Professor Catherine Grant discusses the growth of the audio-visual essay as an academic tool.
Location: BFI Southbank, London, UK
Date: 2 October 2017
Time: 6.30 p.m.
£6
For this library talk we welcome Catherine Grant, Professor of Digital Media and Screen Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, and founder of the website Film Studies for Free. She will discuss the growth of the audio-visual essay as an innovative and increasingly popular academic tool, a medium which informs her own work as a champion of online film and moving image studies.
The Leicester LGBT+ Film Series is a new initiative that aims to bring together students, academics and members of the general public through the medium of film. The film series was inspired by the Birmingham LGBT Centre’s queer film series which runs yearly. The series consists of one screening a month, and will run alongside the ‘academic year’. Each film will be introduced by a scholar who will provide an informal introduction to the film and theme of the month, and will be followed by drinks at Rainbow & Dove, a local gay bar situated in the centre of town (close to the train station, taxis and various bus routes). The series is organised and ran by Connor Winterton, PhD candidate at Birmingham City University, however there are a number of other collaborators, which includes: the Leicester LGBT Centre, the Birmingham School of Media, CATH (Cinema and TV History – DMU), and the University of Leicester.
The theme for the first screening is ‘Queer Horror’ (as the screening takes place on Friday 13th, and Halloween will be just around the corner), and the film is Carrie (dir. Brian De Palma, 1976). The film will be introduced by Dr. Darren Elliot-Smith, senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. Dr. Elliot-Smith’s research to date is focused on representations of queerness, gender and sexuality in horror film and television and extends to experimental film, adaptation studies, the appreciation of cult and trash in the moving image and applications of psychoanalysis to horror and fantasy texts.
The event is completely free, and seats cannot be reserved. It is advisable to book a ticket online instead of simply showing up, to avoid possible disappointment. The event begins at 6.30pm, the film introduction will last 20 minutes (with 5 minutes for questions) and the film will begin at 7pm. This is a rough time-scale for every month, and the screenings will always be finished by 9.30pm at the latest.