Molly Harrabin

Research

I am a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. Ian Roberts and Dr. Christine Achinger. My thesis, 'Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in Weimar Cinema (1918-1933), was submitted for examination in March 2025. In this work, I focus upon three main areas: motherhood and reproductive choices; connections between femininity, modernity, and Jewishness; and the body as a site of gender expression. My PhD was funded by the Midlands 4 Cities AHRC doctoral award.

From April 2025, I will be an Early Career Fellow at the Institute of Advanced StudyLink opens in a new window here at Warwick, and the Network Coordinator and Postdoctoral Researcher for the German Screen Studies Network at the University of St. Andrews.

Research Interests

Gender and Sexuality in German Histories and Culture (1918-1945)

Queer and trans* German Histories and Cultures (1918-1945)

Representations of the body in German culture

Representations of the 'Other' in German culture

Weimar Cinema and Cultural History

Teaching 2024/25

CH160: Beyond Science: Collaborative Student-Led ChallengesLink opens in a new window [Tutor]

GE217: Film in the Weimar Republic and under National SocialismLink opens in a new window [Seminar Tutor]

LN307: Propaganda and Persuasion in Modern Europe 1933-1975 [Seminar Tutor]

LN311: Political Propaganda in Contemporary Europe from 1975 to the Present [Seminar Tutor]

Non-Academic Roles

Member of the German Screen Studies Network Steering Committee (2021-)

Co-Convenor of the BAFTSS German Screen Studies SIG (2022 -2024)

Co-Organiser, Explore Seminar Series (2021-2023)

Postgraduate Representative, Women in German Studies Committee (2021- 2024)

Publications

'Historical Turns Weimar Cinema and the Crisis of Historicism by Nicholas Baer, Oxford German Studies, 54.1 (2025), 154 - 155 (available Open Access hereLink opens in a new window)

'Racially Profiled? Jewish Vampirism in Nosferatu', in Studies in European Cinema, 21.3 (2024), 287 - 298 (available Open Access here)

'Anti-Heimat Cinema: The Jewish Invention of the German Landscape (Ofer Ashkenazi)', in Focus on German Studies, 28 (2021), 193-196, <https://journals.uc.edu/index.php/fogs/article/view/4414/3328>

'A Celebration of Anders als die Andern', (2021), <https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/academic/postgraduate/harrabin/weimarfilmnetwork/blogs/?topic=8a1785d779ae97850179b32b31ac1125>

'From Caligari to RuPaul's Drag Race: The Machinenmensch in Pop Culture', (2021), <https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/academic/postgraduate/harrabin/weimarfilmnetwork/blogs?topic=8a17841b779666fe0177abe2a9b6259e>

Forthcoming Publications

“Ossi Oswalda”, co-written with Mary Hennessy (forthcoming with the

Women Film Pioneers Project)

“Ossi Oswalda”, co-written with Mary Hennessy, (forthcoming inWeimar weiblich. Filmpionierinnen des Kinos der Moderne (1918-1933), 2025)

Screening War: Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front in Context (forthcoming with De Gruyter, co-edited with Ervin Malakaj and Ian Roberts)

'Im Kino Nichts Neues:All Quiet on the Western Frontand the Cinematic Legacy of World War One’, inScreening War: Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front in Context (co-written with Ian Roberts, forthcoming with De Gruyter)

'In the Closet: Codified "Queerness" in G. W. Pabst'sDie Büchse der Pandora (1929)' (chapter inWeimar Visions: Queer Visual Cultures, ed. by Birgit Lang, Ina Linge & Katie Sutton, forthcoming with Toronto University Press, 2026)

Projects

I am the founder and co-editor of The Weimar Film Network, which provides a platform for discussions on the cinema of the Weimar Republic. The Network posts articles, blog posts and reviews by students and academics, encouraging a sense of community within Weimar Film Studies. We also have a resource section that would be useful for anyone teaching, researching or is just generally interested in Weimar Cinema. You can find out more, including how to contribute to the network via the website. Please send all enquiries, including about potential collaboration, to .

Alongside Dr. Ian Roberts, I co-organise the Weimar 100 Project, which marks the centenaries of key films from the period 1918-1933 in German history. A key aim of the project is to make Weimar film more accessible to a modern audience. Each year between 2019 and 2033, a public screening and talk will be held, showcasing classic and obscure films from the years of the Weimar Republic. The most recent event (2023) marked the centenary of the release of Karl Grune's Die Strasse. The event included a screening in the Transnational Resource Centre and offered a consideration of various readings of the film.

