Deadline: 30 April 2025
Contact: Maria Boguszewicz
Email: m.boguszewicz@uw.edu.pl

Concept and Scope
Inspired by the “three ecologies” framework developed in Adrian Ivakhiv’s Ecologies of the Moving Image: Cinema, Affect, Nature (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2013), The Life-Cycle of Moving Images articulates a holistic model for understanding moving images both within their multiple ecological contexts and across their entire “life-cycle.” It defines this life-cycle not only in material terms, as life-cycle analyses of objects have done in such fields as industrial ecology or science and technology studies, nor in exclusively cultural and representational terms, as is more common in film and media studies. Rather, it defines it materially, socially, and perceptually, presenting this tri-ecological framework in a detailed, multi-authored opening chapter. It then supports and elaborates this framework through a range of case studies that make up the book’s three parts: “From Concept to Project,” “From Production to Screen,” and “From Audience to Afterlives.” A concluding chapter proposes that a life-cycle analysis can be made not only of individual films, videos, and other moving images, but of cinema and audio-visual media as a whole, considered within the history of industrial production and its earthly transformations and impacts. In this sense, the book suggests that the life-cycle of moving images has been an integral part of the life-cycle of the geological “event” known as the Anthropocene, and that the future of moving images calls for a reintegration of their impacts within the productive and reproductive capacities of earthly life.

Ecologies of the Moving Image proposed that every moving image operates within three intertwined ecological registers. The material register includes measurable aspects like mineral extraction and product manufacturing, CO2 footprint, waste generated during production and consumption, and physical impacts on production sites. The social register involves the changing and dynamic relations of agency among those producing, consuming, and represented in films and moving-image media. And the perceptual register includes the many ways in which moving images both shape and are shaped by the perceptions and sensibilities – including the sensory capacities that are enabled and extended by media – of the audiences and media users interacting with larger, more-than-human worlds. In sum, moving images change the world materially, socially, and perceptually/sensorially.

What had been implicit in the model was that each of these unfolds across the full life cycle of moving image media, from conception to production, distribution, reception/consumption, to the afterlives of media’s impacts and residues. This book, The Life-Cycle of Moving Images, will explicitly articulate this life-cycle dimension of the model through a theoretically rigorous opening chapter and a range of case studies from around the world. The choice of “moving images” reflects the broad scope of the study, which intentionally avoids limiting itself to any single audio-visual medium. The authors analyze a spectrum of works including short and feature films, YouTube videos, visual art installations, and other forms. This diversity reflects the hybrid nature of contemporary digital culture and the ubiquity of audio-visual media in modern life. By exploring this range, the book seeks to shed light on the intricate relationships between moving images, human cultures, and the Earth’s ecological systems.

The material studied in the book will span a global array of cultural and geographical contexts. This broad scope allows for a nuanced analysis of diverse ecological contexts that share global features, such as climate change and the politics of energy transition, even as they evince local particularities. The book recognizes that discussions of ecology must account for colonial histories and social inequalities, as these shape how different communities experience and respond to environmental challenges. By foregrounding local voices within a global framework, we aim to contribute to a more inclusive and multi-dimensional understanding of ecological entanglements in audio-visual media.

Contributor Guidelines
We invite chapter proposals of 300–500 words that clearly outline the focus of your contribution, the theoretical and/or methodological framework, and its relevance to the themes of the volume. We welcome proposals from scholars at all career stages, as well as practitioners working in audiovisual media, and we encourage interdisciplinary and experimental approaches.

Please include the following in your proposal:
1. Title of your proposed chapter
2. Abstract (300–500 words)
3. Short bio (max. 100 words)
4. Preferred section of the volume in which you believe your chapter would best fit:
• (1) From Concept to Project—Ecological Foundations of the Moving Image
• (2) From Production to Screen—Sustainable Practices in Image Creation
• (3) From Audience to Afterlife—The Extended Life-Cycle of Moving Images
If unsure, feel free to briefly explain your reasoning and the editors will be happy to advise.

Please send proposals to m.boguszewicz@uw.edu.pl by April 30, 2025.

Authors will be notified of acceptance in mid-May 2025.
Final chapters of approximately 7,000 words will be due by September 15, 2025.

Publication Details
We are currently in the process of approaching academic publishers, including Stanford University Press and Brill, as potential publishers for the volume. We aim to publish the book in both print and electronic formats, and we are also exploring the possibility of open access, depending on the publisher’s policies and conditions. We will keep all contributors informed about updates regarding the publication timeline, peer review process (if required), and production details as they become available.

Editors’ information
Adrian Ivakhiv, J. S. Woodsworth Chair in the Humanities, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Maria Boguszewicz, Principal Investigator of the EcoFilmLab project, University of Warsaw
Aitor Arruza Zuazo, PhD Candidate and Lecturer, University of Warsaw

For any questions or clarifications, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Posted on April 24, 2025