CALL FOR PAPERS

WELCOMING THE STRANGER

SECOND ANNUAL

BOSTON FAITH & FILM FESTIVAL

FEBRUARY 7-9, 2002

BRATTLE THEATRE, CAMBRIDGE, MA

Our organizing committee is now accepting submissions of paper abstracts for the Scholars Symposium at our second annual Boston Faith and Film Festival.  The primary aims of the Faith and Film Festival are to utilize film more constructively as a dialogue partner in religious and theological studies, to engage film critically from a variety of faith perspectives, and to deepen our own faith and faith traditions by responding to the kinds of existential questions that film so creatively raises.

Our theme this year is “Welcoming the Stranger.”  Films screened will be those that deal with the question as to how religious faith offers resources for welcoming and including those who are marginalized – refugees, immigrants, or those who for any number of reasons are considered “outsiders” or “different.”  The organizing committee interprets the term “faith” broadly so as to encompass wider philosophical and spiritual issues.  We certainly encourage presenters, however, to relate their topic(s) to a particular religious tradition, if possible.

The festival will be held February 7-9, 2002, at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA.  A list of films to be screened and discussed, in addition to other pertinent festival information, will be posted at our website (www.bostontheological.org/faith&film).  Presenters are certainly welcome to address films that will not be screened at the festival, though we encourage presentations on the festival films. 

One-page abstracts should be sent electronically (in the body of an e-mail or as a Microsoft Word attachment) to Prof. Kevin L. Stoehr at kstoehr@bu.edu and a hard copy of the abstract should also be sent to his address at Humanities & Rhetoric, College of General Studies, Boston University, 871 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215.   The deadline for submission of paper abstracts is Dec. 1, 2001.  Please include in your abstract the following items:  1) the specific topic of your presentation and how it will be addressed; 2) how the presentation will relate to the overall festival theme of “Welcoming the Stranger”; and 3) how the presentation will relate to the overall rubric of “Faith & Film.”