University of East London Homepage


Vitali, Valentina

Contact details

Position: Reader

Location: EB.2.38, Docklands

Telephone: 0208 223 3342

Email: v.vitali@uel.ac.uk

Contact address:

School of Arts and Digital Industries (ADI)
University of East London
Docklands Campus
University Way
London E16 2RD

Brief biography

Shortform CV

  • Feb 2004 to date - Lecturer in Comparative Film Studies
    Centre for Media Research
    School of Media
    University of Ulster
  • Feb. 2003-Feb. 2004- Lecturer in Film, Video and Television Studies
    School of Media and Performing Arts
    Brunel University, London
  • Oct. 2000-Jan. 2003- Lecturer in Film Studies
    School of Media
    University of Ulster
  • Sept. 1998-Sept. 2000 - Research Associate
    Photography, Film and Television Department
    Napier University,Edinburgh
  • Jan. 1991-Sept. 1994 - Production Manager / Researcher
    Research Unit, International Department
    The Financial Times, London
  • Ph.D. University of Ulster, Northern Ireland
    ‘The Aesthetics of Cultural Modernisation: Hindi Cinema 1947 - 1957’

Return to top

Areas of Interest/Summary of Expertise

Indian and Mexican cinemas, the action and fantasy film, national cinema, film as history and image-based work by women. I am currently working on the inter-connection between history, economics, technology and mise en scène in exploitation films, with a special focus on Mexican, Indian, Japanese and Italian films.

Return to top

Research archive

Books

  • Hindi Action Cinema: Industries, Narratives, Bodies Delhi: OUP, 2008.
  • Theorising National Cinemas London: BFI, February 2006, co-edited with Paul Willemen.

Essays in books and refereed journals

  • ‘The Families of Hindi Cinema: for a Historical Approach to Film’ in Framework: the Journal of Cinema and Media Vol. 42 (Sept. 2000)
  • ‘Corporate Art and Critical Theory: on Shirin Neshat’ in Women: A Cultural Review Vol. 15 No. 1 (Spring 2004), pp. 1-18.
  • ‘Nationalist Hindi Cinema: Questions of Film Analysis and Historiography’ in Kinema Vol. 22 (Fall 2004), pp.63-82
  • ‘Why Study Cinema? Serial Visions of the Culture Industry and the Future of Film Studies’ in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Vol. 6 No. 2 (May 2005), pp. 282-88.
  • ‘Hong Kong – Hollywood – Bombay: on the Function of Martial Art in the Hindi Action Cinema’ in Morris, Meaghan and Chan, Stephen (eds) Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema Durham and Hong Kong: Duke University Press and Hong Kong University Press, 2005, pp. 125-50.
  • ‘Reading “Mahdokht” / “Mahdokht” Verstehen’ in Britta Schmitz and Beatrice E. Stammer (eds) Shirin Neshat Berlin and Göttingen: Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof and Stiedl, 2005, pp. 21-32, 107-12.
  • ‘The Cyborg's Hand: Care or Control? in Trinh T. Minh-ha The Digital Film Event New York and London: Routledge, 2005, pp. 27-42.
  • ‘Not a Biography of the “Indian Cinema”: Historiography and the Question of National Cinema in India’ in Valentina Vitali and Paul Willemen (eds) Theorising National Cinemas London: BFI, February 2006
  • ‘On the Frontal Subjects of the Hindi Melodrama: Notes for a Comparative Approach to Film’ in boundary2 Vol. 33 No. 2 (Summer 2006).
  • ‘Hou Hsiao-hsien Reviewed’ in InterAsia Cultural Studies, Special Issue 2008, Kuan Hsing Chen, Wei Ti and Paul Willemen (eds).
  • ‘History Matters’ in Manju Jain (ed) Reflexions: Film, Literature, Culture New Delhi: McMillan India, 2008.
  • ‘Film Historiography as Theory of the Film Subject: a Case Study’, Cinema Journal, Vol. 50 No. 1 (2011), pp. 141-46.
  • ‘Revisiting the Realism of the Cosmetics of Hunger: Cidade de deus and Ônibus 174’, New Cinemas, Vol. 8, No. 1 (2010), pp. 15-30, [co-authored with Dr. Felicia Chan,University of Manchester.
  • 'Historiography as Theory of the Film Subject: a Case Study’, Cinema Journal, Vol. 50 No. 1 (2011), pp. 141-46.
  • ‘The Evil I: Realism and Scopophilia in the Horror Films of the Ramsay Brothers’, in Rachel Dwyer and Jerry Pinto (eds) Beyond the Boundaries of Hollywood, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 77-101.
  • ‘The Hindi Horror Film: Notes on the Realism of a Marginal Genre’, in Felicia Chan, Angelina Karpovich and Xin Zhang (eds) Genre in Asian Film and Television, London: MacMillan, 2011, pp. 130-48.

Book reviews in refereed journals

  • ‘The Politics of Film Historiography’ in Southern Review. Communication, Politics & Culture Vol.35 No.2 (Fall 2002) pp.131-135.
  • ‘India’s Newspaper Revolution’ and ‘A Cinema of Interruptions’ in Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 63, No. 2 (May 2004).

Interviews in refereed journals

  • ‘Yesim Ustaoglu’ in Framework. Special edition on Middle Eastern cinema, Vol.43 No.2 (Fall 2002) pp. 196-200.
  • ‘Between “Art” and “Cinema”: Shirin Neshat’s Photography and Videos’ in n.paradoxa: International Feminist Art Journal Vol.12 (2003), pp. 33-43.

Magazine publications

  • ‘In Conversation with Wayne Wang’ in Filmwaves No.16 (March 2001) pp.22-25. > read filmwaves magazine
  • ‘Cultural Tourism: Locarno Film Festival 2002’ in Filmwaves No.19 (November 2002) pp.10-13.
  • ‘Still Looking for “Kathryn Bigelow”’ in Filmwaves No.21 (May 2003) pp. 24-26.
  • ‘War at a Distance: Harun Farocki’s Erkennen und Verfolgen’ in Filmwaves No.22 (Oct. 2003).
  • ‘Cinema and Human Rights: Locarno Film Festival 2003’ in Filmwaves No.22 (Oct. 2003).
  • ‘Tabloid Visions and the Aestheticisation of Politics: the Times-BFI London Film Festival 2003’ in Filmwaves No.23 (Dec. 2003)

Return to top

Navigation menus:

Site-wide menu


Information for screenreader users:

For a general description of these pages and an explanation of how they should work with screenreading equipment please follow this link: Link to general description

For further information on this web site’s accessibility features please follow this link: Link to accessibility information