Culturally-specific narratives and symbolic images are central to signifying cultural differences in cinematic narratives and other forms of moving images. These narratives can be framed around traditional, counter-hegemonic or experimental forms that explore different strategies in film practice. It is argued that films specifically made in Africa are often representative of specific cultural features, which reflect their unique contexts as it relates to narrative forms, symbolic references and the expression of subject matter.

In the circulation of films through multiple media platforms, the discourse on globalisation appears to create an "equalizing" interpretation of images, even though the cultural specificities of African films are still strongly advocated as having distinctive elements. The exploration and at times celebration of cultural specificity is at the core of the filmmaker's intention - to represent cultural differences or cultural particularities. However audience interpretations may not "reach" the filmmaker's intentions when audiences' views are exposed to films outside their immediate context, despite the common assumption about the global environment.

The canonized analysis of film as text within African Cinema studies is well established. This special edition serves to contribute to that paradigm but invites further interrogation through canonised and non-canonised approaches: film as textual analysis, film as a methodological instrument and film in practice lead research.
The focus of this publication is to explore how these ideas function in an African context. We encourage emerging scholars to publish alongside established scholars in the discipline and to also create opportunities for some emerging scholars to co-author with established scholars.
Individuals who have been involved in Institutional exchange programmes using visual methodologies are strongly encouraged to make submissions.
Call to action: Please submit abstracts of 300 words and a short bio of 200 words.
Deadline: 30 November 2015. Along with the abstract submission please include
All full, completed papers, have to meet the editorial deadline of 22 February 2016. The guest editors will be able to provide submission guidelines.


Notes for Contributors
1. Research articles will be evaluated by double-blind peer review
Research articles should:
Contain original research or scholarship
Not be under consideration by any other publication
Not normally exceed 8 000 words
Conform to the instructions outlined below

JAC would like to remind potential authors to familiarise themselves with the submission criteria before sending their papers. Indeed the double blind scrutiny is applied rigorously by the editors and while not discouraging potential writers we hasten to add that JAC publishes only the highest calibre of research papers and may return papers unread if deemed of a low publication value
2. Format of submitted articles
Submissions to the Journal of African Cinemas should be sent as an attachment to an e-mail message to the Editor at tomasell@ukzn.ac.za.
Electronic copies should be submitted by Word format.
Data required before publication of any article: Articles accepted for publication cannot be sent to the publishers until they contain:
-Correct Harvard-style references (see below for details)
-Title, name of author, author institutional affiliation, author biography, street and email addresses and acknowledgements
-Abstract (max. 150 words)
-Keywords (max. 6), in lower case
-A list of ‘References' containing only works cited in the article
-1.5 spacing

General Requirements
- Article titles and sub-headings within articles should be in bold and capitalized according to grammar
- Use British English, with -ize endings
- Give full names/titles for first mention of people/organizations in the text, then surnames/acronyms afterwards
Quotations should be used sparingly and be identified by "double" quotation marks if they are embedded in the text. Longer quotations (i.e. longer than 45 words) should be indented on both sides, without quotes and the reference should follow the punctuation. Both should be referenced using the Harvard system. The page number(s) must be included.
Non-English words and phrases inserted in the text should be in italics.
Images need to be submitted separately from the article, i.e. not embedded in the paper. The images must be production-ready high-resolution images in JPEG, TIFF or PDF. The minimum resolution is 300 dots per inch (dpi). Captions are advisable with all images. In addition, please number all images, so as to include the sequential number and title.
Photocopies are not advisable, only for rare documents.
Diagrams and sketches can be supplied in one of the following formats: JPEG, TIFF or PDF. The minimum resolution is 300 dpi.
Art reproductions should include title, medium, size, year and copyright details.
The responsibility of obtaining copyright regarding reproduction of images lies with the contributor.
A list needs to accompany the images stating the order in order they should appear.
It is best to supply tables in both Word and PDF documents. The table can be included in the text or supplied separately.

3. Film/Book review title format
Please ensure that the title of the book and other media reviews are stated in the following order:
Title of film, Fist name and last name of director, (date of release), length, distributed by.
Title of publication, First name and last name of author, (Date of publication), Edition number
Place of publication, name of publisher, number of pages (nnn pp.), First ISBN, Hardback/Paperback, Second ISBN, Hardback/Paperback.
4. Notes
‘Explanatory notes' should be kept to a minimum.
The notes will appear at the side of appropriate pages, but the numerical sequence runs throughout the article.
Please use the Word (or equivalent) ‘Footnote' facility and ensure that they are submitted as endnotes, not footnotes.
Place endnote marks outside the punctuation (after the comma or full stop). The note mark must be in superscripted Arabic (1, 2, 3), not Roman (i, ii, iii).
The endnotes should be placed after the references.

