Dr Sabrina Bouarour

Contact details

Name:
Dr Sabrina Bouarour
Qualifications:
MA (La Sorbonne/La Sorbonne Nouvelle); ENS Ulm Graduate-Level Diploma in Film Studies ; CFJ Diploma in Journalism (Centre de Formation des journalistes de Paris-CFJ) ; PhD (La Sorbonne Nouvelle) ; Screenwriting certificate (Cineuropa)
Position:
Lecturer in French Studies
Institute:
University of London Institute in Paris
Location:
University of London Institute in Paris 9-11, rue de Constantine 75340 Paris
Email address:
sabrina.bouarour@ulip.lon.ac.uk
Website:
https://www.london.ac.uk/institute-in-paris/about-us/people/dr-sabrina-bouarour

Research Summary and Profile

Research interests:
Screen Studies
Research keywords:
Film and Media Studies, Filmmaking, Gender and Queer Studies
Regions:
Europe, North America
Summary of research interests and expertise:

My academic research focuses on the relationship between film, the politics of representation, cultural history, and gender & queer studies. I am interested in the impact of power dynamics on individual and societal identities.  

It's so queer! Les masculinités dans les films de Vincente Minnelli et Jacques Demy (published by Peter Lang in June 2023) examines performances of masculinity in the post-World War II films of French director Jacques Demy and American Vincente Minnelli. Rooted in cultural studies, this work explores Demy and Minnelli’s musical and melodramatic films as ambivalent gendered discourses and locates them within the socio-cultural contexts of Hollywood and France.

I have also produced a significant body of shorter works for books, journals, and more popular media outlets. I have co-edited Analyser l’intersectionnalité au cinéma.Circulation d’un concept en France et aux États-Unis, the first special issue on intersectionality and films and media studies in the French peer-reviewed journal Mise au Point. This issue gathers articles in both French and English, and explores the complexity of appropriating a singularly important American theory in France. As a freelance journalist at Le Monde, I wrote about French society with a focus on culture and education. For So Film, I have written about cinema and society, including a series of articles on the relations between Hollywood and the CIA for which I interviewed several former agents. I also covered the Cannes film festival, the Bologna Cinema Ritrovato festival, the Cinema du Réel festival and wrote regular reviews. I contribute regularly to French media, where I discuss film culture and analyze contemporary films and TV-Shows (Arrêt sur image, France Info, etc.).

Aside from my academic work, I am also an independent filmmaker. I recently directed and produced Lights of Baltimore, an 83-min documentary about the Baltimore uprising following Freddie Gray's death in 2015, which explores systemic racism, such as redlining practices and zero-tolerance policies, and the racial policies that led to urban segregation. Lights of Baltimore is my first feature film, co-produced with Flying Impalas Productions (my Baltimore-based film company), and Westward Productions (a Los Angeles film company founded by Beau Willimon and Jordan Tappis.

The film has screened in international festivals including St. Louis International Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Ocean City Film Festival (best feature film winner 2021), Ischia Global Film Festival (Italy), The Rasnov Histories and Film Festival (Romania).

Languages:
Spoken Written
French Fluent Fluent
Spanish Fluent Fluent
Italian Fluent Fluent
Latin Good Good
Publication Details

Related publications/articles:

Date Details
15-Jan-2024 The Affair: regards genrés sur le passé et vérités romanesques

Chapters

01-Jul-2023 It's so queer! Les masculinités dans les films de Vincente Minnelli et Jacques Demy

Monographs

Au-delà de leurs univers oniriques souvent qualifiés d’enchantés, les films musicaux et les mélodrames de Vincente Minnelli et de Jacques Demy témoignent des mutations socio-culturelles d’après-guerre.
Ces productions du cinéaste de la Nouvelle Vague et du grand représentant de l’âge d’or hollywoodien sont emblématiques d’un style camp apprécié à la fois des publics populaires, des tenant·e·s du cinéma d’auteur·trice et des sous-cultures queer.
A partir d’une analyse des masculinités articulée aux dimensions de sexualité, de classe et de race, le livre examine les représentations de genre entre la France et les États-Unis, à l’heure où la Guerre froide, la société de consommation, la décolonisation, mais aussi les mouvements féministes globalisés transforment profondément les identités individuelles et collectives.
L’autrice explore comment les films de ces deux cinéastes, reconnus internationalement mais jamais rapprochés, façonnent des modèles de masculinités alternatives fondées sur des valeurs empathiques et inclusives.

« Outre les rapprochements novateurs entre les films de Minnelli et Demy, ce livre démontre admirablement qu’il est non seulement possible mais important de fonder les approches esthétiques traditionnelles sur une analyse rigoureuse ancrée dans les gender studies. »
(Phil Powrie, professeur émérite d’études cinématographiques, University of Surrey, Royaume Uni)

01-Dec-2022 Analyser l’intersectionnalité au cinéma Circulation d’un concept en France et aux États-Unis

Edited Book

10-Jan-2022 Entretien avec Éric Fassin sur l’intersectionnalité au cinéma

Journal articles

19-Sep-2016 La Vie d’Adèle : un roman d’apprentissage mélodramatique

Journal articles

11-Jan-2016 Gender, Sexuality and Transmediatic Storytelling in the Netflix TV Show Orange is the New Black.” Cinéphilies et sériephilies 2.0

Chapters

Cinéphilies et sériephilies 2.0, Les nouvelles formes d’attachement aux images, edited by Laurent Jullier and Mélanie Boissonneau, Peter Lang Publishing, 2019

Additional Publications

Research Projects & Supervisions

Research projects:

Details
A monograph about Claire Denis

 Claire Denis et les territoires du désir (under contract with Playlist Society)

Filmmaking projects

  • Melhina: a project that tackles the role of women during the Algerian War. This hybrid project investigates women's role during the Algerian War and its legacy, with the objective of producing an archive, a short documentary and a feature-length fiction film about trauma, memory, and gender.  
  • I am currently developing two feature film projects (Melhina and a book adaptation). 

Past PhD topics supervised:

Dates Details
From: 02-Sep-2014
Until: 11-Dec-2024
Masculinities in the musical films and melodramas by Vincente Minnelli and Jacques Demy

<p>Under the supervision of Dr Laurent Jullier at Sorbonne Paris Cité</p>

Professional Affiliations

Professional affiliations:

Name Activity
Maison du film Filmmaking meetings, trainings
Afeccav
Collectif 50/50 Equality, parity, inclusion in cinema and audiovisual industry

Collaborations:

Name Type Activity Start date End date
Partnership with Gustave Eiffel University Film and Media Studies Program Co-organizing professional events for students 25-Sep-2023
Partnership with Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore; United States) Co-organization of a trip to the Cannes Film Festival Meetings with international film industry professionals, attending screenings, and participating in writing workshops 06-May-2024
Consultancy & Media
Available for consultancy:
Yes
Media experience:
Yes
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