Dr Jodi Brooks
PhD (UNSW), MA Research (UTS), B Media & Communication (UTS), ASCM (NSW Conservatorium of Music)
Dr Jodi Brooks is a film studies scholar whose research embraces film and media theory, with a particular focus and interest in evolving forms of screen culture, film feminisms, screen performance, independent cinema, and aging in, on and with cinema. Jodi has been teaching film studies and film theory for more than two decades and took up a position in Film Studies at UNSW in 1997 in what was then the School of Theatre and Film. Prior to taking up this position she had held positions at the University of Melbourne (1994-1997) and at the University of Technology (1991-1994). Jodi has also taught courses at UC Davis (in Critical Theory and in Gender Studies) and been an associate research fellow at the Center for Twentieth Century Studies University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
Jodi's research has been published in numerous refereed journals and edited collections as well as catalogue essays. She has co-edited a number of special issues of journals including a special issue of Screening the Past on Untimely cinema (co-edited with Therese Davis) and one of the first Australian journal issues on queer media (Media International Australia, co-edited with Michael Hurley and Leigh Raymond). Since joining UNSW Jodi has supervised more than 30 Honours theses, 12 PhDs as primary supervisor, as well as serving as co or joint supervisor for many other PhDs.
Alongside her research and teaching Jodi has served on advisory committees and panels for various organisations including the National Library of Australia's Film and Video Collection, was one of the founding members of Queer Screen, and has been a member of Film Advisory Panel of the Sydney Film Festival since 2017. Jodi was one of the co-founders of the Screen Studies Association of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand (SSAAANZ) and served as Vice President of SSAAANZ for 3+ years. Jodi has also been involved in curating film programs, worked in community media organisations, and has convened and co-convened a number of film and screen conferences and symposia including Cinefeminisms and the Academy (co-convened with Dr Jessica Ford, University of Newcastle), Time, Memory and the Moving Image (co-convened with Prof Paula Hamilton, University of Technology), and Cinema and the Senses (co-convened with Laleen Jayamanne and George Kouvaros), securing funding for each of these events.
Jodi is a member of the Arts and Health research group (UNSW) and is the Postgraduate Research Convenor in the School of the Arts & Media and an Academic Disability Advisor in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture.
recently published:
Jodi Brooks (2019) Olive Kitteridge (Lisa Cholodenko, 2014), quality television and difficult women: female discontent in the age of binge-viewing, Feminist Media Studies, 19:7, 944-961
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
2021-2022: ADA Research Fellow (UNSW) $18000
2019: School Research Grant (SRG), $2028, "Cinefemininsms and the Academy." J Brooks (UNSW). J Ford (U Newcastle), J Murphet (UNSW)
1998: Australian Film Commission (AFC), Industry and Cultural Development Grant ($10,000): International symposium, "Cinema and the Senses." Convened by J Brooks, (UNSW) L. Jayamanne (USyd) and G. Kouvaros (UNSW). UNSW, September 1998.
1998: FASS UNSW Humanities Research Program Conference Support ($6000): International symposium "Cinema and the Senses", UNSW, September 1998. J Brooks & G Kouvaros
Jodi's research and teaching have been recognised through the following awards:
- Honourable Mention, ARC PGC Research Supervisor Award, Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture in recognition of their above and beyond contribution to the HDR experience at UNSW 2022
- Dean's Learning & Teaching Award (2014) for Outstanding Track Record in Higher Degree Research Supervision.
- ARC Postgraduate Council Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision Award (2014)
- Screen (Oxford University Press) Award for Excellence in Screen Studies (UK, 2002) for the essay "Ghosting the Machine: the sounds of tap and the sounds of film" Screen 44.4.
- Humanities Research Program Dissertation Best Thesis Award, 1998, University of New South Wales for PhD thesis: Benjamin for Girls: Cinema, Spectatorship, Fascination
I am a member of the Arts & Health Research hub and the Media Futures Research hub. I am currently leading a project to develop resources for dementia friendly screenings for cinemas and other screening contexts. Project collaborators include Dr Fincina Hopgood, University of New England, and Audience and Industry development expert Karina Libbey. Our first Dementia Friendly Screening took place in Canberra in October 2022 (the ACT's first dementia friendly screening) at the Arc cinema, National Film and Sound Archive and received funding support from the ACT Government. Research for this project has been supported by an ADA Research Fellowship.
