Contributing
to Kinoeye Guidelines for authors
We are currently not accepting submissions
Kinoeye is more than happy to consider proposals for individual articles and regular or semi-regular columns. Please read this page, before you contact us.
Kinoeye is interested in a wide range of topics and a wide range of article styles. In all cases, however, it is highly advisable to liase with the Editor-in-Chief before submitting your piece.
Among the topics that Kinoeye is interested in publishing are:
- films, genres, trends, directors and national cinemas in Europe that have been sidelined in mainstream film history
- films (even "mainstream" ones) from sidelined countries
- films about these areas
- film industry issues in these areas
- films made by directors from these areas but working in other parts of the world
Note that although Kinoeye regularly covers countries that have previously been sidelined by film history (such as Hungary, Austria, Denmark etc), we also are looking for coverage of hidden corners of film history from the traditional "powerhouses" of European cinema, such as France, Italy and Russia.
"Films" can imply:
- feature films
- shorts and experimental films
- documentaries
- television programmes
- contemporary and classic films
Among the article styles Kinoeye publishes are:
- film reviews
- festival overviews
- interviews with directors or other industry players
- career overviews
- analytical articles
- book reviews and book extracts
- reviews of recent VHS/DVD releases
- conference reports
- translated articles from other journals
- other oddments and thought-pieces
Although Kinoeye authors come from both academia and journalism, there is a common aim in the idea that knowledge of film from the new Europe should, and indeed needs, to be more widely spread. As such, the journal's style aims at the best of both worlds; the immediacy and availability of journalism and the depth of academic writing.
The majority of Kinoeye articles are around or under 2000 words in length. The journal does carry longer pieces where the length is justified. If in doubt, please check with the editors in advance to avoid disappointment.
Kinoeye is an edited journal, and we reserve the right to make changes to submitted texts for length, stylistic (see following section) or other reasons or to request that the author makes them. We regret that we are unable to negotiate on every little change. Large-scale changes we try to make in conjunction with the author. It helps us to do this if authors submit their works in good time and regularly check their e-mail between submission and publication.
All deadlines should be negotiated with the editors on a case-by-case basis.
Usually, however, the deadline for the submission of an article (with its corresponding images) for any one issue is the previous Monday (ie seven days before publication).
In the case of longer, more comlex pieces or items which may require more involved editing, the editors might request an earlier deadline.
Submission of an article beyond an agreed deadline may lead to it being postponed to a future issue or rejected altogether.
Kinoeye reserves the right to return to the author for reworking or to reject any submission that it does not feel is suitable for the journal, even if it has been specifically commissioned. Returning a submission to an author for reworking may necessitate delaying its publication.
- The author decides on the use of British, American or Canadian English.
- The writing style may be academic or journalistic, but in either case articles should aim to stimulate readers who have detailed knowledge of film in the region whilst still remaining accessible to a general audience.
- If possible the author should supply film stills or other images. Permission needs to be obtained for most materials under copyright. Film stills, however, are covered by the Fair Use clause of the copyright laws.
- Diacritics (accents) should be added to all names where appropriate.
- Film titles should be italicised and given in the original language.
- The English-language title, also in italics, and year of production should be listed after the first mention of the film and in parentheses. For example:
Musíme si pomáhat (Divided We Fall, 2000)
- Alternative titles should be indicated by a slash with a space on each side. For example:
Lásky jedné plavovlásky (A Blonde in Love / Loves of a Blonde, 1965)
- Working titles of unfinished films or episodes within a film should not be italicised.
- The full name of the director should be indicated for all films cited.
- Names, concepts and films should be introduced and put in context when appropriate.
- No stops should be used with abbreviations, including Mr, eg, ie, etc, EU and others.
- Quotation marks should be double quotes, except for quotes within quotes.
- Long quotes should be written as a separate, indented paragraph with no quotation marks surrounding it.
- Punctuaction marks should be put inside any quotation marks.
- Dates should be in the form 6 September 1973.
- Sums of money should be expressed by a currency code preceding the amount. Unusual currencies should be converted into a more commonly known currency (don't know the rate? use this online currency converter). For example:
The film cost CZK 1 million (USD 26,000)
- The word "movie" means something rather different from the word "film." The former implies cinema as purely an entertainment experience and can, to some people, suggest artistic vacuity. "Film" is a broader term and carries more of the suggestion of cinema as an artistically driven form.
- For the sake of readability, articles should be broken up by short, snappy subheadings.
- The format of Kinoeye lends itself to shorter paragraphs than you might normally use when writing in, say, a Word document. The effect of longer paragraphs can come across as an intimidating wall of text to the reader and significantly reduce readability.
- See also, for your amusement if nothing else, Bright Lights Film Journal's list of banned words.
