Nicole Pacelli is a first-year PhD student in Film at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She focuses on how black mixed race identities are constructed and perceived in cinema, with particular attention to the complexities of mixed representation in contemporary film. Her research interests extend to black diasporic cinema across national contexts, tracing how films navigate between black mixedness and broader African diasporic narratives. She studies how both U.S. and postcolonial cinema articulate questions of selfhood, exploring how these films challenge conventional boundaries of identity, memory, and cultural belonging.
Upcoming and Recent Conference Presentations:
- 2025 – Music and the Moving Image (MaMI), “Sonic Representations of the African Diaspora in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King”
- 2025 – Midwest Graduate Film Studies Symposium (MGFSS), “The Paradox of Belonging: The Pluralities of Identity in Safina Uberoi’s My Mother India”
- 2024 – Annual Conference on South Asia (ACSA), “In Search of Belonging: Documenting the Pluralities of Identity in Safina Uberoi’s My Mother India”
- 2024 – Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS), “Invisibility, Visibility and Mixed-Race Representation in Marvel’s Ant-man and the Wasp”
- 2024 – Midwest Graduate Film Studies Symposium (MGFSS), “Mixploitation and the Representation of ‘Free Women of Color’ in Jack Weis’s Quadroon”
Honors/Awards:
- Baxter Inclusive Excellence Awards, UW-Madison, Spring 2025 (awarded to students who make significant contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusivity initiatives in the department, on campus, within the discipline, and/or in the community through their research, service, or teaching)
- Sharon Sites Award, UW-Madison, Spring 2024 (awarded to outstanding women in Film & Media and Cultural Studies areas of Communication Arts)
- Brommel-Hanson-Ijams-Hayward Scholarship, NEIU, Fall 2022
- McNair Scholar, NEIU, 2020-2022
- Fall Merit Tuition Scholarship, NEIU, Fall 2021
- Communication, Media, and Theatre Distinguished Student Award, NEIU, 2019-2021
Education:
- M.A. Film – Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2024
- B.A. – Communication, Media, and Theatre, Northeastern Illinois University, 2022
Courses:
Teaching Assistant:
- CA 100 – Introduction to Speech Composition
- CA 355 – Introduction to Media Production
Service:
- Graduate Student Organization Representative, 2024-2026