Film as Philosophy: Understanding Cinematic Thinking. The project benefits Australia by initiating collaboration between the disciplines of film and philosophy, establishing a network of scholars of international renown and a forum for their interaction to steer the future development of a significant field of contemporary interdisciplinary investigation. It will augment Australia's international standing in continental philosophy and serve the community by opening up a new research area that st ....Film as Philosophy: Understanding Cinematic Thinking. The project benefits Australia by initiating collaboration between the disciplines of film and philosophy, establishing a network of scholars of international renown and a forum for their interaction to steer the future development of a significant field of contemporary interdisciplinary investigation. It will augment Australia's international standing in continental philosophy and serve the community by opening up a new research area that stands to integrate film studies within the core of humanities education in tertiary institutions. This will ensure the ongoing relevance of philosophical and aesthetic research to contemporary cultural formations and stimulate ethical debates about culture and the mass media in the broader community.Read moreRead less
The impact of Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson on European modernism and cultural life. The story of how the Black American entertainers Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson became stars in Jazz-Age Europe is the stuff of legend. Lionised by artists and intellectuals and idolised by popular audiences, they embodied the spirit of the age. As an allegory for those times, their story reveals a secret history of cultural intermixing at the heart of European modernism. It also holds up a mirror to our ....The impact of Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson on European modernism and cultural life. The story of how the Black American entertainers Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson became stars in Jazz-Age Europe is the stuff of legend. Lionised by artists and intellectuals and idolised by popular audiences, they embodied the spirit of the age. As an allegory for those times, their story reveals a secret history of cultural intermixing at the heart of European modernism. It also holds up a mirror to our times. By demonstrating the cosmopolitanism and ingenuity of popular culture, the research will simultaneously discomfort multicultural and anti-racist assumptions and deflate the myth of a pure or unchanging cultural identity.Read moreRead less
Cinema and the Senses: Temporality of the films of Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick and Kumar Shahani. The resulting monograph, articles and seminars will provide new methodologies for Australian cinema studies which has tended to depend on Euro-American models. The project offers three distinct ways of thinking about an ecology of the human senses in and through cinema. The ideas on cine-synaesthesia would link up with current research on this topic in other disciplines such as neurophysiology, ....Cinema and the Senses: Temporality of the films of Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick and Kumar Shahani. The resulting monograph, articles and seminars will provide new methodologies for Australian cinema studies which has tended to depend on Euro-American models. The project offers three distinct ways of thinking about an ecology of the human senses in and through cinema. The ideas on cine-synaesthesia would link up with current research on this topic in other disciplines such as neurophysiology, painting and music. The interdisciplinarity of the project offers, to the public sphere of Australian cinema, cross-cultural and cross-media perspectives on film aesthetics. Read moreRead less
Only at the movies: mapping the contemporary Australian cinema market. Only at the movies? is a three-year project that asks: What is the enduring appeal of cinemagoing and how is it changing? It will provide detailed analyses of formal film exhibition and distribution in Australia by combining economic, cultural and geospatial research with industry expertise.
Robert Frank: Experimentation Across Film and Photography in Post-War America. A study of Frank's career will establish critical models that can be applied to the work of Australian artists and filmmakers – especially those whose personal histories are linked to the waves of immigration that occurred during the '50s and '60s. The publication of a monograph, journal articles, interviews, a DVD and the staging of a retrospective will increase public awareness not only of Frank's work but also the ....Robert Frank: Experimentation Across Film and Photography in Post-War America. A study of Frank's career will establish critical models that can be applied to the work of Australian artists and filmmakers – especially those whose personal histories are linked to the waves of immigration that occurred during the '50s and '60s. The publication of a monograph, journal articles, interviews, a DVD and the staging of a retrospective will increase public awareness not only of Frank's work but also the work of those he has influenced. By including an overseas classroom element, this project also provides the opportunity to showcase the quality of Australian film research to high-calibre US students. This is vital to maintaining Australia's international reputation as a provider of film and media research.Read moreRead less
Reinterpreting Milgram's obedience studies via documentary film. One of the hardest dilemmas we can face is responding to directions which go against our conscience. Stanley Milgram's 'obedience to authority' paradigm appears to show that most of us will comply. Fifty years after his landmark film 'Obedience', this multidisciplinary project will re-examine his hugely influential but often misunderstood work.
William Faulkner Between Cinema and Literature. Literature continues to react and adapt to an ever-more complex media environment, but there is still little in the way of detailed critical study to specify the strategies and tactics of literary survival in an audio-visual era. By attending to the unique and indicative case of William Faulkner, who wrote simultaneously for the films and the serious literary market, this project will develop a new critical model for understanding literature's ada ....William Faulkner Between Cinema and Literature. Literature continues to react and adapt to an ever-more complex media environment, but there is still little in the way of detailed critical study to specify the strategies and tactics of literary survival in an audio-visual era. By attending to the unique and indicative case of William Faulkner, who wrote simultaneously for the films and the serious literary market, this project will develop a new critical model for understanding literature's adaptation to a complex media environment. It will shed significant intellectual light on the present and future states of literary survival in advanced industrial nations like Australia. Read moreRead less
The Staging and Framing of Comic Performance in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. The aim of this project is to investigate the aesthetics of comic performance through an examination of low comic performance in nineteenth century American and English popular theatre and in the slapstick films of the early twentieth century. Uniquely combining the complementary specialisms in theatre and film this study will pioneer a highly original approach to achieve new ways of considering theatri ....The Staging and Framing of Comic Performance in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. The aim of this project is to investigate the aesthetics of comic performance through an examination of low comic performance in nineteenth century American and English popular theatre and in the slapstick films of the early twentieth century. Uniquely combining the complementary specialisms in theatre and film this study will pioneer a highly original approach to achieve new ways of considering theatrical and cinematic comedy both historically and theoretically.Read moreRead less
Working Together: Indigenous and Non-indigenous Collaboration in Australian Film and Literature. As the first, comprehensive study of Indigenous and non-indigenous collaboration in film and literature this project will make an important contribution to Australian cultural history. It will provide filmmakers, educators and publishers with expanded theoretical findings about the nature of collaboration. In the most general sense, this critical analysis of one of the ways in which Indigenous and ....Working Together: Indigenous and Non-indigenous Collaboration in Australian Film and Literature. As the first, comprehensive study of Indigenous and non-indigenous collaboration in film and literature this project will make an important contribution to Australian cultural history. It will provide filmmakers, educators and publishers with expanded theoretical findings about the nature of collaboration. In the most general sense, this critical analysis of one of the ways in which Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians have and continue to 'work together' will contribute to the national project of Reconciliation.Read moreRead less
The Misfits and the iconography of post-war American acting. The project will address a shortage of scholarly writing on transformations in the iconography of post-war American acting. It will develop a model of analysis in which the study of social and institutional forces surrounding the development of performance styles works in tandem with a reading of iconic images. The project outcomes will enhance the profile of Australian film studies by providing a model for other research concerned wit ....The Misfits and the iconography of post-war American acting. The project will address a shortage of scholarly writing on transformations in the iconography of post-war American acting. It will develop a model of analysis in which the study of social and institutional forces surrounding the development of performance styles works in tandem with a reading of iconic images. The project outcomes will enhance the profile of Australian film studies by providing a model for other research concerned with the complex relation between national culture and styles of performance.Read moreRead less