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Associate Professor Michelle Langford

Associate Professor Michelle Langford

Associate Professor

BA (Hons 1) (University of Sydney)

PhD (University of Sydney)

Arts, Design & Architecture (ADA)
School of the Arts and Media

I am Associate Professor in Film Studies and Convenor of Film Studies. My core teaching includes ARTS1060 Introduction to Film Studies, ARTS2063 National Cinemas and ARTS3063 Cinemas and Cultures.
Phone
+61 2 9385 4489
E-mail
m.langford@unsw.edu.au
Location
311P, Level 3 Robert Webster
  • Books | 2024
    Langford M; Ghorbankarimi M; Khosroshahi Z, 2024, The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Iranian cinema
    Books | 2019
    Langford M, 2019, Allegory in Iranian Cinema The Aesthetics of Poetry and Resistance, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/allegory-in-iranian-cinema-9781780762982/
    Books | 2013
    Langford M, 2013, Directory of World Cinema: Germany 2, Intellect (UK), Bristol
    Books | 2012
    Langford M, 2012, Directory of World Cinema: Germany, Langford M, (ed.), Intellect Books, Bristol
    Books | 2006
    Langford ME, 2006, Allegorical Images Tableau, Time and Gesture in the Cinema of Werner Schroeter, Intellect Books, United Kingdom
  • Book Chapters | 2024
    Holman R; Langford M, 2024, 'Silence and the temporality of the everyday: The cinematic modernism of Marva Nabili's The Sealed Soil (1978)', in The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Iranian Cinema, pp. 317 - 330
    Book Chapters | 2024
    Langford M; Ghorbankarimi M; Khosroshahi Z, 2024, 'Once upon a time in Iran', in The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Iranian Cinema, pp. 3 - 21
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Langford M, 2021, '04 Far From Home', in Introductions to In der Fremde, saxpublishers, Vienna, pp. 29 - 36
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Langford M, 2021, 'Seeking Love in the Interstices: Acousmatic Listening and Counter-Memory in Abbas Kiarostami's Shirin', in Wittmann M; Holl U (ed.), Counter-Memories in Iranian Cinema, EUP, Edinburgh, pp. 146 - 166
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Langford M, 2021, 'Tales and the Cinematic Divan of Rakhshan Banietemad', in Ghorbankarimi M (ed.), ReFocus: the Films of Rakhshan Banietemad, EUP, Edinburgh, pp. 57 - 78
    Book Chapters | 2020
    Langford M, 2020, 'Sohrab Shahid Saless and the Political Economy of the New German Cinema', in ReFocus: the Films of Sohrab Shahid Saless Exile, Displacement and the Stateless Moving Image, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 79 - 100
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Langford M, 2018, 'Werner Schroeter's Salome (1971)', in Grundmann R (ed.), Werner Schroeter, Austrian Film Museum, Vienna, pp. 78 - 91
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Langford M, 2017, 'Santouri', in Jahed P (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Iran 2, Intellect (UK), Bristol, pp. 169 - 170
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Langford M, 2017, 'Secret Ballot', in Jahed P (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Iran 2, Intellect (UK), Bristol, pp. 280 - 282
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Langford M, 2017, 'The Circle', in Jahed P (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Iran 2, Intellect (UK), Bristol, pp. 148 - 150
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Langford M, 2017, 'Two Women', in Jahed P (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Iran 2, Intellect (UK), Bristol, pp. 398 - 400
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Langford ME, 2017, 'Majid Majidi', in Jahed P (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Iran 2, edn. Directory of World Cinema, Intellect (UK), Bristol, pp. 70 - 79
    Book Chapters | 2015
