Current and Future Projects
- Book chapter on the production and exhibition history of Vagabond (Agnès Varda, 1985)
- Interview with film historian and ciné-club animateur Vincent Pinel, forthcoming in 1895
- Collection of essays about film magazines, Global Movie Magazine Networks, co-edited with Eric Hoyt
- Book chapter on the film journal Cinéma 55
- Expanding and diversifying the Media History Digital Library
- Book project on postwar French film culture
Expertise and Activities
My research explores the history of French film, filmmakers’ creative processes and concrete working conditions, the achievements and constraints of women in the film industry, the relationships between film and other arts, and the theoretical and practical issues relating to national and transnational cinema. My first book, Chanteuse in the City (University of California, 2004), examines the intersections between popular song and 1930s French cinema through the figure of the chanteuse réaliste. My second book, Agnès Varda (University of Illinois Press, 2015), explores Varda’s key films and installations, focusing on her aesthetic commitments and shifting modes of production. With Eric Hoyt, I co-edited Global Movie Magazine Networks (University of California Press, forthcoming 2024) and served as co-director of the digital humanities project, Globalizing and Enhancing the Media History Digital Library. My published articles explore music in classical and contemporary French cinema, installation art created by filmmakers, and the links between genre and gender in French film.
Film festivals are a scholarly and civic commitment. I served as the faculty advisor and director of the Wisconsin Film Festival from 2018 – 2023. I am also committed to innovative off-campus study. I founded a month-long study abroad seminar in Paris sponsored by UW-Madison International Academic Programs, launched an off-campus program for graduate students at the Telluride Film Festival, and served as resident director for The Academic Program in Aix-en-Provence, a consortium program offered by UW-Madison and Indiana University.
Education
- Ph.D. Film and Television, UCLA, 1999
- D.E.A. Etudes Cinematographiques et Audiovisuelles, Universite de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, (Paris III), 1992
- B.A. English, Carleton College, 1986
- M.A. Communication Studies (Film Studies), University of Iowa, 1988
Honors/Awards
- ACLS Digital Extension Grant. Amount: $150,0000. Co-PI with Eric Hoyt. Duration: 2019—2021. Awarded for “Enhancing and Globalizing the Media History Digital Library.”
- Chevalier d’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 2019
- UW-Madison Vilas Associate Award, 2018-2020
- Communication Arts Partners Professor, 2018-2022
- UW-Madison Center for European Studies Travel Grant, 2017
- UW-Madison Distinguished Teaching Award, 2008
- Center for European Studies Research Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Summer 2006
- Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Faculty Development Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006
- College of Letters & ScienceAnonymous Fund, University of Wisconsin-Madison, for “Landscape and Portrait: Agnès Varda’s Cinematic Geographies,” a film retrospective and international conference, 2002
- Wisconsin Humanities Council Mini-Grant for “Landscape and Portrait: Agnès Varda’s Cinematic Geographies,” a film retrospective and international conference, October 2002
- Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant, University of Liège, Belgium, October 2001
Articles
- 2024. “Cinéma ‘55 and the Vitality of Mid-Century French Film Culture.” Global Movie Magazine Networks, forthcoming.
- 2021. “Agnès Varda, Producer.” Camera Obscura 106, vol. 36, no. 1: 109-125. https://doi.org/10.1215/02705346-8838565.
- 2019. “Lyrical Akerman.” Camera Obscura 100, vol. 34, no. 1: 139-161. https://doi.org/10.1215/02705346-7264154.
- 2019. “Visages Villages: Documenting Collaboration.” Studies in French Cinema 19, no. 1: 22-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/14715880.2018.1545199.
- 2016. “Demy et au-delà: Expérimentation esthétique dans les films musicaux français récents.” La Chanson dans le film français et francophone depuis la Nouvelle Vague.
- 2015. “Sexually Explicit French Cinema: Genre, Gender and Sex.” The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary French Cinema, 461-480.
- 2014. “Responding to Globalization: The Evolution of Agnès Varda.” Substance, 43: 109-122.
- 2013. “Popular Song in the Films of Jean Renoir.” The Blackwell Companion to Jean Renoir, 199-218.
- 2012. “Brigitte Bardot: From International Star to Fashion Icon.” New Constellations: Movie Stars of the 1960s, 183-201.
Books
- 2004. Chanteuse in the City: The Realist Singer in French Film. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- 2015. Agnès Varda. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
- Forthcoming late 2024. Global Movie Magazine Networks. Co-edited with Eric Hoyt. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Digital Humanities Projects
- 2018-present. Co-Principal Investigator (with Eric Hoyt), Global Cinema History Task Force, Media History Digital Library http://mediahistoryproject.org). Leading a group of scholars, archivists, and copyright experts to extend the MHDL’s global scope by digitizing publications to serve users who can read in English, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German and Hindi.
Chapters
- 2012. “France.” The International Film Musical, Corey K Creekmur and Linda Y Mokdad Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 29-44.
Courses
- CA 313 – Global Cinema History
- CA 350 – Introduction to Film
- CA 353 – Film History Since 1960
- CA 358 – Documentary
- CA 455 – French Film
- CA 461 – Global Art Cinema
- CA 613 – European New Waves
- CA 613 – Film Festivals
- CA 613 – Francophone Female Filmmakers: Varda, Akerman, Denis
- CA 613 – Women and Film
- CA 950 – The Agnès Varda Seminar
- CA 950 – Institutional Film History
- CA 950 – French Film & Globalization
- CA 950 – Globalization and National Cinema
Service
- 2018-2022 Chair, Department of Communication Arts
- 2020-2023 Director, Wisconsin Film Festival