FAS professorial-rank faculty members are invited to submit proposals in support of organizing a public talk at AUB on topics in Anthropology, Economics, Education, Gender, Media Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Public Health, Sociology, or other related fields. The funds may potentially be used to invite speakers and discussants within and outside the AUB community. Bobst-AUB has limited funding for this opportunity, and applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Eligibility: FAS professorial-rank faculty members. Priority will be given to junior faculty and first-time applicants.
Budget: Up to $3,000
Application materials: Apply online. Please upload in PDF: 1. Proposal (1-2 pages) including abstract (no more than 200 words), the anticipated budget for air travel (if applicable), accommodation (if applicable), honoraria, and a meal event with the speaker; and 2. Information on funding source, status, and coverage amount if additional funds have been received or sought from other sources.
Application deadline: October 1; March 15
Contact: [email protected]
2025-26
Absent Images: Excavating Marginalized Cinematic Narratives
Mariz Kelada, Department of Sociology Anthropology and Media Studies
This performance-lecture, by researcher and curator Lea Morin, assembles a constellation of absent images and marginalized cinematic narratives, sampling and engaging with incomplete films like Mehdi Ben Barka's Basta, fragments from the Algerian Cinematheque and the Polish Łodź FilmSchool, the lost works of feminist filmmaker Madeleine Beausejour, and decolonial manifestos. Morin constructs a narrative posing urgent questions: How do we archive films that no longer exist? How do we care for these damaged or absent works without erasing their foundational struggles? Through a dynamic engagement and analysis of archival materials including film clips, images, documents, and photographs, the lecture traces the historical contours of film and rethinks artistic and scholarly practices. Morin will also lead a workshop, “Research as Restitution,” with the Arab Image Foundation. It will present the practical, methodological work of collecting and activating archives, with AUB media students specially invited to participate with their own research.
This lecture and workshop are components of the international, interdisciplinary conference, “Working with what is there – Cinema Research Methodologies With Non-Film Sources.” In light of the large-scale absence of material and immaterial film heritage (i.e. film prints and historical knowledge) across the SWANA region and in Lebanon the conference provides a forum for new methodologies in researching historical film and cinema culture. It brings together diverse artistic, curatorial, and publishing practices within the Lebanese context, both historical and contemporary. Combining a symposium, site visits, and a public program, it highlights the interrelation of co-existing approaches and positions public outreach as integral to research. The conference is organized by researchers Anais Farine and Philip Widmann, in collaboration with Universite Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth, the University of Zurich, Metropolis Cinema Association, and the Orient Institute Beirut.
The organizers have invited me and AUB to join this collaboration due to its significant relevance to our media studies program and its investment in new, interdisciplinary directions in film studies. Furthermore, AUB’s Jafet Library houses reports about early film production in Lebanon during the 1930s in Lebanese and Egyptian periodicals as well as the publications of the Arab Film and Television Center from the 1970s. With the support of the Bobst-AUB Collaborative Initiative, not only will we take part in this innovative conference but also it will be an opportunity to activate future collaborations though arranging a visit for the conference participants to visit the library and view these key cinematic collections to encourage future artistic and scholarly work with the library’s rich collections, and by potentially hosting one of the conference panels where our faculty and students can engage with prominent international scholars, artists, and curators.