    Langford ME, 2015, 'I'm Ready for my Close-Up Mr Ayatollah! The Ideology of Female Stardom in Iranian Cinema', in Bandhauer A; Royer M (ed.), Stars in World Cinema: Screen Icons and Star Systems Across Cultures, I.B. Tauris, London, pp. 119 - 130
    Book Chapters | 2015
    Langford ME, 2015, 'Iranian Cinema and Social Media', in Faris DM; Rahimi B (ed.), Social Media in Iran Politics and Society after 2009, SUNY Press, New York, pp. 251 - 270, http://www.sunypress.edu/p-6138-social-media-in-iran.aspx
    Book Chapters | 2013
    Langford M; Dawson R; Rizo Lenshyn VI, 2013, 'Sport Film', in Langford M (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Germany 2, edn. Directory of World Cinema, Intellect (UK), Bristol, pp. 41 - 52
    Book Chapters | 2013
    Langford M, 2013, 'Costume Film', in Langford M (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Germany 2, edn. Directory of World Cinema, Intellect (UK), Bristol, pp. 159 - 166
    Book Chapters | 2013
    Langford M, 2013, 'German Cinema and the Genre Film', in Langford M (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Germany 2, edn. Directory of World Cinema, Intellect (UK), Bristol, pp. 6 - 11
    Book Chapters | 2012
    Langford ME, 2012, '"German Cinema and the Vicissitudes of History"', in Langford M (ed.), The Directory of World Cinema: Germany, edn. 1, Intellect, Bristol, pp. 6 - 13, http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/view-Book,id=4789/
    Book Chapters | 2012
    Langford ME, 2012, '"Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung: Coming to Terms with the Past"', in Langford M (ed.), The Directory of World Cinema: Germany, edn. 1, Intellect, Bristol, pp. 204 - 215, http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/view-Book,id=4789/
    Book Chapters | 2012
    Langford ME, 2012, 'Cultural Diversity in Iranian Cinema', in Jahed P (ed.), Directory of World Cinema: Iran, edn. Revised, Intelect, Bristol, pp. 258 - 266
    Book Chapters | 2011
    Langford ME, 2011, '"Serenades"', in Beirne R; Bennett J (ed.), Making Film and Television Histories: Australia and New Zealand, edn. 1, I. B. Tauris, London, pp. 252 - 256, http://www.ibtauris.com/Books/The%20arts/Film%20TV%20%20radio/Television/Making%20Film%20and%20Television%20Histories%20Australia%20and%20New%20Zealand.aspx?menuitem=%7BB571EE45-263D-4532-A616-771699D
    Book Chapters | 2008
    Langford ME, 2008, 'Lola and the Vampire: Technologies of Time and Movement in German Cinema', in Bennett B; Furstenau M; Mackenzie A (ed.), Cinema and Technology: Cultures, Theories, Practices, edn. Original, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke & New York, pp. 187 - 200
    Book Chapters | 2008
    Langford ME, 2008, 'Negotiating the Sacred Body in Iranian Cinema(s): National, Physical and Cinematic Embodiment in Majid Majidi`s Baran (2002)', in Coleman EB; Fernandes-Dias MS (ed.), Negotiating the Sacred II: Blasphemy and Sacrilege in the Arts, ANU E Press, Canberra, Australia, pp. 161 - 171, http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000291094900016&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a
    Book Chapters | 1995
    Langford ME, 1995, 'Film Figures: Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Marriage of Maria Braun and Alexander Kluge's The Female Patriot', in Jayamanne E (ed.), Kiss Me Deadly: Feminism and Cinema for the Moment, edn. Original, Power Publications, Sydney, pp. 147 - 179
  • Edited Books | 2024
    Langford M; Ghorbankarimi M; Khosroshahi Z, (eds.), 2024, The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Iranian cinema, Bloomsbury, https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/ib-tauris-handbook-of-iranian-cinema-9780755648160/
    Edited Books | 2013
    Langford M, 2013, Directory of World Cinema: Germany 2, Intellect (UK), Bristol
    Edited Books | 2012
    Langford M, (ed.), 2012, Directory of World Cinema: Germany, Intellect Books, Bristol
  • Journal articles | 2019
