Dr Michelle Langford

Overview

Dr Michelle Langford teaches in the areas of film styles and aesthetics, allegorical cinema, national cinemas, the Hollywood film industry and film theory as well the introductory first year film course Introduction to Film.

She has also taught courses on conteporary cinema, avant-garde and experimental cinema, Chinese cinemas, transnational cultures and general cultural studies courses.

Her current research, looks at the allegorical dimensions of Iranian cinema and is particularly interested in concepts of persuasion, poetry and resistance as well as the cinematic treatment of war, the use of melodrama, the place of film in the Iranian public sphere and the notion of 'becoming-woman'.

Michelle also has a strong research interest in German cinema (Weimar, New German Cinema and Contemporary). She has published on the films of Werner Schroeter, Alexander Kluge, Tom Tykwer, and F. W. Murnau.

Michelle also has a strong research interest in aesthetics theories of cinema, Deleuzian film theory, the critical theory of Walter Benjamin and the Frankfurt School.

Research Summary

Michelle is currently writing a book entitled Allegory in Iranian Cinema: An Aeshetics od Poetry and Resistance

Research Gateway Profile hyperlink

Teaching

Introduction to Film Studies
Issues in Film Styles and Aesthetics (focus on allegorical cinema)
Honours in Film Studies

Publications

Books

Langford, M. Allegorical Images: Tableau, Time and Gesture in the Cinema of Werner Schroeter (Bristol: Intellect Press, 2006) hyperlink
Review: hyperlink

Langford, M. (editor) Directory of World Cinema: Germany (Bristol: Intellect Press, 2011)

Refereed Articles and Book Chapters

Langford, M 'Tending the Wounds of the Nation: Gender in Contemporary Iranian War Cinema' Screening the Past Vol. 35 (2012). hyperlink

Langford, M "Immigrants, Refugees and Multicultural Narratives" and "Serenades by Mojgan Khadem" in Rebecca Beirne and James Bennett Making Film and Television Histories: Australia and New Zealand (I. B. Tauris, 2011) 252-256.

Langford, M "German Cinema and the Vicissitudes of History" in Michelle Langford ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Germany (Bristol: Intellect, 2011) 6-13.

Langford, M "Vergangenheitsbewältigung — Coming to Terms with the Past" in Michelle Langford ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Germany (Bristol: Intellect, 2011) 205-215.

Langford, M "Practical melodrama: from recognition to action in Tahmineh Milani's Fereshteh trilogy" Screen v. 51 n. 1, 2010.

Langford, M "Negotiating the sacred body in Iranian cinema(s): National, physical and cinematic embodiment in Majid Majidi’s Baran (2002)" in Elizabeth Burns-Coleman & Suzette Fernandes-Dias Negotiating the Sacred II: Blasphemy and Sacrilege in the Arts (Canberra: ANU E-Press, 2008). hyperlink

Langford, M. “Lola and the Vampire: Technologies of Time and Movement in German Cinema” in Marc Furstenau, Adrian Mackenzie, Bruce Bennett (eds.) Cinema and Technology (Palgrave 2008) hyperlink

Langford, M. “Allegory and the aesthetics of ‘becoming-woman’ in Marziyeh Meshkini’s The Day I Became a Woman” Camera Obscura, v. 64, April 2007) hyperlink

Langford, M. “Iran and its Others: Locating Cultural Diversity in Iranian Cinema” The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations (v. 6 n. 6, 2007) hyperlink

Langford, M. “The Hollywood System” The Australasian Journal of American Studies v. 26 n. 1, 2007. hyperlink

Langford, M. “Film Figures: Alexander Kluge’s The Female Patriot and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun” in Laleen Jayamanne (ed.) Kiss Me Deadly: Feminism and Cinema for the Moment Sydney: Power Publications, 1995 & Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. hyperlink


Other Publications

Langford, M "Mainline" in Parviz Jahed ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Iran (Bristol: Intellect, 2012) 165-166.

Langford, M "Colour of Paradise" Parviz Jahed ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Iran (Bristol: Intellect, 2012) 249-251.

Langford, M "Blackboards" Parviz Jahed ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Iran (Bristol: Intellect, 2012) 269-271.

Langford, M "A Time for Drunken Horses" Parviz Jahed ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Iran (Bristol: Intellect, 2012) 271-273.

Langford, M "Baran" Parviz Jahed ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Iran (Bristol: Intellect, 2012) 274-275.

Langford, M "Iron Island" in Parviz Jahed ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Iran (Bristol: Intellect, 2012) 276-278.

Langford, M "The Student of Prague" in Michelle Langford ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Germany (Bristol: Intellect, 2011) 40-42.

Langford, M "Palermo or Wolfsburg" in Michelle Langford ed. The Directory of World Cinema: Germany (Bristol: Intellect, 2011) 155-157.

