Prof. Valentina Vitali

Professor in Digital Arts

Email:: valentina.vitali@bcu.ac.uk

Prof. Valentina Vitali is a film historian and theorist. Her research explores the interconnections between aesthetics, history and economics from a comparative perspective. She has published extensively on cinema in South and East Asia, on women鈥檚 cinema, and on aspects on Indian visual culture. Valentina teaches film history and critical theory at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and supervises PhD dissertations.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Memberships

Teaching

Research

Postgraduate Supervision

Publications

Books

2016: Capital and Popular Cinema: the Dollars Are Coming! Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press.
2008: Hindi Action Cinema: Industries, Narratives, Bodies. Delhi and Bloomington: Oxford Univ. Press and Indiana Univ. Press.
2006: Theorising National Cinemas. London: British Film Institute, co-edited with Paul Willemen.

Book chapters

2024: 鈥榁ideo Online Distribution and Regional Exchange in South Asia, in Hadi Gharabaghi and Shakti Jaising (eds) Cinema and Cinematic Television in the Age of Netflix: A Study of the Global South. (Forthcoming).
2023: 鈥極f Myths and Historiography: Foreword鈥�, in Felicia Chan, Fraser Elliott and Andy Willis (eds) Women in East Asian Cinema: Gender Representation, Creative Labour, and Global Histories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (forthcoming).
2022: 鈥楾he Hindi Horror Film鈥�, in Samirah Alkassim and Ziad Foty (eds) Global Horror Film. San Diego: Cognella Press, pp. 204-17.
2021: 鈥樷€滲ut are they all horrid?鈥� On the Use of the Gothic in Hindi cinema鈥�, in Katarzyna Ancuta and Deimantas Valanciunas (eds) South Asian Gothic. Cardiff: Univ. of Wales Press, pp. 223-42.
2017: 鈥榁ariables of Transnational Authorship: Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Wei Te-Sheng鈥�, in Kuei-fen Chiu and Ming-yeh T. Rawnsley (eds) Taiwan Cinema: International Reception and Social Change. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 25-38.
2016: 鈥楢ntonioni鈥檚 Chung Kuo-Cina: a Moment of Explicitation鈥�, in Felicia Chan (ed.) Chinese Cinemas: International Perspectives. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 143-58.
2015: 鈥楧ara Singh and the Hindi Small-budget Film鈥�, in Rachel Dwyer (ed.) Bollywood: Volume 3: Form/Genres and Other Features of Hindi Cinema. London and New York: Routledge.
2013: 鈥楳igration and National Cinema鈥�, in Immanuel Ness (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, Vol. 3. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 1454-59.
2011: 鈥楾he Hindi Horror Film: Notes on the Realism of a Marginal Genre鈥�, in Felicia Chan, Angelina Karpovich and Xin Zhang (eds) Genre in Asian Film and Television. London: MacMillan, pp. 130-48.
鈥楾he Evil I: Realism and Scopophilia in the Horror Films of the Ramsay Brothers鈥�, in Rachel Dwyer and Jerry Pinto (eds) Beyond the Boundaries of Bollywood. Delhi: Oxford Univ. Press, pp. 77-101.
2009: 鈥楬istory Matters鈥�, in Manju Jain (ed.) Narratives of Indian Cinema. Delhi: Primus Books, pp. 53-68.
2007: 鈥楥ultural Specificity and Universalism in the Work of Shirin Neshat鈥� / 鈥楰ulttuurinen erityisyys ja universaalisuus Shirin Neshat taiteessa鈥�, in Pa茂vi Talasmaa (ed.) Sl枚jans helighet / The Secret of the Veil. Espoo: Espoo Museum of Modern Art, pp. 16-43.
2007: 鈥榃here Are Those Who Claim to Be Proud of Their Land? Pyaasa鈥�, in Chris Fujiwara (ed.) Movies: the Little Black Book. London: Cassell, p. 275.
2006: 鈥楴ot a Biography of the 鈥淚ndian Cinema鈥�: Historiography and the Question of National Cinema in India鈥�, in Valentina Vitali and Paul Willemen (eds) Theorising National Cinemas. London: British Film Institute, pp. 262-73.
2005: 鈥楾he Cyborg's Hand: Care or Control?鈥�, in Trinh T. Minh-ha The Digital Film Event. New York and London: Routledge, pp. 27-42.
2005: 鈥楻eading 鈥淢ahdokht鈥� / 鈥淢ahdokht鈥� Verstehen鈥�, in Britta Schmitz and Beatrice E. Stammer (eds) Shirin Neshat. Berlin and G枚ttingen: Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof and Stiedl, pp. 21-32 and pp. 107-12.
2005: 鈥楬ong Kong 鈥� Hollywood 鈥� Bombay: on the Function of Martial Art in the Hindi Action Cinema鈥�, in Meaghan Morris, Siu Leung Li and Stephen Chan Ching-kiu (eds) Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema. Durham and Hong Kong: Duke Univ. Press and Hong Kong Univ. Press, pp. 125-50.

