Transcontinental Research Trajectories -- Professor Richard Allen Free

Professor Richard Allen's extensive experience working in a variety of contexts (the UK, the USA, China and India) positions him as a unique cosmopolitan scholar, whose career traverses Europe, North America and Asia. Therefore, we asked Richard to share his views on the situation in the profession at large, his observations on the scene in North America and most specifically Asia. He will also talk about some of the innovative interdisciplinary projects that are now evolving in Hong Kong in conjunction with the School of Creative Media that he leads. Rather than structured around a traditional talk, we will aim for an informal dialogue where students can engage in conversation about their own projects and career plans. We hope that this conversation will open up new horizons for the attendees.

Richard is Dean of the School of Creative Media, City University, Hong Kong and Chair Professor of Film and Media Art. He was formerly Professor of Cinema Studies at New York University, where he chaired the Department (on and off) for ten years. He received his PhD from UCLA in Theater Arts (Film). The focus of his scholarly work is on the theory, poetics and aesthetics of cinema. He is author of Projecting Illusion and co-editor of two major anthologies: Film Theory and Philosophy and Wittgenstein, Theory and the Arts. He is a leading authority on the films of Alfred Hitchcock having written Hitchcock's Romantic Irony and co-edited three books. More recently he has turned to the study of Bollywood Cinema. He is co-author of Islamicate Cultures of Bombay Cinema with Ira Bhaskar, and he is finishing a book entitled Bollywood Poetics. His newest grant-funded research is on The Passion of Christ and the Melodramatic Imagination.

The event will be moderated by Dr Anuja Jain (who was supervised by Professor Allan at NYU) and Professor Dina Iordanova. MLitt students and faculty are also welcome to join in.

Location: Boardroom, Film Studies, 99 North Street