Langford, M. "A Year of Triumph and Tragedy: Iranian Cinema and the First Iranian Film Festival Australia (IFFA)" (Festival Review) in Senses of Cinema n. 61, 2011. hyperlink

Langford, M. "Displaced Allegories: Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema by Negar Mottahedeh" (Book Review) Senses of Cinema n. 52, 2009 hyperlink

Langford, M. "Iranian Cinema Looks Inward: The 25th Fajr International Film Festival" Senses of Cinema n. 44, 2007 hyperlink

Langford, M. “Werner Schroeter” in “Great Directors: A Critical Database” Senses of Cinema (2003). hyperlink

Langford, M. “Alexander Kluge” in “Great Directors: A Critical Database” Senses of Cinema (2003). hyperlink

Langford, M. “Dreams, Disco and Politics: An Interview with Babak Shokrian” Senses of Cinema v. 20 May/June 2002. hyperlink

DVD Critical Commentaries

Veronika Voss by R. W. Fassbinder (Melbourne: Madman Entertainment, 2008)


The Power of Emotion by Alexander Kluge (Melbourne: Madman Entertainment, 2010)

Conference Papers

Langford, M, 2010, 'Dissimulating Dissent: `Honest Shadows? in Asghar Farhadi?s About Elly (2009)', in Cinema, Modernity, Modernism FHAANZ, UNSW, Sydney, 30 Nov-3 Dec, 2010

Langford, M. "Practical Melodrama: Private Lives and Public Space in Tahmineh Milani’s ‘Fereshteh’ Trilogy’ Visual Representations of Iran, University of St Andrews, 13-16 June, 2008.

Langford, M. “Iran and its Others: Locating Cultural Diversity in Iranian Cinema” Transformations Conference 2006: Cultural and the Environment in Human Development Australian National University, 27-29 November, 2006

Langford, M. “Hidden Histories and Multiple Reactions: Past, Present and Future in the Films of Tahmineh Milani” Telling Stories: The XIIIth Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association Melbourne, November 16-19, 2006

Langford, M. “Becoming-Bodies in Iranian Cinema(s): Majid Majidi’s Baran” Imagining Iran: A Symposium on Iranian Cinema, School of Media, Film and Theatre, University of NSW, 18 November, 2005.

Langford, M. “Negotiating the Sacred Body in Iranian Cinema” Negotiating the Sacred 2 Centre for Cross-Cultural Communication, ANU, 3-4, November, 2005.

Langford, M. “Lola and the Vampire: Technologies of Time and Movement in German Cinema” Cinema and Technology Conference Lancaster University, April 6-9, 2005.

Langford, M. “Allegorical Gestures: The Time-Image of Kazuo Ohno” Trans-actions: Culture and Performance, 2001 ADSA Conference, School of Theatre, Film and Dance, University of New South Wales.

Other Information

PhD Supervisions
Current:

Louise Malcolm: Film Performance in the films of Wong Kar-Wai
Rosa Holman: Iranian Women Filmmakers
Reza Taheri: The Cinema of Asghar Farhadi
Klara Bruveris: Imagining a Nation: The Latvian Cinema and its Relationship with Nation and State
Teo Miaw Lee: Industry, Space and Identity: Diasporic Chinese Indonesian Filmmaking in Perspective
Mahsa Salamati: Iranian Festival Cinema

As Co-supervisor:
Rodney Wallis: The Arab-Israeli Conflict in American Film and Television
Melanie Robson: Hitchcock
Naadir Junaid: Bengali Political Cinema

Successful Completions:
Sanaz Fotouhi: Ways of Being, Lines of Becoming: A Study of Post-Revolutionary Iranain literature in English

Eva Lewkowicz: Beyond the Happy Ending: Re-Viewing Female 'Citizenship' in the Mexican Telenovela Industry. (2011)

Khosrow Shariari: 'Breaking down borders and bridging barriers: Iranian Taziyeh Theatre' (2006)

Honours Supervisions

Wendy Nguyen "Red Silk and Golden Flowers: an analysis of Zhang Yimou's Ju Dou (1990) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)"

Klara Bruveris "‘Wished-for’ Masculinities and Harsh Realities: Searching for the Latvian Man" 2010

Martin Clarke “The Return of the Sacred in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema.” 2009

Prospective postgraduate students who are interested in applying to undertake a MA (Research) or PhD related to any of my research or teaching areas should email me in the first instance. I am also interested in supervising students who are interested in various aspects of German Cinema and Iranian Cinema.

Personal Links

Harmony Film Festival hyperlink

Interests

Community Engagement:
Michelle also serves as a board member of the Harmony Film Festival. This international short film festival seeks to promote the principles of peace and harmony. www.harmonyfilmfest.com