    Tisdell C; Balasooriya C; Langford M; Steel A; Velan G, 2019, 'Reflecting on the UNSW Scientia Education Academy: A case study for inspiring educational excellence', Asian Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9, pp. 232 - 244, http://nus.edu.sg/cdtl/engagement/publications/ajsotl-home/asian-journal-of-the-scholarship-of-teaching-and-learning
    Journal articles | 2018
    Langford M, 2018, 'Filmsaz iraní dar Berlin: Tashabohat va tafavothaye zendegi shahid sales ba kargardan mihman film “dar ghorbat" [Iranian Filmmaker in Berlin: Similarities and differences of Shahid Sales’s life with guest workers of the film entitled “In der Fremd”]', Farhangemrooz (Iranian journal of Human Science), pp. 110 - 113
    Journal articles | 2016
    Langford ME, 2016, 'Sohrab Shahid Saless: An Iranian Filmmaker in Berlin', Screening the Past, http://www.screeningthepast.com/2016/12/sohrab-shahid-saless-an-iranian-filmmaker-in-berlin/
    Journal articles | 2012
    Langford ME, 2012, 'Tending the Wounds of the Nation: Gender in Contemporary Iranian War Cinema', Screening the Past, http://www.screeningthepast.com/2012/12/tending-the-wounds-of-the-nation-gender-in-contemporary-iranian-war-cinema/
    Journal articles | 2010
    Langford ME, 2010, 'Pasiones y edades de Schroeter', Cahiers du Cinema Rencentres Internationales supplement, 33, pp. XXIV - XXV, http://www.caimanediciones.es/sumario_num33.html
    Journal articles | 2010
    Langford ME, 2010, 'Practical Melodrama: From Recognition to Action in Tahmineh Milani's Fereshteh Trilogy', Screen, 51, pp. 341 - 364, http://screen.oxfordjournals.org/content/51/4/341.abstract
    Journal articles | 2009
    Langford M, 2009, 'Teaching ethnic diversity with film: Essays and resources for educators in history, social studies, literature and film studies', Journal of Popular Film and Television, 37, pp. 148 - 148, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01956050903218182
    Journal articles | 2007
    Langford ME, 2007, 'Allegory and the Aesthetics of Becoming-Woman in Marziyeh Meshkini`s The Day I Became a Woman', Camera Obscura, 64, pp. 1 - 41
    Journal articles | 2007
    Langford ME, 2007, 'Iran and its Others: Locating Cultural Diversity in Iranian Cinema', International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, 6, pp. 151 - 158
    Journal articles | 2007
    Langford ME, 2007, 'The Hollywood System', Australasian Journal of American Studies, 26(1), pp. 95 - 109
    Journal articles | 2003
    Langford ME, 2003, 'Alexander Kluge', Senses of Cinema, http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/kluge.html
    Journal articles | 2003
    Langford ME, 2003, 'Werner Schroeter', Senses of Cinema, http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/schroeter.html
  • Other | 2018
    Langford M, 2018, Cinemaye zede realisti adamhaye matrood va biganeh [The Anti-realistic Cinema of Exiles and Foreigners], Tehran, Iran,
    Recorded / Rendered Creative Works | 2017
    Langford M, 2017, Allegorical Emblems and Semantic Slippage in Buddha Collapsed out of Shame, Audiovisualcy, London, Digital video, Published: 27 June 2017, Duration: 09:20, Recorded / Rendered Creative Works, https://vimeo.com/groups/audiovisualcy/videos/223369024
    Recorded / Rendered Creative Works | 2017
    Langford ME, 2017, Music, Camera and Mise-en-scene in La La Land, Audiovisualcy, London, Digital Video, Published: 26 June 2017, Duration: 00:07:10, Recorded / Rendered Creative Works, https://vimeo.com/groups/audiovisualcy/videos/221060517
    Other | 2013
    Langford ME, 2013, Pandora's Box, Intellect, Bristol,
    Other | 2013
    Langford ME, 2013, The Blue Angel, Intellect, Bristol,
    Other | 2012
    Jahed P (ed.), 2012, A Time for Drunken Horses, Intelect, Bristol,
    Other | 2012
    Jahed P (ed.), 2012, Baran, Intelect, Bristol,
    Other | 2012
    Jahed P (ed.), 2012, Blackboards, Intelect, Bristol,
    Other | 2012
    Jahed P (ed.), 2012, Colour of Paradise, Intelect, Bristol,
