CfP: Digital Methods, Artificial Intelligence, and the Study of Silent Cinema
Mario Slugan
CfP for Special Issue of Early Popular Visual Culture
Digital Methods, Artificial Intelligence, and the Study of Silent Cinema
Guest edited by Adelheid Hefberger and Mario Slugan
The importance of digitization and the introduction of digital databases for the study of silent cinema can hardly be overstated. Institutions like Library of Congress, British Film Institute, Bundesarchiv, and EYE Filmmuseum have provided unparalleled online access to their early motion pictures archives opening new critical perspectives. Platforms such as Media History Digital Library and Women Film Pioneers which focus on the surrounding visual and discursive culture (trade press, fan magazines, exhibition materials) have not only facilitated discovery but also reshaped historiography by providing representative data and foregrounding previously marginalized figures and networks. These are flanked by numerous regional and national databases spanning the globe (e.g., A History of Film Exhibition and Reception in Colonial Hong Kong [1897 to 1925], Rannee ruskoe kino/Early Russsian Cinema, The German Early Cinema Database, etc.)
There has also been a growing interest in the development of digital tools and methods in film studies: tools for automating audiovisual analysis (cf. Pustu-Iren et al. 2020) such as cinemetrics (Tsivian 2009) and Lignes des Temps for editing, VIAN for colour (Flückiger et al. 2017), CLARIAH Media suite for segmentation and annotation, and TIV-AV-Analytics for AI-assisted general audiovisual analysis have been pioneered; different annotation systems for films have been offered, visualized, and evaluated (Izvolov and Drubek-Meyer 2008; Heftberger 2018); research findings have been geo-localized (Klenotic 2011; Biltereyst 2022); distant reading and stylometrics have been used to analyse film dialogues and scripts (Byszuk 2020; Holobut and Rybicki 2021); distant viewing methods have been proposed (Arnold & Tilton 2019, 2023; Oiva et al. 2024); and Large Language Models have been deployed in film review sentiment analysis (Paiva & Diecke 2024). Most recently, edited volumes have provided more systematic approaches to the intersection of digital humanities and film studies by both showcasing new case studies in this research domain and by providing taxonomical, theoretical, and methodological accounts of this growing subfield (Burghardt et al 2020l; Hagener and Roig-Sanz 2024; Dang et al 2025).
Responding to these developments and with an eye on the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, this special issue of Early Popular Visual Culture proposes to examine the existing and the future impact of digital methods and AI on the study of silent cinema. By bringing together scholars from film studies, digital humanities, media archaeology, and computer science, this issue aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and critical reflection. Rather than positioning digital methods and AI as a replacement for established approaches, we emphasize their role as complementary tools that expand the scope of inquiry while raising new theoretical and methodological questions.
We, therefore, invite case studies as well as theoretical and methodological interventions. We seek contribution which tackle, but are not limited, to the following themes:
· Archival digitization, metadata, and platformization of silent film collections
· Cinemetrics, data visualization, and quantitative approaches to early film style
· Digital historiography and the reconstruction of silent cinema cultures
· AI and computer vision in the analysis of silent film aesthetics and performance
· Intersections of digital methods and AI with race, gender, and global film history
· Ethical, epistemological, and methodological critiques of AI in historical film studies
The Special Issue of Early Popular Visual Culture is scheduled for publication in late 2027 (Volume 25, Issue 3).
Please send abstracts of around 300 words, together with the title, up to 5 references, a short bio, contact details and institutional affiliation to the guest editors of the Special Issue of Early Popular Visual Culture at m.sl...@qmul.ac.uk for initial selection. Selected articles should typically be 5000-8000 words in length. They will undergo an editorial and double-blind peer reviewed process before final acceptance. (Selection of an abstract for development into a full article does not guarantee publication.)
Deadlines for abstracts: Monday, 3 August 2026
Notifications of acceptance: Monday, 10 August 2026
Deadlines for full articles: Monday, 30 November 2026
Joerg Fingerhut
Due to a high volume of ongoing projects and commitments, responses may take a few days. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Best Regards,
Joerg Fingerhut
Prof. Dr. Joerg Fingerhut
Research Group Leader | ArtsandMindsLab.com
Department of Philosophy
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6
10099 Berlin
joergfingerhut.com
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