Call For Papers - The World's Largest Index/List of Call For Papers

Representations of Social Reproduction in Slow Cinema

URL: http://n/a
Event Date: 2026-06-15 ~ 2026-06-15
Abstract Submission Date: 2026-04-01
Submission Date: 2026-04-01
Organizer: CEIS20, University of Coimbra
Location: Coimbra, Portugal

Feminism & Women's Studies Film

CALL FOR PAPERS

Representations of Social Reproduction in Slow Cinema

An In-person Academic International Conference hosted by

CEIS20, University of Coimbra,

Portugal, 15-16 June 2026

Social reproduction is an economic category used to describe the institutionalized separation between productive and reproductive activities (Dowling, 2021: 38). Reproductive labour encompasses all the work necessary for the reproduction of the labour force, including caregiving activities such as child-rearing, household chores, and emotional and sexual labour, historically assigned to women.

The distinction between productive and reproductive labour lies in the former’s capacity to produce surplus value. However, Marxist feminists have extensively theorized about the role of reproductive labour within capitalist social relations, asserting that it indeed produces surplus value (Federici, 2020; Fortunati, 1995, and others).

The conference focuses on the use of durational aesthetics in cinema to depict reproductive labour, aiming to challenge theoretical discourses concerning the concept of “slow cinema” by engaging with and deploying a feminist analytical framework for film analysis.

The term “slow cinema” refers to the use of durational aesthetics within contemporary cinema, encompassing a variety of filmmakers who use extended duration as an aesthetic practice to render filmic temporality political. Some authors have highlighted the possibilities of cinematic temporality for enhancing the viewer's awareness of the viewing experience (De Luca, 2016), while others argue that filmic temporality challenges meaning and demands a certain engagement from the audience (Schoonover, 2012).

The use of protracted duration in cinema is often discussed in relation to representations of labour and labouring bodies, but its connection to reproductive labour is frequently overlooked (De Luca, 2016; De Luca & Jorge, 2016; Flanagan, 2012; Koepnick, 2014; Fernández, 2017), with a few exceptions (Gorfinkel, 2012; Gorfinkel, 2019). A tendency to depict everyday life is found in films associated with “slowness.” Yet, this everydayness primarily contributes to the recognition of their realistic qualities rather than to an examination of how protracted duration complements the inherent temporality of the activities upon which our social reproduction depends.

As part of the FCT-funded research project CINE_TEMPO (2023.12820.PEX), the purpose of this conference is to ascribe a gender dimension to “slow cinema” aesthetics but also provide a more nuanced argument regarding the ways capital co-opts different temporalities and intensities. Despite requiring lengthier time slots, the activities that comprise social reproduction are directly related to the production of surplus value, reinforcing existing power relations.

Under the rubric of “slow cinema” aesthetics (De Luca, 2016; De Luca & Jorge, 2016; Flanagan, 2012; Koepnick, 2014), some have argued that “slow cinema” shares “its discursive genesis with a much larger socio-cultural movement whose aim is to rescue extended temporal structures from the accelerated tempo of late capitalism” (De Luca & Jorge, 2016: 3). Others argue that “slow” films “emerge from spaces that have been indirectly affected or left behind by globalization” (Flanagan, 2012: 118). However, protracted duration is not inherently resistant to fast-paced capitalist financial flows, just as a film that formally mimics the affects produced by fast-paced financial flows can be as critical of capitalist social relations as a film that uses aesthetic durational devices.

If radical politics once reclaimed the right to work, today the most radical demand is the right to live, which can guarantee our social reproduction. We have yet to weave together a political project that prioritizes social reproduction in order to guarantee the life of all – including the planet on which we live.

The overall objective of this conference is to produce preliminary outputs to foster educational and public engagement and social impact regarding the importance of social reproduction for advancing gender equality, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

The aesthetics of reproductive labour

Temporalities of care

Emotional and affective labour in “slow” cinema

The household as a cinematic space

Capitalism and reproductive labour in “slow” cinema

Gender, and embodiment in “slow” cinema

Reproductive labour in “slow” cinema from the Global South

Ecofeminism and “slow” cinema

Reproductive labour and queer temporalities

Work, rest, and play in “slow” cinema

Reproductive labour and the elderly in “slow” cinema

These topics offer a range of perspectives on the intersection of slow cinema and social reproduction, opening the door for feminist, Marxist, postcolonial, and eco-critical analyses that explore both film form and political content.

We encourage Creative Practice submissions and encourage Early-Career Researchers and PhD students to participate.

Please submit your abstract (no more than 300 words) and a short bio to:

patricia.sequeira.braz@gmail.com

We aim to publish a selection of these contributions in an edited collection resulting from the conference.

The deadline to submit abstracts is 1^st Abril 2026.

Organising committee: Patrícia Sequeira Brás (CEIS20, UC), Caterina Cucinotta (URJC, Madrid), and Ana Isabel Soares (University of Algarve, FCHS)

Works cited:

De Luca, T. and Jorge, N. B. Slow Cinema. Edinburgh University Press, 2016.

De Luca, T. ‘Slow Time, Visible Cinema: Duration, Experience, and Spectatorship’, Cinema Journal 56, No.1, Fall 2016, pp. 23–42.

Dowling, E. The Care Crisis, London & New York: Verso, 2021.

Federici, S. Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle, 2nd Edition, PM Press, 2020.

Fernández, H. M. “Cierta tendencia (nostálgica) del slow cinema.” In Aniki, Vol.4, N. 2, 2017, pp. 289-314. doi:10.14591/aniki.v4n2.283.

Flanagan, M. “‘Slow Cinema’: Temporality and Style in Contemporary Art and Experimental Film”. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at University of Exeter, 2012.

Fortunati, L. The Arcane of Reproduction Housework, Prostitution, Labor and Capital. New York: Autonomedia, 1995.

Gorfinkel, E. ‘Wanda's Slowness: Enduring Insignificance,’ In Ivone Margulies & Jeremi Szaniawski (eds.), On Women's Films: Across Worlds and Generations, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019, pp. 27-48.

Gorfinkel, E. ‘Weariness, Waiting: Enduration and Art Cinema’s Tired Bodies’, Discourse, Vol. 34, N. 2-3, Spring/Fall, 2012, pp. 311-347.

Koepnick, Lutz. On Slowness. Toward an Aesthetic of the Contemporary. New York: Colombia University Press, 2014.

Schoonover, Karl. ‘Wastrels of time: Slow Cinema’s Laboring Body, The Political, The Spectator, and The Queer’, Framework 53, No.1, Spring 2012, pp. 65–78.

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Representations of Social Reproduction in Slow Cinema

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