I am also currently completing a study of the ways that the shift to online screenings in film and screen studies courses shapes curriculum, film engagement, and student experience with Dr Claire Perkins (Monash University), with a particular focus on the ways this shift is impacting on the teaching of film feminisms.
Engagement
- Film Advisory Panel member, Sydney International Film Festival, 2023
- Film Advisory Panel member, Sydney International Film Festival, 2022
- Film Advisory Panel member, Sydney International Film Festival, 2021
- Film Advisory Panel member, Sydney International Film Festival, 2020
- Film Advisory Panel member, Sydney International Film Festival, 2019
- Film Advisory Panel member, Sydney International Film Festival, 2018
- Vice-President (Australia), Screen Studies Association of Australian and New Zealand (SSAAANZ) 2015-2018
- Guest Facilitator, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) Public Forum on Women, Film and Independence in the 21st Century, event coordinators A/Prof Therese Davis (Monash) and Dr Sian Mitchell (Melbourne Women’s Film Festival), ACMI Federation Square 18 Feb 2018
- Film Advisory Panel member, Sydney International Film Festival, 2017
- Film Advisory Panel member, Sydney International Film Festival, 2016
- Member of National Film and Video Lending Collection Advisory Committee, National Library of Australia, 2002-2003
Professional memberships
Screen Studies Association of Australian and New Zealand (SSAAANZ)
My Research Supervision
Current PhD supervisions (primary supervisor)
- Caroline Grose, "Scripting and performing innocence: Child/adult relationships on Australian & New Zealand screens."
- Pearl Tan, "Developing intersectional characters for Australian screen audiences."
- Kyla Allison (joint supervision with Dr Michael Richardson), "An affective examination of the impasses around the #MeToo movement."
PhD completions (Primary supervisor)
- Dr Luke Robinson, "Facing erasure: the disappearing faces of 1940s Hollywood gothic cinema" (PhD 2023). Dean's Award for Outstanding PhD Theses.
- Dr Phoebe Macrossan, "The Utopian Modalities of Contemporary American Screensong" (PhD 2018).
- Dr Jessica Ford, "American Feminist Sensibility Television in the Post-Network Era" (PhD 2017).
- Dr Rodney Wallis "The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Hollywood Cinema: The Middle East, the Cold War, and the construction of United States political identity" (2016). Published as monograph.
- Dr Annette Barnes, "The Soundtracks of Australian Transcultural Cinema: re-sounding the past" (2014)
- Dr Megan Carrigy, "Performing History, troubling reference: tracking the screen re-enactment" (2011). Awarded the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences PhD Best Thesis prize. Published as monograph.
- Dr Caroline Wake, "Performing Witness: Testimonial Theatre in the Age of Asylum, Australia 2000-2005" (2010), joint supervised with Dr Meg Mumford.
- Dr Effie Rassos “Questions of temporal presence and absence in contemporary film and video” (2006)
- Dr Teresa Rizzo “From the cinematic apparatus to cinematic assemblages: a feminist intervention” (PhD, 2005). Published as monograph.
- Dr Erin Brannigan “A cinema of movement: Dance and the moving image” (PhD, 2004). Published as monograph.
- Dr Tara Forrest “The politics of imagination in Benjamin, Kracauer, and Kluge” (PhD, 2005, awarded the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Best PhD Thesis prize). Published as monograph.
- Dr Deborah Staines “Representations of Auschwitz” (PhD, 2002).
- Tara Forrest “Habitual Perception and Film” (MA, 2000)
PhD completions (Co supervisor) include:
- Dr Max Bledstein “Shocking Exchange: The Iranian Horror Film” (PhD 2022, Primary supervisor A/Prof Michelle Langford; co-supervisors Dr Laetita Nanquette and Dr Jodi Brooks)
- Dr Emily Chandler "The girl typing discourse in North American children's television animation, 1990-2010" (PhD, 2017 Primary supervisor A/Prof Jane Mills).
- Dr Richard Smith "The traffic in images: Deleuze and the action film" Primary supervisor Dr Lisa Trahair (PhD, 2002)
My Teaching
I regularly convene and teach the following courses in the Film Studies major:
- Contemporary Approaches to Cinema (ARTS2061)
- Screen Emotions (ARTS3065)
- Australian Cinema (ARTS2062)
I have also taught and/or convened the following courses in our program:
- Hollywood Film: industry, technology, aesthetics (ARTS1062)
- Film Genre (ARTS2064)
- Film Studies Capstone (ARTS3065)