Call for Contributions: Senses of Cinema World Poll 2020 the editors November 2020 News In preparation for its annual World Poll, Senses of Cinema invites contributors and readers to reflect on their cinema highlights of 2020. A year unlike any other, 2020 overhauled the film culture and filmmaking landscape across the globe. Productions ceased or were postponed. Theatrical releases vanished; instead, a new release here and there ‘dropped’ on streaming services. Festivals and special programming events shuttered and reappeared online, if at all. However, in times of crisis, new possibilities and opportunities sprout. In impromptu fashion, many of us formed online film clubs with like-minded folk, sharing our passion and maintaining dialogue and critical reflection in an informal way. With more time on our hands, some of us dusted off DVD collections, became acquainted with the vast backlog of streaming services or decided to home in on specific auteurs, historical periods or genres of our choosing. It was also an innovative time for non-commercial programmers and curators who pivoted online – using social media to stream content (and for the first time reach an international audience) or create unique cinematic events online. In this call, we invite you to reflect on your film viewing in 2020, and collate your cinematic highlights. We ask you to categorise your lists according to: Films released for the first time in 2020 (festivals, cinemas, streaming services) Older films encountered for the first time in 2020 (seen in festivals, cinematheques, re-releases, home entertainment, streaming channels, etc) &…. Given the special circumstances of 2020, we also ask readers to mention any online festivals you ‘attended’ and that you felt presented a really good program and experience (and why?) There is a 1000 word limit per entry. Submissions can consist of lists of films, which may be briefly annotated or not according to your preference, and can be organised however you see fit (alphabetically, ranked, grouped etc). Each film title must be listed in the original language (except for Japanese, Chinese and Russian, and so on, where transliterations are preferred), accompanied by an English translation (if required), the director’s name and the film’s release date. The title must be as given on the film, with accents included. For example: Ping jing (The Calming, Song Fang, 2020). Please remember to include your author by-line (no more than one line). Do not include any hyperlinks or URLs in your by-line as they will not be published. The deadline for contributions is Monday 21 December 2020. However, Senses would greatly appreciate submissions as soon as possible. Late submissions will not be published. Please email your submissions to worldpoll@sensesofcinema.com. Entries will be published at Senses of Cinema‘s discretion. All submissions will receive an acknowledgement of receipt by 5 January 2020. The world poll will be posted on Senses of Cinema in January 2020. If you wish to review last year’s World Poll, it is accessible at https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2020/world-poll/world-poll-2019-introduction/. Thank you, and we look forward to your contributions. Editors Senses of Cinema
