BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana University Cinema will host the Blockbuster Futures Conference, with events examining the past and present of global blockbuster films. David Ehrlich, head film critic and reviews editor at IndieWire, will be the opening keynote speaker.
The events, Oct. 28 to 30, will take place at IU Cinema and are free and open to the public.
Blockbuster films have been instrumental to the evolution of the art and economics of the film industry for decades, but today they’re on the precipice of change. This conference will include a global collection of scholars discussing topics such as Indian action cinema, last year’s phenomenon “Barbie,” the business of blockbuster franchises, the use of CGI, depictions of gender and race, reboots and sequels, and more.
Ehrlich will join Alicia Kozma, director of IU Cinema, on stage at 7 p.m. Oct. 28 for a wide-ranging conversation about the impact of blockbuster filmmaking on independent film, film criticism, audience culture and more. Few critics hold as much sway in today’s film landscape as Ehrlich, whose writing has been featured in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The Guardian and Slate, among other outlets.
A member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Film Critics Society, Ehrlich received the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Film Critic. Through partnerships with filmmakers Garrett Bradley, Jane Campion and Charlotte Wells, Ehrlich’s annual video essays counting down the 25 best films of the year have raised more than $100,000 for various charities.
The conference will also include a global collection of scholars discussing topics including:
- The 2023 “Barbie” phenomenon.
- The mythology of the “Mad Max” film franchise.
- Race in the context of blockbusters like “Star Wars” and the Marvel Universe.
- Cinematic videogame adaptations.
- Indian action cinema.
- Artificial intelligence and remastering the blockbuster’s material history on home video.
- Reboots and sequels.
- Intellectual property.
- Film criticism and awards.
Leading up to the conference, IU Cinema will host “For the Family Mega Marathon: Fast, Furious, Full-Throttle,” a weekend-long screening of the “Fast and Furious” franchise, on Oct. 26 and 27. Each marathon day includes five films for $20, with day-one and day-two tickets sold separately.
Other films being screened in connection with the conference include the acclaimed action film “The Raid: Redemption” on Oct. 29 and “Candyman,” the 2021 horror sequel directed by past IU Cinema guest Nia DaCosta and produced by Jordan Peele, on Oct. 30.
Novotny Lawrence, director of the IU Black Film Center & Archive and associate professor of cinema and media studies at The Media School, and Robin R. Means Coleman, professor of media studies and African American and African studies at the University of Virginia, will deliver a closing keynote address on race, genre filmmaking and blockbuster resistance. Lawrence and Means Coleman are co-editors of the forthcoming “The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film.”
The Blockbuster Futures Conference is funded in part by a grant from the IU Bloomington Public Arts and Humanities Project and is presented in partnership with The Media School at IU Bloomington.
For full details about the conference, visit the Blockbuster Futures event page.
