Organised by CIAC’s Film Studies Working (Research) Group, the 4th International Conference on Mediterranean Cinema brings together contributions that highlight the renewal of studies on Mediterranean European cinemas, linking different historical, methodological, and interdisciplinary approaches. The themes presented cover film exhibition and reception, censorship, audiovisual heritage, and intermedial practices, reflecting the conceptual diversity of the field. Converging on the analysis of materialities, socio-cultural contexts, and aesthetic and technological transformations, this body of research reaffirms the centrality of cinema as a privileged object for understanding cultural processes in constant flux and highlights the importance of innovative methodologies in the analysis of moving images.

Program

Abstract Book

Daniel Biltereyst (CIMS/Centre for Cinema and Media Studies, Ghent University)
Towards a Multiscalar and Polycentric Gaze on Cinema History: Reflections on New Directions in New Cinema History, Spatialities and Methodologies

Rather than understanding New Cinema History (NCH) merely as a revisionist perspective that provocatively reconfigures film studies by decentralizing the films themselves, this paper argues that NCH’s major innovations lie not only in its emphasis on the social embeddedness of cinema or its focus on exhibition, distribution, and audience reception. Drawing on examples from a wide range of NCH‑inspired research, this paper examines the breadth of innovation within the field—showing how NCH has introduced new research questions, expanded the types of data and sources mobilized, brought rarely used methods and methodologies into the discipline, and reshaped both the research ethos and the epistemological foundations of film studies. The talk, which advocates for a further intensification of multiscalar and multimethodological approaches, will also explore how NCH has reconfigured and examined various dimensions of spatiality in relation to film and cinema—thereby promoting a more polycentric gaze on cinema’s past.

Daniel Biltereyst is Full Professor of Film and Media Studies and Director of the Centre for Cinema and Media Studies (CIMS) at Ghent University. A specialist in film and media history, historical audiences, censorship, and media controversies, he is a central figure in the development of New Cinema History. He is an elected member of the Academia Europaea and co‑founder of the international HoMER network, dedicated to research on film exhibition, distribution, and reception. He also serves as a programmer for Film‑Plateau, the university film club he helped establish. Biltereyst has extensive experience on scientific and pedagogical evaluation committees across several countries and has secured both national and international research funding. He has supervised more than 25 doctoral projects and has published widely in leading academic journals, as well as co‑editing key volumes such as The Routledge Companion to New Cinema History, Mapping Movie Magazines, New Perspectives on Early Cinema History, Cinema in the Arab World, and The Screening Censorship Companion.

Agatha Bulha –  Lawyer specializing in copyright
AI, Creativity, and Copyright – Challenges for Cinema

This paper analyzes the impact of Artificial Intelligence on cinema, highlighting the transformations it introduces in creative processes, authorship, and the legal protection of works. The main applications of generative AI will be discussed — from concept art to visual effects and synthetic voice or image — as well as the benefits and risks they pose for industry professionals. We also address the essential principles of copyright law, emphasizing the centrality of human involvement and the current limitations in protecting fully automated content. The paper also reflects on the need to preserve the human dimension of the arts and on the role of the State, civil society, and professional organizations in defending creators in a rapidly evolving technological context.

Agatha Bulha is a lawyer, graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, with a postgraduate degree in Intellectual Property Law from the same faculty. She is managing partner of her family’s law firm and has collaborated with various associations in defending the rights and interests of artists. She is a member of the General Council of the Bar Association and the General Council of the University of Algarve.

Uniqueness of early 20th-century film posters
Eduardo Cintra Torres – Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Alain Delon in Portugal. Cinema and Censorship (1968-1974)
Ana Bela Morais – Centro de Estudos Comparatistas da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa

The film genre as a means of representing identity in Mediterranean cinema: who am I?
Hugo Martins – CIAC – Centro de Investigação em Artes e Comunicação

Ornamental spatiality as a device of unease: The cinema of Dario Argento and Art Nouveau
Mariana Schwartz – Escola Superior Artística do Porto

Pablo G. del Amo between two dictatorships: transnational staging (Spain and Portugal, 1959–1962)
Jesús Ramé Lopez – Universidade Rey Juan Carlos

“A Portuguese House” in Paris: the music that reveals the cultural conflict in the comedies Les femmes du 6e étage and La cage dorée
Diana Díaz González – Universidade de Oviedo

What’s On at Batalha: modern movie theatres in Porto between survival and rehabilitation

Hugo Barreira – CITCEM/FLUP

Digital Cinematheque: audiovisual digital objects as sources for the study of cinematographic heritage

Mauro Santos Gonçalves – CITCEM/FLUP

Absent Materialities: film production, missing memorabilia, and preservation policies in Iberian silent cinema

Patrícia Gonçalves – CITCEM/FLUP

CIAC Coordination

Bruno Mendes da Silva

Mirian Tavares

Scientific Committee

Ana Isabel Soares

António Costa Valente

Bruno Mendes da Silva

Hugo Barreira

Jorge Carrega

María Jesús Botana Vilar

Mirian Tavares

Silvia Quinteiro

Organizing Committee

Jorge Carrega (Coordenation)

Alexandre Martins

Ana Gavina

Hugo Barreira

Stefano Scaramuzzino

Stefano Savio

Communication and Logistics Committee

João Paulo Cunha

Juan Manuel Escribano Loza