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Jamie Steele – Bath Spa University

Personal statement

Dr Jamie Steele has previously held the post of Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Exeter and was a visiting teacher at the University of Bristol. He completed his Ph.D in Film Studies at the University of Exeter in early 2014. His thesis considered a conceptual and industrial approach to francophone Belgian cinema.

Dr Steele is preparing his first monograph on contemporary francophone Belgian cinema (under contract with Edinburgh University Press) with a particular focus on the following filmmakers - the Dardenne brothers, Bouli Lanners, Olivier Masset-Depasse, Joachim Lafosse, and Lucas Belvaux. This book will provide a new outlook on European film cultures and cinemas from small nations that share linguistic partners.

His research is also concerned with filmmaking hubs and the cinematic development of cities in a post-industrial era. This is particularly borne out by a forthcoming chapter entitled Cinema made in Liège: a "hub" of francopone Belgian filmmaking for the Cinéma-Monde edited collection, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2017.

His research interest in "cinemas of small nations" led to the organisation of the UK’s first film festival dedicated to "Cinemas of Europe’s Small Nations" in November 2016 at Exeter Phoenix.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD, Film Studies, University of Exeter
  • MA, Film Studies, University of Exeter
  • BA (CH Hons), French and Film Studies, University of Exeter.

Professional memberships

  • Society of French Studies
  • CinEcoSa (Cinéma, Economie & Sociétés Anglophones - Cinema, Economy in English-Speaking Countries).

Areas of expertise 

  • Transnational and National Cinemas
  • French-Language Cinemas.

Teaching subjects

  • Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen
  • Introduction to Film
  • Key Movements in World Cinema
  • Film Theory and Criticism: Understanding Hollywood.

Invited talks 

  • "The Kid with a Bike (Dardenne brothers, 2011) – Discussion on Cinema and Child Wellbeing", 28 October 2015, Cinema of Childhood, The Foundling Museum
  • "Introduction to Regarde Jonathan/Jean Louvet, son oeuvre (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1983)", June 2015, Open City London Documentary Festival, Regents Street Cinema

Papers as invited speaker 

  • "Imag(in)ed Space of the Regions: the creation of a regional cinema aesthetic and identity in the films of the Dardenne brothers and Bouli Lanners", October 2012, University of Oxford, French Department Research Seminar
  • "The Belgian-French connection: exploring the notion of the 'transnational regional' in terms of production, distribution and exhibition", February 2012, University of Leicester, Modern Languages Research Seminar
  • "Blurred boundaries: does a Belgian ‘national’ cinema exist?", October 2011, University of Exeter, Centre for Research into Film Studies

Conference papers

International 

  • "Representing Molenbeek: A transnational approach to Black (Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah, 2015) and Belgian-Moroccan Filmmaking", September 2017, University of the Basque Country, 8th Annual International Conference on Small Cinemas - Diversity in Global Cinemas: Language, Culture and Identity.
  • "Funding the Region: The rise of Wallimage and the impact of inter-regional funding on Cages (Olivier Masset-Depasse, 2006)", November 2014, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris III, Screen Policies in the 21st Century, 5th CinEcoSa conference
  • "Blurred Boundaries: does a Belgian ‘national’ cinema exist?", October 2011, Connecticut State University, Borders and Borderlands conference
  • "Blurred Boundaries: does a Belgian ‘national’ cinema exist?", September 2011, University of Monash, World Cinema Now conference

UK-based

  • "The representation of rural Wallonia in contemporary Belgian cinema", September 2016, University of York, European Screens conference
  • "Screening Wallonia?: The Evolution of Transnational and Regional Film Funding in the francophone regions of Belgium", April 2015, University of the West of England, New Directions in Film and Television Production conference
  • "From documentary to fiction feature films: the shifting social landscape in the works of the Dardenne brothers", September 2013, University of Leicester, Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France annual conference 
  • "Imag(in)ed Space of the Regions: the creation of a regional cinema identity in the works of the Dardenne Brothers and Bouli Lanners", April 2013, University of Warwick, Regions and Regionalism Symposium

Impact

Cinemas of Europe’s Small Nations
November 2016

This event was a month-long film festival held at The Pheonix in Exeter that celebrated filmmaking from Belgium, Scotland, Romania and Wales. Short films, used as exclusive pre-screening premieres, were submitted to the event via Film Freeway. It also included a live interview with filmmaker Simon Miller.

Research and academic outputs

Go to ResearchSPAce

Francophone Belgian cinema
book

Steele, J (2019) Francophone Belgian cinema. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. ISBN 9781474420761

Political discourse and rhetoric: challenging twenty-first century populism in 'Chez nous/This is our land'
book_section

Steele, J (2021) 'Political discourse and rhetoric: challenging twenty-first century populism in 'Chez nous/This is our land'.' In: Gergely, G and Hayward, S, eds. The Routledge companion to European cinema. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 437-449. ISBN 9780367461850

"The scent of a middle-class woman”: desire, family and the adolescent imagination in François Ozon’s 'Dans la maison’
book_section

Steele, J (2021) '"The scent of a middle-class woman”: desire, family and the adolescent imagination in François Ozon’s 'Dans la maison’.' In: Bourdeau, L, ed. Refocus: the films of François Ozon. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp. 109-124. ISBN 9781474479912

Diasporic Belgian cinema: transnational and transcultural approaches to Molenbeek and Matonge in 'Black'
book_section

Steele, J (2018) 'Diasporic Belgian cinema: transnational and transcultural approaches to Molenbeek and Matonge in 'Black'.' In: Harvey, J, ed. Nationalism in contemporary western European cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 97-124. ISBN 9783319736662

Cinema made in Liège: a ‘hub’ of francophone Belgian filmmaking
book_section

Steele, J (2018) 'Cinema made in Liège: a ‘hub’ of francophone Belgian filmmaking.' In: Gott, M and Schilt, T, eds. Cinéma-monde: decentred perspectives on global filmmaking in French. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp. 257-281. ISBN 9781474414982

Cross-border collaboration: sub-national film policies and cultural frameworks in Belgium and France
book_section

Steele, J (2017) 'Cross-border collaboration: sub-national film policies and cultural frameworks in Belgium and France.' In: Mingant, N and Tirtaine, C, eds. Reconceptualising film policies. Routledge, New York, pp. 168-182. ISBN 9781138729308

Gazing on Pas-de-Calais: the romance and nostalgia of "the tourist’s gaze" in 'Pas son genre' (Lucas Belvaux, 2014)
article

Steele, J (2022) 'Gazing on Pas-de-Calais: the romance and nostalgia of "the tourist’s gaze" in 'Pas son genre' (Lucas Belvaux, 2014).' InMedia: The French Journal of Media Studies, 9 (1). ISSN 2259-4728

Identifying the unknown girl: the spaces and inequalities of the noir tradition in 'La fille inconnue'
article

Steele, J (2021) 'Identifying the unknown girl: the spaces and inequalities of the noir tradition in 'La fille inconnue'.' Akademisk kvarter = Academic Quarter, 22. pp. 149-162. ISSN 1904-0008

Editor’s introduction: trespassing borders/border crossings
article

Steele, J (2018) 'Editor’s introduction: trespassing borders/border crossings.' Trespassing Journal, 7 (Winter). pp. 1-12. ISSN 2147-2734

Towards a ‘transnational regional’ cinema: the francophone Belgian case study
article

Steele, J (2016) 'Towards a ‘transnational regional’ cinema: the francophone Belgian case study.' Transnational Cinemas, 7 (1). pp. 50-66. ISSN 2040-3526

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