5. Cited films
References embedded in the text, on the first occurrence, give the Title (Surname of director, year of the film's release). For a foreign film, Original Title/English Translation appears in italics, if a distributor is known. Alternatively, a literal English translation is given in brackets, in Roman script.
A list of Cited films precedes the Reference list. Enter Surname, first name, (year of release), Title (min.), Name(s) of Producer(s), (Country/Countries of production), dist. (Name) if distributor is known. For a foreign film, enter Original title(s)/Translation, otherwise give the English translation in brackets. Examples:
Roodt, Darrell James (1992), Sarafina (117 min.), Buena Vista/BBC/MPAA, South Africa/UK/USA.

Sissako, Abderrahmane (2002), Heremakono/En attendant le bonheur/Waiting for Happiness (95 min.), Duo Films/Arte, France, dist. New Yorker Films.
Idrissa Ouedraogo (1994), Le cri du coeur (Cry of the Heart) (85 min.), Les Films de la plaine/Les films de l'avenir/Le Centre Européen Cinématographique Rhône/Alpes, Burkina Faso/France, dist. Médiathèque des Trois Mondes.

6. References
Harvard references embedded in the main text should use the following format (Armes 2006: 110). This format also applies to an author published in an edited book; do not give the editor's name in the embedded reference, for example, (Gabriel 1989: 60). Likewise, quotations from websites should be identified with the author's name and date of the website if available and/or mention of the year accessed (Mhando 2002: accessed 2008). (If no author is available, quote (Anon.) followed by the first words of the title: accessed year)
Publications not mentioned in the text should not be included in this list, although they may be included under a separate ‘Further reading' list.

Reference list:
A single list of references should be included at the end of the article. Websites addresses are listed in the same way as any other publications and not in the endnotes. State the author's first name if available. For multi-authored books, initials might be preferred.
Books
(Capitals are expected in English but not in French titles except for proper nouns.)
Givanni, June (2000), Symbolic Narratives/African Cinema: Audiences, Theory and the Moving Image, London: BFI.
Niang, Sada (ed.) (1996), Littérature et cinéma en Afrique francophone : Ousmane Sembène et Assia Djebar, Paris : L'Harmattan.
Chapter or article in an edited book
Gabriel, Teshome H. (1989), ‘Third Cinema as Guardian of Popular Memory: Towards a Third Aesthetics', in Jim Pines and Paul Willemen (eds), Questions of Third Cinema, pp. 53─64.
Tomaselli, Keyan G., Shepperson, Arnold and Eke, Maureen (1999), ‘Towards a Theory of Orality in African Cinema', in Kenneth W. Harrow (ed.), African Cinema: Postcolonial and Feminist Readings, Trenton, NJ/ Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 45─71.
Journal articles
Beittel, Mark (1990), ‘Mapantsula: Cinema, Crime and Politics on the Witwatersrand', Journal of Southern African Studies, 16: 4, pp. 751─760.
Internet sources
Please state when the site was accessed.
Mhando, Martin (2002), ‘Approaches to African cinema study',http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/8/african.html. Accessed 07 January 2008.
Newspaper articles
Richie, Peter (2007), ‘Bunnychow a Taste of South Africa', Sunday Times, 28 September, p. 15.
Thesis
Oosthuysen, Chantel (1997), Intertextuality in the Soap Opera Egoli: Culture and Consumption, Masters thesis: University of KwaZulu-Natal at Durban.
Interviews
When the informant says something directly to the author, state in brackets (personal communication).
A more formal interview would be cited, in the text, as (Robinson 21 December 2007 interview).
In the References: Robinson, G. (2007). Interview with author, 21 December: Durban.
Use ‘Anon.' for items for which you do not have an author.
(ed.) and (eds) must be used.
Commas, not full stops, must be used between parts of item.
Place the name of the translator of a book within brackets after the title: (trans. Frances Bennett).
Do not add in ‘no.' for the journal number.
Insert a colon between the journal volume and number.
Use p. or pp. before page extents.
Insert page references for the whole article or chapter.
Place a full stop at the end of all references in the list.
Always indicate whether emphasis within a quotation is original or added