Essays in peer-reviewed journals

2021: 鈥楤 & C Circuit鈥�, BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 11(2), pp. 31-34.
2020: 鈥楥ontemporary Women Filmmakers in Myanmar鈥�, BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 11(1), pp. 78-91.
2020: 鈥榃hy a Special Issue on Women鈥檚 Cinema?鈥�, BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 11(1), pp. 7-14.
2019: 鈥楾he Women鈥檚 Royal Indian Naval Service: Picturing India鈥檚 New Woman鈥�, Women鈥檚 History Review, 29(7), pp. 1114-48.
2018: 鈥�Meanings of Failed Action: a Reassessment of the 1946 Royal Indian Navy Uprising鈥�, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 41(4), pp. 763-88.
2013: 鈥業ntroduction to the Dossier: Paul Willemen (1944-2012)鈥�, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 14(1), pp. 85-93, co-authored with Ashish Rajadhyaksha.
2011: 鈥楩ilm Historiography as Theory of the Film Subject: a Case Study鈥�, Cinema Journal, 50(1), pp. 141-46.
2010: 鈥楻evisiting the Realism of the Cosmetics of Hunger: Cidade de deus and 脭nibus 174鈥�, New Cinemas, 8(1), pp. 15-30, co-authored with Felicia Chan.
2008: 鈥楬ou Hsiao-hsien Reviewed鈥�, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 9(2) Special Issue on Hou Hsiao-hsien, pp. 280-89.
2006: 鈥極n the Frontal Subjects of the Hindi Melodrama: Notes for a Comparative Approach to Film鈥�, boundary2, 33(2), pp. 159-76.
2005: 鈥榃hy Study Cinema? Serial Visions of the Culture Industry and the Future of Film Studies鈥�, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 6(2), pp. 282-88.
2004: 鈥楴ationalist Hindi Cinema: Questions of Film Analysis and Historiography鈥�, Kinema, 22, pp. 63-82.
2004: 鈥楥orporate Art and Critical Theory: on Shirin Neshat鈥�, Women: A Cultural Review, 15(1), pp. 1-18.
2004: 鈥業ndia鈥檚 Newspaper Revolution鈥�, Journal of Asian Studies, 63(2), pp. 537-38.
2004: 鈥楢 Cinema of Interruptions鈥�, Journal of Asian Studies, 63(2), pp.530-31.
2003: 鈥楤etween 鈥淎rt鈥� and 鈥淐inema鈥�: Shirin Neshat鈥檚 Photography and Videos鈥�, n.paradoxa: International Feminist Art Journal, 12, pp. 33-43.
2002: 鈥楾he Politics of Film Historiography鈥�, Southern Review: Communication, Politics and Culture, 35(2), pp. 131-35.
2002: 鈥榊esim Ustaoglu鈥�, Framework: the Journal of Cinema and Media, special issue on Middle Eastern cinema, 43(2), pp. 196-200.
2000: 鈥楾he Aesthetics of Cultural Modernization: Hindi Cinema in the 1940s鈥�, South Asian Review, 21, pp. 88-90.
2000: 鈥楾he Families of Hindi Cinema: for a Historical Approach to Film鈥�, Framework: the Journal of Cinema and Media, 42.

Guest editorships

2020: Guest editor of special issue 11(1) of BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, on contemporary women film directors in South Asia, June 2020.

Exhibition catalogues

2017: Meanings of Failed Action: Insurrection 1946. Catalogue of exhibition at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, 17-25 March 2017, co-authored with Ashish Rajadhyaksha.听

Interviews in peer-reviewed journals

2020: 鈥楧echen Roder鈥�, BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 11(1), pp. 96-100.
2020: 鈥楲anka Bandaranayake鈥�, BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 11(1), pp. 101-04.
2020: 鈥楻ubaiyat Hossain鈥�, BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 11(1), pp. 92-95.

Magazine publications

2023: 鈥楽outh Asian Films between Festivals and Streaming: Focus on Women Filmmakers鈥�, NO NIIM: At the Cusp Art, Criticality and Love, 16 (April).
2003: 鈥楾abloid Visions and the Aestheticisation of Politics: the Times-BFI London Film Festival 2003鈥�, Filmwaves, 23, pp. 19-21.
2003: 鈥楲ocarno Film Festival 2003鈥�, Filmwaves, 23, pp. 14-17.
2003: 鈥榃ar at a Distance: Harun Farocki鈥檚 Erkennen und Verfolgen鈥�, Filmwaves, 22.
2003: 鈥楥inema and Human Rights: Locarno Film Festival 2003鈥�, Filmwaves, 22.
2003: 鈥業nterview with Trinh Minh-ha鈥�, Filmwaves, 21, pp. 34-9.
2003: 鈥楽till Looking for 鈥淜athryn Bigelow鈥濃€�, Filmwaves, 21, pp. 24-6.
2002: 鈥楥ultural Tourism: Locarno Film Festival 2002鈥�, Filmwaves, 19, pp. 10-13.
2001: 鈥業n Conversation with Wayne Wang鈥�, Filmwaves, 16, p. 22-5.

