Symposium Overview

From the ancient tales of Psyche and her sisters to contemporary feminist novels and films, from the Brontë sisters’ literary explorations to cinematic adaptations of Austen and Alcott, sisterhood has been central to women’s writing and filmmaking. This symposium asks: How do literary and cinematic texts represent the complexities of sister relationships? What narrative strategies do writers and filmmakers employ to explore sisterly love, rivalry, and ambivalence? How do representations of sisterhood intersect with questions of gender, sexuality, race, class, and national identity? And how have depictions of sisterhood evolved from nineteenth-century novels through classical Hollywood to contemporary screen media?

This symposium invites scholars of literature and cinema to explore representations of sisterhood across literary and screen texts. From novels and poetry to film and television, sisterhood has been a rich site for examining questions of female identity, desire, rivalry, and solidarity.

The symposium will feature a keynote address by Associate Professor Jane Mills examining cinematic representations of female sibling relationships. Drawing on decades of scholarship and personal reflection, the keynote will explore the paradoxes of screen sisterhood, from the tender collaborations of the McDonagh sisters and Lillian and Dorothy Gish to the sororophobia of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, from the psychological complexity of Sweetie and Georgia to the alternative possibilities offered by Love Serenade and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. Mills’ address will take us through questions such as are there films that withhold moral judgment while representing sisters with disparate attributes? Has the #metoo movement impacted how sisterhood is portrayed on screen? And how can cinema help us understand the desire to be both the same as and different from another woman, which at times makes sisterhood seem impossibly difficult?

Topics and Themes

The symposium will feature a keynote address by Associate Professor Jane Mills examining cinematic representations of female sibling relationships. Drawing on decades of scholarship and personal reflection, the keynote will explore the paradoxes of screen sisterhood, from the tender collaborations of the McDonagh sisters and Lillian and Dorothy Gish to the sororophobia of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, from the psychological complexity of Sweetie and Georgia to the alternative possibilities offered by Love Serenade and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. Mills’ address will take us through questions such as are there films that withhold moral judgment while representing sisters with disparate attributes? Has the #metoo movement impacted how sisterhood is portrayed on screen? And how can cinema help us understand the desire to be both the same as and different from another woman, which at times makes sisterhood seem impossibly difficult?

We welcome proposals that will expand on these themes for 20-minute papers addressing representations of sisterhood in literature, film, television, and other screen media. Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Sororophobia and female rivalry in classical and contemporary cinema
• Sisters in specific national cinemas, film movements, or genres (horror, noir, melodrama)
• Sisters in documentary and non-fiction film
• Female filmmaking siblings (McDonagh sisters, Wachowski sisters, etc.)
• Historical evolution of sister representations from silent cinema to the present
• Sisterhood in animation and children’s cinema
• Lost sisters, absent sisters, and ghostly presences in fiction and film
• Transmedia storytelling and sisterhood
• Critical and Theoretical Frameworks
• Psychoanalytic approaches to sister relationships
• Queer theory and sisterhood
• Narrative theory and sister relationship 

We welcome submissions from scholars at all career stages, including graduate students, early career researchers, and established academics.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit you abstract to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 6 April 2026.

Abstract Requirements:

• 300 words maximum
• Include your name, institutional affiliation, email address, and paper title
• Include a brief biographical statement (100 words maximum)

 Selected papers may be considered for publication in an edited collection or special journal issue following the symposium.

For questions about the symposium or submission process, please contact the Sydney Literature and Cinema Network: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.