextortion
Digital intimacies
Production cultures and values (e.g. amateur vs professional)
Pornography literacy and education
Impact of artificial intelligence (AI) (e.g. deepfakes)
Film and television representations of online sexual cultures and practices
Sexual labour and digital economies
Youth, consent and pedagogy
Online sexual cultures and communities
Representation and visibility (including body politics, race, and gender)
Histories of erotic media (from analogue pornographies to streaming)
Algorithmic content curation and the shaping of sexual desire
MIA have requested abstracts of no more than 500 words along with a short author bio. The CfP closes on Sunday 1 March, 2026, with publication set for February 2028.
Full CFP here. Please contact editor Associate Professor Claire Henry at Flinders University for any questions or abstract submissions.
New book release - Ivan Cerecina’s Assembly Lines: Montage in Postwar French Film
We’re pleased to announce the upcoming release of University of Sydney film scholar Ivan Cerecina’s book Assembly Lines: Montage in Postwar French Cinema:
In Assembly Lines, Ivan Cerecina explores how montage re-emerged after 1945 as a vital way of thinking historically in French cinema. Focusing on the early films of Nicole Vedrès, Alain Resnais, and Chris Marker, the book shows how montage became a tool for confronting a world shaped by war, genocide, and the atomic age.
Tracing cinema’s engagement with the Cold War, nuclear threat, decolonisation, and the resurgence of the far right, Assembly Lines reveals how montage enabled filmmakers to connect past, present, and future—making visible the hidden forces and looming crises embedded in moving images. The book introduces a new account of postwar French cinema as a site where history was not only represented, but actively reworked.
Colleagues in Australia and New Zealand can pre-order a copy via the UNSW bookshop.
Congratulations, Ivan, on the publication of your book!
10th Anniversary SSAAANZ Conference at the University of Melbourne
As we announced late last year, our 2026 in-person SSAAANZ Conference will be held at the University of Melbourne later this year! The conference team are hard at work preparing the Call for Papers and theme details, and we’re so excited for what they’ve prepared so far. We’ll also be celebrating the 10th anniversary of SSAAANZ at this year’s conference, so it’s going to be quite an occasion. More information coming soon!
SSAAANZ Mentorship Scheme 2026 Update
The SSAAANZ Mentorship Scheme is resuming again in 2026, and mentors and mentees are invited to express interest now for commencement in February. This scheme pairs Early Career Academics and Higher Degree Research students with more established scholars in the field. Mentors can include senior scholars as well as more experienced Early Career Academics. Mentorship is typically task or project based but can also include professional development.
We would like to thank all the Mentors who participated in the 2025 mentorship scheme. Your support of our early career and student scholar members is much appreciated.
Interested mentors and mentees can find more information and register for the 2026 Scheme on our website.
Best wishes for the beginning of the year
We hope everyone is having a smooth return to the start-of-year rigmarole, and we look forward to working with members on exciting developments in screen studies research and teaching practice via our Hubs, Special Interest Groups and the upcoming Conference. We know 2026 is going to be a great year for SSAAANZ!
Something you want to promote or share with the SSAAANZ Community? Email ssaaanz@gmail.com