Felicia Chan

Felicia Chan

Dr

  • Senior Lecturer in Screen Studies, Drama

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

I have supervised a number of PhDs to completion and am happy to discuss proposals with prospective PhD applicants. My main interests are in the socio-economic, political and institutional structures that underpin cultural production and reception, rather than in reading representations textually. These include the constructions of national/cultural imaginaries in film and other media forms; film festival spaces and cultures; cosmopolitanism and film; diasporic or exilic cinema; historiographical approaches. Geographical focus: East and Southeast Asia, before, during and after European colonisation.

Personal profile

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Screen Studies, having arrived in Manchester in 2008 to join the Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures as a Research Fellow in Film, Media and Transnational Cultures, by way of a PhD at Nottingham (2003-07) and a Research Associate at the Centre for Media Research, at the University of Ulster (2005-08) in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

I am currently Head of Drama & Film.

Research interests

My research can be mapped onto three main strands:

1. Film and cultural historiography, especially the socio-economic conditions for cultural production, reception and exhibition, and equally, their suppression. I am particularly interested in marginalised (even 'forgotten') texts and practices, and the politics of knowledge production (or repression).

2. Curation/programming (practice) as research. I continue to explore through the work of the Chinese Film Forum UK the creative possibilities for collaboration between academic institutions and cultural sector partners in initiating and supporting impact-driven research.

3. Fairly new area of research exploring the socio-economic histories of cinemagoing, as they intersect with the architectural histories and socio-cultural geographies of cinema buildings (including mobile and temporary cinema venues).
 

Impact

Shortly after my arrival in Manchester in 2008, I met likeminded individuals and we then proceeded to form a research network called the Chinese Film Forum UK, in collaboration with colleagues from Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Salford, the Confucius Institute at the University of Manchester, the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Art (previously, Chinese Arts Centre) and HOME (previously, Cornerhouse). The Forum has largely succeeded in its aims to broaden the research into and widen the audience for Chinese cinemas in Manchester, the Northwest, and the UK as a whole. Between 2012 and 2014, it was a recipient of an AHRC Research Network grant.

Today the Chinese Film Forum UK continues its work, with an annual Chinese New Year film screening, as well as organising and delivering curated film seasons, introduced screenings and Q&As, and talks and academic symposia. An overview of its past programme can be viewed on the HOME website.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, In Search of a Comparative Poetics: Cultural Translatability in Transnational Chinese Cinemas, University of Nottingham

Award Date: 1 Jul 2007

External positions

External Examiner, MA Film, TV and Moving Image programme, The University of Westminster

20212025

External Examiner, BA Film Programme, University of East London

20162020

Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

1 Apr 20131 Jul 2013

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Sustainable Futures
  • Digital Futures
  • Global inequalities
  • Creative Manchester

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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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