Papers

'Networking Weimar Film Studies: Opportunities and Limits' - Interdependence and Solidarity Formations in German Studies and the Arts, The Diversity, Decolonization & The German Curriculum conference, 10 - 12 April 2025 [Dartmouth College & University of British Columbia, online)

'"Problem Bodies?": Imaging Disability in Weimar Cinema' - The Association for German Studies conference, 2-4 September 2024 [University of Leeds]

‘Primitive Savages’ and ‘Exotic Nightmares’: Depictions of Racial ‘Otherness’ in Weimar Cinema' - The Future of German Screen Studies: Cultures, Media, Histories', 19-21 June 2024 [University of St. Andrews]

'Colonial Fantasies in Fritz Lang's Harakiri (1919)' - Provincializing Weimar Culture, 25-26 April 2024 [Utrecht University]

'In The Closet: Codified 'Queerness' in G. W. Pabst's Die Büchse der Pandora (1929)' - Weimar's Queer Visual Cultures, 8-9 June 2023 [University of Exeter]

'Im Kino Nichts Neues: All Quiet on the Western Front and the Cinematic Legacy of World War One’ - co-presentation with Dr. Ian RobertsLink opens in a new window, Watching War: A Symposium on Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)Link opens in a new window', 11 May 2023 [University of British Columbia & University of Warwick, online]

'Gretchen, Girl, Garçonne: Representations of Women in the Films of G. W. Pabst' - Women in German Studies Conference, 10-12 November 2022 [University of Leeds]

'In the Closet: Codified 'Queerness' in Weimar Cinema' - Weimar Visions: Picturing Sexual subjectivities, organised by Katie SuttonLink opens in a new window, Birgit LangLink opens in a new window and Ina LingeLink opens in a new window, 1-2 October 2022 [Berlin]

'Jewish' Vampirism in Nosferatu' - Nosferatu: 100 Years of Horror Symposium, organised by Evan Torner and Ervin Malakaj, 18th March 2022 [University of British Columbia, online]

'From the "monstrous other" to the "monstrous Jew": Representations of "Jewishness" in Weimar Film' - Warwick Workshop for Interdisciplinary German Studies, 2nd February 2022 [University of Warwick]

Postgraduate and Early Career Academic Workshop - Postgraduate and Early Career Academic Workshop, 24 June 2021 [University of Aberdeen, online]

Invited Talks

'Competing Models of Motherhood and Reproductive Choices in Weimar Cinema' (Imagining Justice: Law, Politics and Popular Visual Culture in Weimar Germany seminar series, 14 May 2024, University of Lucerne)

'Das Leben welcher Anderen: Putting The Lives of Others into Context' (Channel Talent interactive school webinar for students of German, 22 April 2024, online)

Roundtable participant (History of Sexuality Seminar Panel on the Anniversary of Anders als die Andern, 20 February 2024, University of London)

'Sex at the Movies: Different from the Others and Pandora's Box' (Gender and Sexuality in Modern European Art, 16th November 2023, Dickinson College)

'Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) and Im Westen nichts Neues (2022)' (Germany & Austria in Motion: Film, Identity and Society, 12 October 2023, University of Bristol)

'Love, Family and Relationships in Goodbye Lenin!' (DeutschZusammen German Teacher's Day, 30 September 2023, University of Warwick)

'From the "monstrous other" to the "monstrous Jew": Representations of "Jewishness" in Weimar Film' - Cambridge German Graduate Research Seminar, 27 January 2022, University of Cambridge)

Conferences and Events Organised

Rethinking Weimar Cinema (2026, University of Oxford, funded by the DAAD 'Promoting German Studies' programme)

Entrenched Narratives, Hidden Figures: Reappraising Representations of War Across German Screen Media (21-22 March 2024, University of Warwick , funded by the British Association for Film, Television, and Screen Studies Special Interest Group Funding Scheme, the Association for German Studies Conference Grant, and the DAAD 'Forging German Connections' programme)

Watching War: A Symposium on Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)Link opens in a new window (11th May, University of Warwick and University of British Columbia)

The Culture of Fascism Symposium (8th March, co-organiser, University of Warwick, funded by Connecting Cultures)

Women in German Studies Online Teaching Development Day (8 September 2021, co-organiser, University of Leeds and University of Warwick)

Public Engagement & Impact

Podcast: No Noise Episode 5: Molly Harrabin on Westfront 1918 (the *other* anti-war film from 1930)Link opens in a new window

Translation of materials for Dr. Anna Hájková as part of her impact work on the play The Amazing Life of Margot Heuman, co-written with Dr. Erika Hughes

Scholarships and Awards

Midlands 4 Cities Open Doctoral Award (October 2021 - March 2025)

FindaPhD Masters Student of the Year 2020 (Nominated)

Warwick Graduate Award (October 2020 - October 2021)

British Council Language Teacher Training Scholarship (September 2019 - September 2020)

Qualifications

2020-21 M.A. German Studies, University of Warwick

2019-20 Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education, German, University of Manchester

2015-19 B.A. German Studies, University of Warwick

Professional Associations

Association for German Studies in Great Britain and Ireland

British Association for Film, Television and Screen Studies

German History Society

German Studies Association

Women in German

Women+ in German Studies

DeutschZusammen