UNSW consistently tops聽the Excellence in Research for Australia聽(ERA) rankings聽for Film, Television and Digital Media in Australia.聽In聽2018, we聽received the highest rating of 5 (well above world standard)聽for the fourth consecutive round.
Our major concentrations of聽film聽studies聽expertise include film and critical theory, American independent cinema, comedy, film philosophy, performance, allegory in film, documentary, and a range of national and regional cinemas (South-East Asian, Australian, Russian, German, Iranian, French and Italian).
Activities & grants
Our聽film聽studies聽researchers聽at UNSW School of the Arts &聽Media聽frequently publish in top international presses and journals and聽are highly successful in the annual Australian Research Council鈥檚聽(ARC)聽Discovery and Linkage Grant schemes. Recent grants include聽鈥楻emembering Sydney鈥檚聽post-war Greek聽neighbourhoods: 1949-1972鈥; 鈥楻obert Frank:聽experimentation聽across聽film and聽photography in聽post-war America鈥; 鈥楩ilm as聽philosophy:聽what is聽cinematic聽thinking?鈥 and 鈥榃illiam Faulkner聽between聽cinema and聽literature.鈥櫬燨ur scholars regularly present at key international conferences and provide expert commentary across聽several聽fields.聽聽
Our vibrant research culture includes collaboration across聽academic聽staff,聽honours聽and聽postgraduate students. We have聽a regular schedule of visiting speakers, research seminars, staff-led reading groups, workshops and symposia, as well as conferences. Each year,聽our聽school hosts聽Dial S聽For聽Screen Studies, the Sydney Screen Studies Network Annual Conference,聽which聽attracts speakers from around Australia and across the world.聽
Community engagement & outreach
Film聽studies聽academics聽have directorial responsibility for the Persian Film Festival, Russian Resurrection Film Festival,聽Short+Sweet聽Film Festival, NOX Night Cinema and the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival.聽
Our publications聽
- Jodi Brooks, 鈥淥live Kitteridge聽(Lisa Cholodenko, 2014), quality television and difficult women: female discontent in the age of binge-viewing,鈥澛燜eminist Media Studies, 19:7 (2019)
- Greg Dolgopolov, 鈥淣ew Australian crime drama,鈥 in聽Australian Genre Film聽eds Mark David Ryan and Kelly McWilliam (Routledge, 2021)
- George聽Kouvaros, 鈥淓l Sur聽(The South), or the memory of cinema,鈥澛燤ovie, Issue 9 (2020)
- Michelle Langford,聽Allegory in Iranian cinema: the aesthetics of poetry and resistance聽(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019)
- Jane Mills, 鈥淓mbracing diversity: screen education, movie magic and creative borderlands,鈥澛燬creen Literacy: Education Through Visual Media Expression, Vol 1. (Niigata University, 2019)
- Amin聽Palangi,聽Common Ground, Feature Film (in development, 2019)
- Lisa聽Trahair, 鈥淪toicism, causality, divine providence and comedy in Buster Keaton鈥檚聽The General,鈥 in聽The Object of Comedy: Philosophies and Performances, eds Jamila聽Mascat聽and Gregor聽Moder聽(Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).