A conference on Reproduction on Film will be held on 23 – 25 September 2015 at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge.
Reproduction is one of the most persistently generative themes in the history of cinema. Storks, cabbage fairies, golems, homunculi, robots, parasitic aliens, and clones have fascinated film-makers and audiences for more than a century. Today we have grown accustomed not only to the once controversial portrayals of sperm, eggs, and embryos in science and medicine, but also to the artificial wombs, monstrous creations, and dystopian futures of science fiction and fantasy. Yet, while scholars have explored key films and genres, especially in response to the recent cycle of Hollywood 'mom coms', the analytic potential of reproduction on film remains largely untapped. This conference aims to explore reproduction as a theme to unite diverse strands of film history that are not usually considered in the same frame. Reproduction can link films across a wide range of periods, national cinemas, and genres as different as slapstick and horror, melodrama and social realism, sex education and experimental. Moreover, biological reproduction is a potent metaphor for the mechanical reproduction of cinematography.
Further details are available at hps.cam.ac.uk/medicine/filmconference
Wednesday evening film screening
Interested people are welcome to attend this free, stand-alone and hopefully fun event with no obligation to participate in the rest of the conference. This will be held at the Main Lecture Theatre of the Old Divinity School, St John's College