Radical Film Network: Sustaining Alternative Film Cultures

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Broadly characterised by the politically engaged and aesthetically innovative use of moving image media, 'radical film culture' has expanded rapidly in recent years as contemporary socio-political, economic and environmental contexts have meshed with access to digital technologies. Comprised of academics, artists, filmmakers and other digital creatives, as well as festivals, financiers, distributors, commissioners and the myriad community organisations and collectives that feed into them, radical film culture is now a diverse, multidisciplinary and international field. However, despite its rapid expansion, there is at present a major lack of interaction between the researchers and stakeholders involved in radical film culture, which is in turn currently dispersed and fragmented along industrial, geographic, political and aesthetic lines. As a result, researchers and stakeholders across the many strands of radical film culture are working in disconnected ways, often unaware of one another and of the history, culture and contemporary international developments in the political moving image. A recent increase in scholarship in the field has also focused almost exclusively on the past. There is thus urgent need to counter that fragmentation, stimulate debate across these boundaries and apply and develop existing historical knowledge to our contemporary context. This bid proposes the creation of a Radical Film Network (RFN), which will stage four events across 22 months in the UK and US, taking place at key dates in the industry and alternative film calendar. The RFN builds upon a successful pilot project led by Dr Steve Presence at the University of the West of England's Centre for Moving Image Research, which will conclude with a conference in February 2015. The pilot project has demonstrated a clear need for such a network, having generated interest from 83 organisations in 18 countries across the globe, many of which bring existing relationships with other cross-disciplinary academic and industry institutions and community groups. The network will bring together this community of stakeholders with an international research community - ranging from world-class academics to PhD students - to address the past, present and future of radical film culture as a holistic entity, exploring four interrelated research questions based on key themes: 1. Ontology: What was/is radical film culture? 2. Praxis: What were the conceptual, theoretical and practical concerns of previous radical film cultures? How do they compare to contemporary concerns?3. Challenges: What are the challenges facing the vitality and sustainability of radical film culture? What can we learn from the past to address contemporary challenges?4. Policy: What kind of policy will assist the RFN to continue in the long-term, and what kind of film policy do we need to enable and sustain alternative film cultures more generally (thereby encouraging more diverse film cultures overall)?By addressing these key questions across the four events, the network will facilitate the exploration of ideas that will generate new knowledge in the field. The network and the knowledge it generates will bring theory and practice into a productive relationship both inside and outside the academic community and lead to collaborative, creative advances across these boundaries. More broadly, it will position the UK as a global centre for independent and alternative film scholarship and establish a sustainable, international network for the researchers and stakeholders involved. That network will play a key role in the critical interrogation of contemporary film culture and the power with which the medium can convey ideas and stimulate debate about some of the most important issues in culture and society today. Funding at this stage is essential to ensure groundwork of the pilot project does not go to waste and that the far-reaching potential impact of the network is realised.