Editorial NECSUS
NECS (European Network for Cinema and Media Studies), one of the key organisations that co-established and continues to support NECSUS, is moving into its 12th year of existence. Founded in Berlin in February 2006, NECS has grown into a large network of media studies academics and researchers in and beyond Europe, many of whom met at the annual conference in Amsterdam this summer. The launch of the first issue of NECSUS at the 2012 NECS conference in Lisbon was a key part of the movement to strengthen the connections between media studies academics as well as the different strands in media studies scholarship. We would like to open this issue by celebrating our continued collaboration with the whole community. We are proud to announce that NECSUS has already established a ranking as the fifth journal in the Google citation index for film and media studies, just behind historic and iconic journals like Screen and Film Quarterly. From the start, we wanted to make a journal of media studies for the purpose of sharing new research with the field in open access, for free, without the burden of authors paying an APC, which could easily limit access for a large part of the scholarly community. Maintaining this financial structure has not been easy. We thank NECS and the wonderful community surrounding it for its generous support.
The special section of the Spring 2018 issue is themed #Resolution, guest edited by Antonio Somaini and Francesco Casetti. The guest editors provide a great historical and theoretical framework for the theme in their introduction, and we would like to thank them for their dedicated efforts, also the outstanding contributors to the special section: Nikita Braguinski, Jonathan Larcher, Leyokki, Diego Cavallotti, Susanne Østby Saether, Federico Pierotti, Alessandra Ronetti, Kuhu Tanvir, and Carloalberto Treccani.
Among the contributions in the features section, Geert Lovink interviews Jaap van Ginneken about his biography Kurt Baschwitz: A Pioneer of Communication Studies and Social Psychology. Van Ginneken retrieves the legacy of a key European thinker in the field of mass psychology and mass communications in a historical study that resonates in the light of renewed concerns about digital data manipulation and freedom of information. Michael Cowan presents a series of reflections on interactive media and the cinematic shooting gallery. The uncanny mediality of the photographic GIF is at the heart of the contribution by Arild Fetveit. Finally, weather is the focal point of a reflection on cinema and meteorology by Emil Leth Meilvang.
The festival review section, edited by Marijke de Valck and Skadi Loist, features a piece by Dagmar Brunow on mobile cinema and a report from the International Film Festival of India by Ratheesh Radhakrishnan. Additionally, Jasper Vanhaelemeesch delves into the history of the Ícaro International Film Festival in Guatemala and its crucial role in shaping the imaginary of Central American filmmaking for the future. In the book review section, edited by Lavinia Brydon and Victoria Pastor-González, the controversies in digital ethics are discussed by Jack Booth. William Russell covers the intersection between television studies and state socialism. Fiona Handyside deals with star studies and the celebrity culture that is pervasive today.
In the exhibition review section, edited by Miriam de Rosa and Leo Goldsmith, a conversation with curators Marie Rebecchi and Elena Vogman about their show Sergei Eisenstein: The Anthropology of Rhythm is conducted by Alma Mileto. In a reflection on the E*Cinema Academy film series at EYE Filmmuseum Amsterdam, Anna Dabrowska discusses the many ways in which new audiences are made to engage with old and new experimental film. Also, Katarzyna Ruchel-Stockmans discusses photography’s late encounters with film. Beginning with this issue, and in particular the article by Dabrowska, the exhibition review section opens up to publishing curatorial statements. The idea is to add more critical insight and more creativity to the section, and more variety as well.
The audiovisual essay section, guest edited by Miklós Kiss, investigates videographic scene analyses and features the work of Liz Greene, Patrick Keating, and Davide Rapp, also featuring a contribution by Kiss himself. This is the first of a two-part section that will continue in the Autumn 2018 issue, coming to terms with the nuances of this significant emerging discipline and the effects it has on practitioners of all types.