The Magic
of Special
Effects Cinema
Technology
Reception

Presentation

The international conference The Magic of Special Effects: Cinema–Technology–Reception will cast new light on the essential topic of special effects and artifice in the cinema by bringing together renowned specialists from around the world who will examine discourses on the magic of cinema—its special effects, trick shots and artifices, from the advent of the motion picture camera to the development of today’s new sound and image technologies—and reflect on the influence these technological innovations and magical techniques exercise on our perception of moving images and other media.

Conference
Information

The international conference The Magic of Special Effects: Cinema–Technology–Reception will cast new light on the essential topic of special effects and artifice in the cinema by bringing together renowned specialists from around the world.

Call for papers

The international conference The Magic of Special Effects: Cinema–Technology–Reception, superintended by André Gaudreault (GRAFICS/Université de Montréal), Martin Lefebvre (Concordia University) and Viva Paci (Université du Québec à Montréal) takes place from November 5 to 10. It will feature a hundred presentations by scholars from various countries, a series of keynote lectures by prestigious guest speakers, panel discussions and screenings. Organised to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Cinémathèque québécoise, which inaugurated this year its new permanent exhibition on special effects, this conference is sure to be one of the most important gatherings of scholars ever organised in Canada!

The conference is presented by GRAFICS (Groupe de recherche sur l’avènement et la formation des institutions cinématographique et scénique) under the aegis of the international partnership TECHNÈS, which since 2012 has joined the efforts of three university research groups in the French-speaking world, each one of which is associated with a film archive and a film school: in France, the cinema laboratory of the group “Arts: pratiques et poétiques” at Université Rennes 2 (whose director is Laurent Le Forestier), the Cinémathèque française and FÉMIS (École nationale supérieure des métiers de l’image et du son); in Switzerland, the group “Dispositifs” at the Université de Lausanne (whose director is Maria Tortajada), the Cinémathèque suisse and the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne; and in Canada, GRAFICS at the Université de Montréal (whose director is André Gaudreault), the Cinémathèque québécoise and INIS (Institut national de l’image et du son). The latter group also has as partners in Quebec the Faculté des arts et des sciences at the Université de Montréal, the Observatoire du cinéma au Québec and Canal Savoir.

Presentations and Lectures

More than a hundred participants from various countries will speak at the conference, including twelve guests of honour, who will give keynote lectures in plenary sessions. Regular presentations will take place simultaneously in three rooms.

Program Guest speakers

Screenings

Numerous screenings, introduced by specialist film production personnel, will take place at the Cinémathèque québécoise during the conference.

Program

Panel Discussions

Two panel discussions on special effects and how they are taught, organised by the Observatoire du cinéma au Québec, will be held during the conference. These panel discussions will open up dialogue between film studies scholars and those who work in the film industry.

Program
Honorary
president

président et directeur des opérations, Hybride Technologies
Profile
Pierre Raymond

Pierre Raymond, president and head of operations of Hybride Technologies, has contributed to the growth of the digital imagery industry for more than thirty years. Hybride Technologies, which he founded in 1991, was the first digital arts studio in Quebec. Pierre Raymond’s accomplishments make him a leading figure in the international special effects industry. He contributed to the production of visual effects for the films 300 (Zack Snyder, 2006), Avatar (James Cameron, 2009), The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, 2012) and, more recently, White House Down (Roland Emmerich, 2013), Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, 2013), The Smurfs 2 (Raja Gosnell, 2013) and Jappeloup (Christian Duguay, 2013).

Directorate

André Gaudreault

André Gaudreault

Université de Montréal
Martin Lefebvre

Martin Lefebvre

Concordia University
Viva Paci

Viva Paci

Université du Québec à Montréal

Honorary Advisory Committee

The directorate enjoys
the support of an international
honorary advisory committee
of distinguished scholars:

Barry Keith Grant

Brock University

D. N. Rodowick

Harvard University
University of Chicago

Donald Crafton

University of Notre Dame

Dudley Andrew

Yale University

François Albera

Université de Lausanne

François Jost

Université Paris 3

Jacques Aumont

Université Paris 3

Jane Gaines

Columbia University

Janet Bergstrom

University of California, Los Angeles

John Belton

Rutgers University

Kristin Thompson

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Laura Mulvey

Birkbeck, University of London

Lev Manovich

University of California - San Diego

Marta Braun

Ryerson University

Nick Browne

University of California, Los Angeles

Philippe Dubois

Université Paris 3

Raymond Bellour

Centre national de la recherche scientifique

Rick Altman

University of Iowa

Roger Odin

Université Paris 3

Sean Cubitt

Goldsmiths, University of London

Suzanne Liandrat-Guigues

Université Paris 8

Thomas Elsaesser

Universiteit van Amsterdam

Tom Gunning

University of Chicago

Vanessa Schwartz

University of Southern California

Vivian Sobchack

University of California, Los Angeles

Scientific Committee

The directorate enjoys
the support of an international
expert committee made up
of the following scholars:

André Gaudreault

Université de Montréal

André Habib

Université de Montréal

Benoît Turquety

Université de Lausanne

Bernard Perron

Université de Montréal

Charlie Keil

University of Toronto

Denis Bellemare

Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

Frank Kessler

Utrecht Universiteit

Frédéric Tabet

Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée

Janine Marchessault

York University

Jean Gagnon

Cinémathèque québécoise

Jean-Marc Larrue

Université de Montréal

Jean-Pierre Sirois-Trahan

Université Laval

Laurent Le Forestier

Université Rennes 2

Martin Lefebvre

Concordia University

Matthew Solomon

University of Michigan

Maxime Scheinfeigel

Université Montpellier 3

Paul Moore

Ryerson University

Réjane Hamus-Vallée

Université d’Évry-Val-d’Essonne

Richard Bégin

Université de Montréal

Rosanna Maule

Concordia University

Viva Paci

Université du Québec à Montréal

Yves Picard

Cégep André-Laurendeau