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Film and Television Studies

Alice Pember

Assistant Professor in Film and Television Studies
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy


alice.pember@warwick.ac.uk

1.19
Faculty of Arts Building
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7HS

About

I hold a BA (Hons) in English Literature from the University of Cardiff, an MSt in Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Film Studies from Queen Mary, University of London. Before joining Warwick, I was a Teaching Fellow in Film Studies at Queen Mary, University of London and taught in schools and Sixth Forms in London and the South East. I am on the editoral board of the British Association of Film and Television's journal Open Screens.

Research Interests

Contemporary women’s independent filmmaking, with a particular focus on films produced in Britain, as well as in France and the United States, film philosophy (particularly political philosophy, phenomenology and affect theory), dance and popular music on screen and gender, class and sexuality studies. I welcome PhD proposals relating to any of those areas.

My current research explores the political aesthetics of contemporary independent cinema, particularly those made by or focused on marginalised young women and girls.

My forthcoming book The Dancing Girl in Contemporary Cinema interrogates the relationship between dance, popular music, class, race and girlhood in the contemporary neoliberal landscape, focusing particularly on dance performances by vulnerable and marginalised girls in recent independent films.

Selected Publications

Books

  • The Dancing Girl in Contemporary Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming 2026).
Journal Special Issues

 Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Reviews

  • My book reviews have appeared in: Open Screens, French Studies, Film-Philosophy and Film Studies.

Selection of Conference Papers and Talks

  • [Conference Keynote] 'New Girls on the Block: The Politics of Music and Dance in Women’s New Social Realist Filmmaking’, British Popular Culture(s), University of Falmouth, 5-7 June 2025
  • 'How We’re Feeling Now? Collaboration, Community and Digital Fandom in Charli XCX: Alone Together (2022)', BAFTSS, University of Warwick, 26-28 March 2025.
  • 'Get Off Your Arse and Slam' Aspiration Anthems as a Critique of the Gig Economy in American Honey (2017)', BAFTSS, University of Sussex, 3-5 April 2024.
  • 'The Politics of the Dancing Girl in Contemporary Cinema: the Aesthetics of Counter Resilience in Céline Sciamma's Girlhood', University of Birmingham, 25 October 2023.
  • ‘I am a damaged dollar’: Failed Vocal Performance as a Disruption of Neoliberal Resilience Discourse in Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux (2018)', BARN Virtual Colloquia, 10 February 2022.
  • ‘“This Party is Political: the Moving Politics of the Queer Dancefloor in 120 BPM (2017), SCMS Conference, March 13-17 2022.
  • ‘Shame on you, if you can't dance too’: The Intersectional Politics of Dance in Contemporary Cinema', Film-Philosophy, University of Gronigen, 9-11 July 2019.
  • Finding Love in a Hopeless Place? Pop Music and Resilience in Bande de Filles and American Honey’, BAFTSS Conference, University of Birmingham, 15-27 April 2019.
  • ‘In Her Hips are Revolutions’: Dancing Dissensus in Catch Me Daddy (2014)', BAFTSS Conference, University of Kent, 12-13 April 2018.

Conference Organisation

Public Engagement:

Curation

Film introductions and q&as

  • Post-Screening discussion with filmmaker Alice Lowe, director of Timestalker (2024), October 2024, Warwick Arts Centre.
  • Post- screening discussion with filmmaker Sally Potter, director of Orlando (1993) for ‘Sally Potter: the Music of Cinema’, 10 June 2023, The Garden Cinema, London.
  • Introduction to Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019) for 'Celebrating Queer Cinema', 27 April 2023, The Garden Cinema, London.
  • Podcast Interview: 'Dirty Dancing: the time of HER life', Cinérameuf Podcast, Episode 4, 2021.
  • Introduction to American Honey (Andrea Arnold, 2018) for 'Diamonds in the Sky', 12 Jan 2020, Genesis Cinema, London.
  • Post-screening Panel discussion of Thirteen (Catherine Hardwick, 2003) for Dispatch Moving Image: Constructing Teen Identity on Screen, 1 August 2019, Genesis Cinema, London.
  • Post-screening panel discussion of Orlando (Sally Potter, 1993) for Deptford Film and Book Club, 14 April 2019, Deptford Cinema, London.
  • Introduction to A League of Their Own (Penny Marshall, 1992) for Dispatch Moving Image, 17 Jan 2019, Genesis Cinema, London.
Teaching

I teach across many areas related to contemporary independent cinema, film theory and philosophy and feminist and women's cinema. I was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2024. I hold a PGCE from Canturbury Christ Church University.

Administrative Roles

Senior Tutor

Teaching

FI310 Dissertation Option

FI113 Theory for Film (Autumn)

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Administrative Role:

Senior Tutor