News / 16 February 2023

MAPPING GLOBAL HORROR: AUSTRALIA, JAPAN AND BEYOND Conference In Melbourne This March

ACMI in association with Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Pittsburgh present MAPPING GLOBAL HORROR: AUSTRALIA, JAPAN AND BEYOND, a conference dedicated to exploring the horror genre as a historical and contemporary phenomenon from March 17 – 18.

Join world-leading scholars and filmmakers for a two-day conference at ACMI in Melbourne that includes talks, panels and screenings.

Day 1 – Friday 17 March

10–11.30am Women in Horror: Japan, Australia and Beyond

  • Chair: Charles Exley (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (Deakin University)
    • ‘Writing 1000 Women in Horror and the Popular Reception of Alternate Histories’
  • Chika Kinoshita (Kyoto University)
    • ‘The Fetus and the Horror of Motherhood’
  • Charles Exley (University of Pittsburgh)
    • ‘Contextualising the Cinema of Kayoko Asakura’
  • Claire Henry (Flinders University)
    • ‘Surrealist aesthetics in female-directed horror’

11.30am – 12pm Coffee break

  • 12–1.30pm George A. Romero’s Impact on Global Horror
  • Chair: Adam Lowenstein (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Angela Ndalianis (Swinburne University)
    • ‘Zombies, Pandemics, and the Social Imaginary’
  • Adam Lowenstein (University of Pittsburgh)
    • ‘Horror and Aging in Relic and The Amusement Park’
  • Ben Rubin (University of Pittsburgh)
    • Video introduction to George A. Romero Archival Collection (12 mins)
  • Screening of Romero’s Elegy (George A. Romero, 1963, 21 mins)

1.30–2.30pm Lunch

2.30–4pm Folk Horror as Global Horror

  • Chair: Jessica Balanzategui (RMIT) and Allison Craven (James Cook University)
    • ‘The Folk Horror Feeling: Monstrous Modalities and the Critical Occult’
  • Bliss Cua Lim (University of Toronto)
    • ‘Folk horror in an Asian context’
  • Akira Lippit (University of Southern California)
    • ‘Unexpected Correlations in Japanese and Korean Horror’
  • Saige Walton (Univeristy of South Australia)
    • ‘Embodiment in folk horror’

4–6pm Break

6pm In Conversation with Natalie Erika James
(Ticketed separately. To book
 visit the RELIC screening page.)

  • Screening of RELIC (Natalie Erika James, 2020, 89 mins)
    • (Introduction by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Deakin University)
    • Q&A following screening

Day 2 – Saturday 18 March

10–11.30am Roundtable: Streaming Genre and Horror

  • Chair: Andrew Lynch (Swinburne University)
  • Alexa Scarlata (RMIT)
  • Andrew Lynch (Swinburne University)
  • Jess Balanzategui (RMIT)
  • Mark David Ryan (Queensland University of Technology)

11.30am – 12pm Coffee break

12–1.30pm Roundtable: Filmmakers on Horror

  • Chair: Adam Daniel (AFTRS)
  • Kayoko Asakura
  • Natalie Erika James
  • Isabel Peppard
  • Caitlin Koller

1.30–2.30pm Lunch

2.30–3.30pm Roundtable: Horror Exhibition and Festivals

  • Co-chairs: Jessica Balanzategui (RMIT and Angela Ndalianis (Swinburne University)
  • Grant Hardie (Convenor of MonsterFest)
  • Hudson Sowada (Convenor of Fantastic Fest)
  • Lee Gambin (Cinemaniacs)
  • Briony Kidd (Stranger With My Face Horror Film Fest)

4–5.30pm RoundtableMapping Global Horror

  • Co-chairs: Adam Lowenstein (University of Pittsburgh) and Angela Ndalianis (Swinburne University)
  • Akira Lippit (University of Southern California)
  • Chika Kinoshita (Kyoto University)
  • Bliss Lim (University of Toronto)
  • Stacey Abbott (Roehampton University)
  • Kris Woofter (Dawson College, Montreal)

Accompanying the conference (though ticketed separately) there will be screenings throughout the month from Thursday 16th March to Sunday 2nd April in a program titled FOCUS ON THE DEAD that includes George A. Romero’s 1968 classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING, Yeon Sang-ho’s TRAIN TO BUSAN and Sidney Salkow’s THE LAST MAN ON EARTH starring Vincent Price.

For more details visit the ACMI website