Society for Cinema and Media Studies
The Society for Cinema and Media Studies (formerly the Society for Cinema Studies) is an organization of professors and scholars. Its home office is at the University of Oklahoma, but it has members throughout the world.
SCMS holds an annual conference and publishes Cinema Journal, a periodical featuring articles on media from a critical (i.e., not empirical) perspective. This includes, but is not limited to, film studies, television studies, media studies, visual arts, cultural studies, film and media history, and moving image studies.
Its stated goals are:
- to promote all areas of media studies within universities and two-and four-year colleges; to encourage and reward excellence in scholarship and writing; to facilitate and improve the teaching of media studies as disciplines and to advance multi-cultural awareness and interaction. SCMS is dedicated to serving its members' professional needs and concerns; strengthening the ties between the academic community and those who interact with it, from the media industry to the government to the public at large; and to promoting the preservation of our film, television, and video heritage.
Along with the University Film and Video Association, it is one of the principal U.S. academic organizations for studying media.
History
SCMS was founded in 1959 as the Society of Cinematologists. It became the Society for Cinema Studies in 1969.
It added "media" to its name in 2002 to account for the work of its members outside of the film studies discipline.
Conference locations
2016 Atlanta (forthcoming)
2015 Montreal
2014 Seattle
2013 Chicago
2012 Boston
2011 New Orleans
2010 Los Angeles
2009 Tokyo (canceled due to concerns about containing the H1N1 ["Swine Flu"] virus)
2008 Philadelphia
2007 Chicago
2006 Vancouver
2005 London
2004 Atlanta
2003 Minneapolis
2002 Denver
2001 Washington, DC
2000 Chicago
1999 West Palm Beach
1998 San Diego
1997 Ottawa