Events organised since 2000听

2023: Irregular Commas #2-5, quarterly public encounters of creative practice and cultural theory, Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts, London, ongoing.听
2022: Responses to Visions, public UEL student screening, Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts,
15 December.听
2022: Public screening and Q&A of The Visitor (Sharone Lifschitz) and Art as Problematic Waste (David Chapman and Aimo Hyv盲rinen), Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts, London, 24 November.
2022: #FirstThursdays Late Opening: Irregular Commas, public reading group on art practice and theory, Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts, 3 November.
2022: Grabbing the World by the Lapels. Curated screening of shorts films by women filmmakers from across South Asia. Part of AHRC-funded project on VOT/OTT/streaming in South Asia. Stratford Picturehouse, in collaboration with Tongues on Fire: UK Asian Film Festival, London, 14-15 May.
2021: The WRINS, Western Approaches Museum, Liverpool. Curated permanent display on Indian WRENs for new museum section.
2021: 鈥極ur Visions: Young Filmmakers Respond to Visions in the Nunnery 2020鈥�. In partnership with Nunnery Gallery and Bow Arts, London, 25 March.听
2019: Contemporary Women Filmmakers in South Asia. Film festival, FACT, Liverpool, 9-10 December, in collaboration with Liverpool Hope University, part of AHRC-funded project and symposium Articulating Women.
2019: Retracing Kampala. First laboratory event in the series 鈥榃ork-in-Progress鈥�, Moving Image Research Centre, University Square Stratford, London, 15 May, in collaboration with the journal darkmatter: in the ruins of imperial culture.听
2019: South Asian Women鈥檚 Cinema Now. Workshop at Film Development Centre, Yangon, 22 February, in collaboration with Yangon Film School and Myanmar Motion Picture Development Department. 听
2018: Meanings of Failed Action: Insurrection 1946. Multimedia art exhibition, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, 8 Feb.-15 July 2018, co-curated with Vivan Sundaram, Ashish Rajadhyaksha and David Chapman. Part of Vivan Sundaram: A Retrospective:听
2017: Meanings of Failed Action: Insurrection 1946. Multimedia art exhibition, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Coomaraswamy Hall, Mumbai, 17-25 March 2017, co-curated with Vivan Sundaram, Ashish Rajadhyaksha and David Chapman.听
2017: Nation, Gender and History: Asian Cinemas in Perspective. International conference, Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Vilnius University, Vilnius, 7-9 September.听
2017: Rouch 100. Curated screening of artist films to mark the 100th anniversary of Jean Rouch鈥檚 birth, Close-Up Cinema, London, 31 May.听
2017: Alia Syed: Recent Works. Curated retrospective, Whitechapel
Gallery, London, 27 April.听
2017: The Writerly. Curated screening of films by contemporary British and Irish artist filmmakers, Close-Up Cinema, London, 6 February.听
2016: Future Shots. Curated programme of short films by young filmmakers and film students, East End Film Festival, London (28 June).
2016: CineCri 鈥�16: 3rd International and Film Studies and Cinematic Arts Conference. Dakam: Eastern Mediterranean Academic Research Centre, Istanbul, 10-13 June.听
2015: The Bridge. Collaboration between University of East London film students and two filmmaker refugees, refugee camp Calais. The resulting film was screened at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
2014: Parallax Views of Moving Image Practice 2. Symposium: conversations in moving image theory and practice, Moving Image Research Centre, University of East London, 30 May.听
2013: Parallax Views of Moving Image Practice 1. Symposium: conversations in moving image theory and practice, Moving Image Research Centre, University of East London, 31 May.
2011: The Body in the Cinemas of South Asia. International conference, Centre of Oriental Studies, Vilnius University, July.听
2005: World Cinema Today 2. Film retrospective, Flowerfield Art Centre, Portstewart, Northern Ireland, October-December.
2004: World Cinema Today 1. Film retrospective, Flowerfield Art Centre, Portstewart, Northern Ireland, October-December.
2004: Hindi Literature in Cinema. International panel, conference on Cinema and Literature at Delhi University, March.
2003: Hindi Cinema: 1950s-1990s. Screening series, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, March-May.
2000: Perspectives on Indian Cinemas. Curated film retrospective, Edinburgh Film Festival, Lumi猫re Theatre, August.

