Biography

I have been a Lecturer in Film, Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Newcastle since 2008. As of November 2012, I am also head of department. Before becoming to UoN, I taught across four different universities in Sydney (UNSW, USyd, UWS, and UTS) while publishing as an independent researcher.

Attaining my PhD at the UNSW in 2005, I have been publishing regularly in prominent international journals and contributing chapters to high-profile books for over a decade. I am best known for my work in the areas of post-war European modernist cinema, the relationship between film and European philosophy, and more recently contemporary world cinema and postcolonial film studies.

When it comes to teaching, course creation and coordination, I have consistently received excellent responses from students as indicated by Faculty- and student-originated feedback mechanisms, including being nominated in the 'best lecturer' awards every year I have been at Newcastle.

Following the release of my first sole-authored book, 'Post-War Modernist Cinema and Philosophy: Confronting Negativity and Time' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), I have three book projects in various stages of preparation. The first is a collaborative work on film and architecture, based around the theme of revolution, co-authored with Dr Michael Chapman (UoN, School of Architecture and Built Environment), due to be published in late 2014. The other two both take in extensive completed international archive and library research (funded through UoN internal grants). Separate monographs to be completed over the next three years, these books address in close-up the cinemas of Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni.

In addition to scholarly research in and around the area of film studies, I have published newspaper and online articles covering film, media, culture, and politics in Australian publications The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Drum, Online Opinion and New Matilda, plus Spiked! (UK) and ZNet (USA).

Qualifications

• PhD, University of New South Wales, 2005
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Western Sydney, 1997

Research

Research keywords

• Cinema and postcolonialism
• European cinema
• Film and Philosophy
• Iranian cinema
• Post-war film modernism
• World Cinema

Research expertise

• Post-war modernist cinema (especially Antonioni, Bergman, Godard, Resnais)
• Contemporary world cinema (especially European, Iranian, East Asian)
• Cinematic time and negativity
• Affect theory
• Cinema and postcolonialism
• European philosophy and film studies (especially Frankfurt School, phenomenology, Deleuze)
• Cinema, the city and modernity

Collaboration

My current primary collaborative project is a book on the relationship between film and architecture. This is being researched and co-written together with Dr Michael Chapman from the University of Newcastle's School of Architecture and Built Environment. This is due to publication in 2014.

Fields of Research

Memberships

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• Member - Cinematic Thinking Network

Editorial Board.

• Member - Journal of Humanistics and Social Science

Appointments

Invitations

Administrative

Administrative expertise

• RhD and Honours supervision
• Acting head of discipline (semester 2, 2009)
• Member, indiginous working group

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Cinematic authorship
• Cultural studies
• Documentary cinema
• European cinema
• Film theory
• World Cinema

Teaching expertise

• Contemporary postcolonial and world cinema
• Post-war European cinema
• Cinema and authorship
• Film and philosophy
• Cinema, the city and modernity
• Documentary film
• Cultural studies

Teaching interests

2008-2009 Teaching

Contemporary World Cinema; Documentary Cinema; Teen Films; European Cinema; Film Authorship; Global Cinematic Cultures; Introduction to Film Studies.

Other areas of scholarly and teaching interest:

Media & Cultural Studies; Politics; Philosophy; Race and Ethnicity; Music; Gender Studies.