BEA2026

This panel will consider the appeal, utility and marketability of non-linear narratives.  This is Phase 2 of a 3 year look at such narratives. Previously we defined and explored different framings to help engagement with this approach.
Next year the panel will look more specifically at how to help students write for and film a nonlinear short.

Moderator: Raymond Anderson, University of Guam

Panelists:
Raymond Anderson, University of Guam; Look Again: The Utility of Non-linear Storytelling
Non-linear storytelling exists because of several key advantages for the creators and the industry they serve. But it also provides benefits to the audience and the broader culture, with cross cultural allure. We will explore non-linearity’s roots, presence and challenges. Consideration for its place in the classroom is also discussed.

Jonathan Mason, Rowan University; “You’re Doing What?”: The Challenges of Marketing & Distributing Non-Linear Narratives
This segment looks at the push and pull between artistic freedom and commercial reality: the thrill of fractured, time-bending storytelling on one side, and the headaches it causes for distributors, programmers, and streamers who have to frame it for audiences trained on straight-line narratives. We’ll dig into how these projects are pitched and sold, how marketing tries to give audiences a way in without flattening what makes them unique, and why some non-linear films manage to catch fire while others never quite find their crowd.

Khaled AlqahsKuwait University;The Appeal of Non-Linear Narratives in Arab Cinema and Television
This presentation explores the appeal of non-linear storytelling in Arab cinema and television, focusing on how these narratives engage audiences beyond conventional linear structures. By disrupting chronological order through flashbacks, parallel plots, and circular openings, Arab filmmakers and television writers create works that reflect the complexity of lived experience while heightening curiosity and emotional impact. Such approaches not only challenge audiences to piece together meaning but also offer distinctive cultural resonances tied to themes of memory, identity, and social change. The session highlights how non-linear structures enrich Arab visual storytelling and expand its creative possibilities.

Alessandra Bautze, Georgia State University; Non-Linear Narratives as Anti-Hollywood: A Tool for Screenwriters
What is the appeal of non-linear narratives for screenwriters? How do screenwriters employ non-linear narratives to explore character motivations, interiority, and relationships? By framing non-linear narratives as “anti-Hollywood” (as delineated by Michael Z. Newman in his indie cinema viewing strategies), this presentation will examine these and other questions, arguing that non-linear narratives occupy a specific place outside of traditional Hollywood filmmaking, often in the realm of “Indiewood” (as delineated by Geoff King).

William Hanff, University of the District of Columbia; Fabula & Syuzhet in Transmedia Narratives and Non-Linear Storytelling
This presentation problematizes the structure of both linear and non-linear visual storytelling by applying the Russian Formalist ideas of narratology to contemporary media productions. Comparing and contrasting how different levels of ‘Suspension of Disbelief’ are challenged in different genres, formats, and ‘story presentations’—research from Vladimir Propp, Walter Benjamin, and Henry Jenkins can be deployed to explore and systematize non-linear narratives. From early beginnings of flashbacks and flash-forwards in early films, to non-linear gameplay, postmodern cinema, and V.R/A.R. applications the concepts of fabula (story content) versus syuzhet (story arrangement) remain central. Technological determinism of digital storytelling tools, and the relation to narrative form will also be explored.