Keynotes, masterclasses and select invited talks since 2012

2023: Conference panel convenor: 鈥楻egional Streaming Networks: Video Online Distribution and Transnational Exchange in South Asia and beyond鈥�, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Biennial Conference, Ahmedabad, 27-29 July.
2022: Masterclass: 鈥楥ontemporary South Asian Women鈥檚 Cinema: For a Comparative Approach鈥�, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge, 23 February.
2021: Keynote address: 鈥楽outh Asian Films at European Festivals: 1950s to date鈥�, South Asian Cinema at International Film Festivals: Global Intersections and Interventions, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, 7 December.
2021: Keynote address: 鈥楾he Real Place of Another鈥� at Dreaming of Another Place, MeCCSA PGN Conference, University of Brighton, 10 September.
2021: Invited public lecture: 鈥榃omen Filmmakers in Afghanistan, Myanmar and Bhutan: Contemporary Networks and Politics鈥�, UCLA, Centre for India and South Asia, Public Colloquium Series, Los Angeles, 12 April.听听 (video recording)
2020: Invited talk: 鈥楽treaming Platforms and Emerging Filmmakers: Case Studies in South Asia鈥�, National Union of Students (NUS), London, 26 November.
2019: Invited talk: 鈥業ntersectionality in Contemporary South Asian Women鈥檚 Cinema鈥�, Interrogating Intersectionality in a Global Perspective, International Symposium, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, 21 June.
2019: Invited public talk: 鈥楳alayalam Women Filmmakers in Comparative Perspective鈥�, Tongues on Fire Festival UK, Queen Mary University, London, 5 April.
2019: Masterclass: 鈥榃omen鈥檚 Cinema in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan: Distribution and Exhibition Strategies鈥�, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, 29 March.
2019: Keynote address: 鈥楥omparative Film Historiography: Can We Speak of South Asian Cinema?鈥�, Media and Communication Department, Independent University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 7 March.
2019: Masterclass: 鈥榃omen Film Directors in South Asia: Funding and Distribution鈥�, Film Development Centre, Myanmar Motion Picture Development Department and Yangon Film School, Yangon, 22 February.
2018: Keynote address: 鈥楾he Weight of Myth in Mani Kaul鈥檚 Documentary Films鈥�, Contextualising the Cinema of Mani Kaul, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London, 23-24 March.
2017: Invited talk: 鈥楾ranscultural Imagination and the Figure of the Cyborg鈥�, Trinh T. Minh-ha: Symposium, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, 3 December.
2017: Keynote address: 鈥業nternational Dimensions of Italian Cinema鈥�, XVII Settimana della Lingua nel Mondo: l鈥橧taliano al Cinema, l鈥橧taliano nel Cinema, Italian Embassy in Turkey and Bilkent University, Ankara, 18 October.
2017: Invited talk: 鈥楾he Visibility of Taiwanese Cinema in Europe鈥�, Taiwan Cinema: International Reception and Social Change, SOAS, London, 25 September.
2017: Invited talk: 鈥楬indu Chauvinism and the Inscription of Gender in the Documentaries of Anand Patwardhan鈥�, Nation, Gender and History: Asian Cinemas in Perspective, Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Vilnius University, 7-9 September.
2016: Invited public lecture: 鈥楥ross-disciplinary Icon: Silent Action Woman Fearless Nadia and Modernist Indian Artist Pushpamala N.鈥�, Wexford Institute of Technology, Ireland, 11 November.
2016: Workshops at refugees camp 鈥楾he Jungle鈥�: 鈥楤ollywood Action Flicks鈥�, Calais, March.
2016: Masterclass: 鈥楥omparative Film Studies: the Instability of Popular Genres in Film Historiography鈥�, University of Manchester, February.
2015: Invited public lecture: 鈥業ndian Modernisms: Mani Kaul鈥檚 Uski Roti鈥�, King鈥檚 College, London, September.
2015: Keynote address: 鈥楪lorious Gohar, Unhistoricised Pioneer of Indian Cinema, and the Limits of Film History鈥�, CineCri15, Istanbul, June.
2015: 鈥楳ichelangelo Antonioni鈥檚 Chung Kuo - Cina (1972)鈥�, Moving Image Research Centre, University of East London, January.
2014: Invited talk: 鈥極n the Historicity of 1970s Turkish Thriller Films鈥�, 7th International Conference on Popular Culture in the Middle East and North Africa, Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco, April.
2012: Keynote address: 鈥業n Absentia: Marketing the Asian Film Auteur鈥�, The Distribution and Exhibition of Chinese and Asian Cinema in the UK: a Chinese Film Forum UK Symposium, Cornerhouse, Manchester, March.
2012: Invited talk: 鈥楾he Hindi Horror Film as National Cinema鈥�, Centre for Performance Practices, Royal Holloway, University of London, February.

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