    Other | 2012
    Jahed P (ed.), 2012, Iron Island, Intelect, Bristol,
    Other | 2012
    Jahed P (ed.), 2012, Mainline, Intelect, Bristol,
    Other | 2012
    Langford M (ed.), 2012, "Palermo or Wolfsburg", Intellect, Bristol, , http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/view-Book,id=4789/
    Other | 2012
    Langford M (ed.), 2012, "The Student of Prague", Intellect, Bristol, , http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/view-Book,id=4789/
    Reports | 2011
    Langford ME, 2011, A Year of Triumph and Tragedy: Iranian Cinema and the First Iranian Film Festival Australia (IFFA), Senses of Cinema of Incorporated, http://sensesofcinema.com/2011/festival-reports/a-year-of-triumph-and-tragedy-iranian-cinema-and-the-first-iranian-film-festival-australia-iffa-2/
    Conference Presentations | 2010
    Langford ME, 2010, 'Dissimulating Dissent: ‘Honest Shadows’ in Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly (2009)', presented at Cinema, Modernity, Modernism FHAANZ, UNSW, Sydney, 30 November 2010 - 03 December 2010
    Recorded / Rendered Creative Works | 2010
    Langford ME, 2010, Critical voice-over commentary, Madman Entertainment, Melbourne, Australia, Editor(s): Madman Entertainment , Video, Published: 2010, Recorded / Rendered Creative Works, http://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/view/10621/the-power-of-emotion
    Reports | 2009
    Langford ME, 2009, Displaced Allegories: post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, Senses of Cinema of Incorporated
    Reports | 2009
    Langford ME, 2009, Teaching ethnic diversity with film, Heldref Publications
    Recorded / Rendered Creative Works | 2009
    Langford ME, 2009, Veronika Voss in the BRD Trilogy by R. W. Fassbinder Critical voice-over commentary, Madman Films, Melbourne, Audio Recording, Published: 2009, Recorded / Rendered Creative Works
    Conference Presentations | 2008
    Langford ME, 2008, 'Practical Melodrama: Private Lives and Public Space in Tahmineh Milani’s ‘Fereshteh’ Trilogy', presented at Visual Representations of Iran, University of St Andrews, 13 June 2008 - 16 June 2008
    Reports | 2007
    Langford ME, 2007, Iranian Cinema Looks Inward: The 25th Fajr International Film Festival, Senses of Cinema of Incorporated, http://sensesofcinema.com/2007/festival-reports/fajr-iff-2007/
    Reports | 2007
    Langford ME, 2007, `Shadows, specters, shards`: Making history in avant-garde film, Journal Film Video
    Conference Presentations | 2006
    Langford ME, 2006, 'Hidden Histories and Multiple Reactions: Past, Present and Future in the Films of Tahmineh Milani', presented at Telling Stories: The XIIIth Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association, Melbourne, 16 November 2006 - 19 November 2006
    Conference Presentations | 2006
    Langford ME, 2006, 'Iran and its Others: Locating Cultural Diversity in Iranian Cinema', presented at Transformations Conference 2006: Cultural and the Environment in Human Development, Australian National University, 27 November 2006 - 29 November 2006
    Reports | 2006
    Langford ME, 2006, Paula Rabinowitz, Black & White & Noir: America`s Pulp Modernism, Australian and New Zealand American Studies Association
    Conference Presentations | 2005
    Langford ME, 2005, 'Becoming-Bodies in Iranian Cinema(s): Majid Majidi’s Baran', presented at Imagining Iran: A Symposium on Iranian Cinema,, School of Media, Film and Theatre, University of NSW, 18 November 2005
    Conference Presentations | 2005
    Langford ME, 2005, 'Lola and the Vampire: Technologies of Time and Movement in German Cinema', presented at Cinema and Technology, Lancaster University, 06 April 2005 - 09 April 2005
    Conference Presentations | 2005
    Langford ME, 2005, 'Negotiating the Sacred Body in Iranian Cinema', presented at Negotiating the Sacred 2 Centre for Cross-Cultural Communication,, ANU, 03 November 2005 - 04 November 2005

