The Antipode Film Project — Call for Proposals, May 2023

The Antipode Foundation—the charity responsible for the publication of Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography—welcomes proposals for short documentary videos exploring key thinkers, concepts, case studies and/or interventions within the rich and variegated field of radical geographic thought and research. The purpose of these videos is to further bridge the gaps between academic scholarship and public knowledge, to provide social justice-oriented educators and activists with resources for their work, and to foster critical thinking through creative expression. Videos therefore might be educational, activist, or artistic in orientation, but ideally will be all of these at once.

We especially welcome proposals that use the aesthetic language of cinema (composition, narrative, montage, diegetic and nondiegetic sound, mise-en-scène, archive, interview, etc.) to evoke and illuminate crucial interventions in scholarship and activism from a spatial perspective. This might include, for example, a profile of a notable geographer or spatial thinker (see our previous Antipode Film Project videos exploring the ideas of Ruth Wilson Gilmore and David Harvey), a creative elaboration of a key concept within radical geographic thought, or a cinematic exploration of a research case study.

Videos may be deceptive in their formal simplicity, or daring in their innovation of the cinematic form, but must aim at deepening public understanding of the spatial dimensions or consequences of social struggle and liberation scholarship. In other words, they should also either make, or elaborate, an argument (or set of arguments) that helps illuminate and change our world.

Videos should be between 10 to 20 minutes in length and should offer a distinct visual and creative treatment of the thinker(s), ideas, or places explored. Ideally, they should be able to operate as standalone pieces, encountered and enjoyed as short films and able to be shared and disseminated across a variety of platforms, from film festivals to course syllabi to community events to social media and beyond.

Proposals should be one to two pages in length and include the following:

Title

Logline: What is this short video about, in a sentence?

Synopsis: What is being explored in this film and why?

Creative Treatment: Why does this topic deserve to be expressed in the form of a film? What kinds of creative ideas inform the style, form, and aesthetic of this video? What will it look and sound like, and how will you make it?

Creative Team: Tell us a bit about you; what is your relationship to the subject, and to the field of radical geography (defined broadly and non-disciplinarily)?

Budget: How will you spend the GBP 15,000.00 allocated for this video?

Proposals should be sent to the Antipode Foundation’s Executive Director, Andy Kent ([email protected]), before/on 31st July 2023. Applications will be considered by a panel of trustees of the Antipode Foundation, and all applicants will be notified of the results in late summer/early autumn 2023. Unfortunately, we cannot give detailed feedback to unsuccessful applicants.