My core research and publication activities are driven by my longstanding interest in the cinemas of Germany and Iran. These vastly different national cinemas are closely connected through my theorisation of allegorical processes in film combined with a close attention to the impact of socio-political and historical contexts on the development of film style. My current research is focused primarily on Iranian cinema. This emphasis on Iranian cinema has allowed me to extend and expand my theorisation of allegorical cinema into an area of national cinema studies that is both contemporary and dynamic. My most recent research project looks at the German films of the Iranian Filmmaker Sohrab Shahid Saless.

My most recent monograph Allegory in Iranian Cinema: The Aesthetics of Poetry and Resistance was published in 2019 and I am co-editor (with Maryam Ghorbankarimi and Zahra Khosroshahi) of IB Tauris Handbook of Iranian Cinema, which was published in 2024.

I am academic program co-ordinator for the Persian Film Festival

My Research Supervision

Successful PhD Completions:

  • Max Bledstein: Shocking Exchange: The Iranian Horror Film (2022)
  • Mazda Moradabbasi: Adaptation in Iranian Cinema: From Literary Inspiration to Social Critique in New Wave and Child-Centred Cinema (2021)
  • Mahsa Salamati: Transnational Film Circulation in the Iranian Context: From Conjunctural Crisis to Discursive Heterotopia (2019)
  • Teo Miaw Lee: Industry, Space and Identity: Diasporic Chinese Indonesian Filmmaking in Perspective (2018)
  • Melanie Robson: The Long Take in Contemporary European Cinema (as co-supervisor) (2017)
  • Klara Bruveris: Globalisation and Latvian Cinema: Examining the impact of global flows on the development of aesthetic and thematic trends in contemporary Latvian film (2016)
  • Rodney Wallis: (Re)Imagining the Promised Land: Israel and America in American Post-war Cinema (as co-supervisor) (2016)
  • Rosa Holman: Iranian Women’s Cinema: Recovering Voice, Reclaiming Authority (2015)
  • Louise Malcolm: Film Performance in the Films of Wong Kar-Wai (2014)
  • Naadir Junaid: Bengali political cinema: protest and social transformation (as co-supervisor) (2013)
  • Sanaz Fotouhi: Ways of Being, Lines of Becoming: A Study of Post-Revolutionary Iranian Literature in English (as joint supervisor) (2012)
  • Eva Lewkowicz: Beyond the Happy Ending: Re-Viewing Female 'Citizenship' in the Mexican Telenovela Industry (2011)
  • AeGyung Shim: Korean Cinema of Perseverance: Pushing the Boundaries of Quality During the Park Chung Hee Authoritarian Era, 1961-1970 (2010) (as co-supervisor)
  • Khosrow Shahriari: Breaking Down Borders and Bridging Barriers: Iranian Taziyeh Theatre (2007)

Successful MA Completions

  • David Curzon, Disability Representation in Australian Film and Television (2024)

Honours Supervisions

  • Eva Metiljevic 'Accidentally Autistic: The Unexpected Portrayal of the Neurodivergent Woman through Cinematic Tropes' (2024)
  • Nicole Cadelina '"Nation is a myth": Confronting Violence in Contemporary Philippine Cinema (2010-2020)' (2021)
  • Alex Malcolm 'Affective Memory in  Post-2000s Zainichi Cinema' (2019 - caretaker supervisor)
  • Zachary Karpinellison Negotiating Spectatorship: Censorship and Change in Hollywood Films Released in China' (2018)
  • Thi Tuong Vi Nguyen 'Red Silk and Golden Flowers: An analysis of Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou (1990) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)' (2011)
  • 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)

My Teaching

Introduction to Film Studies
National Cinemas
Cinemas and Cultures