School of Culture & Creative Arts

Dr Lizelle Bisschoff

Lecturer (Theatre, Film & Television Studies)

telephone: 0141 3306542
email: Lizelle.Bisschoff@glasgow.ac.uk

ORCID iD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5820-0377

Research interests

Research Interests

My primary research interest lies in contemporary African cinema, and I am working on various aspects of this, including:

Gender and African cinema: I am interested in the role of women in African cinema, in front of and behind the camera. I am currently writing a co-authored monograph (with Stefanie Van de Peer), entitled Women in African Cinema: Film Beyond the Body Politic. The book is contracted by Routledge and will be out in 2019.
African film festivals, in Africa and internationally
African film and digital technologies, in particular the video-film industries such as Nigeria’s Nollywood
Diasporic and exilic African cinema
Post-apartheid South African cinema
New documentary filmmaking in African cinemas
Nationalism and post-nationalism in African cinema
African film within popular culture

Biography

I completed a three-year Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Research Fellowship in Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow from 2012-2015, and a two-year Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the Centre of African Studies (CAS) at the University of Edinburgh from 2010-2012. I hold a PhD on African cinema from the University of Stirling (2009), and an MSc in Cultural Studies from the University of Edinburgh (2005).

My PhD research focused on the role and representation of women in francophone West African and lusophone and anglophone Southern African cinema. In my Leverhulme postdoctoral research project my regional focus shifted to East Africa and I conducted research into the emerging film industries in East Africa, specifically in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. I have done field research on African film in various African countries (including South Africa, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania), and have attended numerous international film festivals, often as speaker and jury member.

Africa in Motion Film Festival: At the start of my PhD research in 2006 I founded the Africa in Motion (AiM) film festival, an African film festival taking place annually in Edinburgh and Glasgow. I directed the festival from 2006-2011 and currently act as advisor and member of the festival’s Management Team and Board of Trustees. The inspiration for the festival grew out of my desire to combine my academic research with practical work in an attempt to make African cinema, which is hugely marginalised all over the world, more accessible to British audiences. The festival has screened almost 500 African films to audiences totalling around 40,000 people since inception. In addition to the public outreach, education and dissemination dimensions of AiM, the festival also has strong academic and research elements, through academic symposia and panel discussions with invited international film scholars presenting their research and taking part in discussions. Film Studies students at the University of Glasgow have various opportunities to become involved in the festival, as volunteers, interns, as part of the festival’s selection committee, and more.

Grants

PI on AHRC Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement grant, 2017-18 (£90,000), for a project entitled "Africa's Lost Classics in Context". The project entailed the restoration and screenings of around 20 African classics across the UK, in collaboration with the UK's five African film festivals (Scotland, London, Bristol, Wales and Cambridge).
University of Glasgow Chancellor’s Fund, 2014, for an international one-day symposium entitled “Twenty Years of Democracy: Art and Activism in South Africa”. The symposium took place in Dec 2014 at CCA in Glasgow and featured world-famous anti-apartheid activist and former judge for the South African Constitutional Court, Albie Sachs, as keynote speaker.

Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellowship, Sept 2010 to Aug 2012, for research on the emerging East African film industries

Scholarship from the British Federation of Women Graduates, July 2008 (£5,000), for PhD research

Research grant from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, June 2007 – June 2009 for a project entitled “Recovering Lost African Film Classics: Towards a History of Filmmaking by African Women”
Small project grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), June 2006 – May 2007 for a project entitled “Recovering Lost African Film Classics: Towards a more complex history of African cinema”

Supervision

I welcome PhD applications from students in the areas of African Studies and African Film Studies.

Daniels-Yeomans, Finn
Beyond Representation: Documenting Traumas of the World Ecology
Kamleitner, Katharina
Negotiating Women’s Film Festivals on the Festival Circuit – Theory and Practice
KEHINDE, RUFUS
PERPETUATING ORAL TRADITION THROUGH THE NIGERIAN CINEMA
MANGO, CAROLYN
Presence of African Women in the Screen Industry. A Case Study of Kenyan Women in the Screen Industry.

Teaching

Convenor: MLitt in Film and Television Studies
Convenor: Festivals PG option
Level 1 Film and Television Studies: Looking, Listening, ‘Reading’ & Key Moments in the Development of Film and Television
Sessions on MLitt Advanced Topics in Film Studies course, on Transnational Cinema
Sessions on MLitt Film and Television core course, on Third Cinema and African Cinema
Sessions of MSc in Film Curation core course, on the Africa in Motion film festival
Sessions on Genders PG option, on women in African cinema

Additional Information

Affiliation

Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (HEA)

External Responsibilities

Member of the Board of Trustees of the Africa in Motion Film Festival
Member of the editorial board of Critical African Studies (Taylor & Francis)
Member of the editorial board of Journal of African Cinemas (Intellect)

Administration

Convenor MLitt in Film and Television Studies
FTV Representative, Postgraduate Committee

Conferences and Presentations

Invited presentations – academic institutions

“Contemporary African Cinemas: New genres, aesthetics and themes”, research seminar for the Centre of African Studies, University of Birmingham, Nov 2017
“Curating Africa in Scotland: The Africa in Motion Story”, research seminar for the Division of Communications, Media and Culture, University of Stirling, March 2016
“From colonial reminiscences in film to Black cinema in Britain”, presentation at Humanizing Culture, Art and Media International Conference, Afrika Filmfestival Leuven, Belgium, March 2016
"Women in African Cinema: Presence and Absence", presentation as part of Gender Week, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, March 2016
“Alternative futures and mythological pasts: African science fiction and fantasy in film”, presentation for the School of Modern Languages and Cultures seminar series, University of Glasgow, Feb 2015
Presentation on African film and African film festivals at Centre of Global History workshop at the University of Dundee, Sept 2014
“The impact of digital technologies on the consumption of African audio-visual content”, presentation at World Cinema on Demand workshop, Queen’s University Belfast, Sept 2013
“Film as a tool for social change: Anti-FGM activism in Sembene’s Moolaadé”, presentation at The Arts of Peacebuilding: Theatre, Film and Dance workshop, University of Edinburgh, Aug 2013
“Archival Film Festivals: The Lost Classics of African Cinema”, presentation at Imperial Archives and Cities workshop, AHRC Utopian Archives Research Network, University of Stirling, Feb 2013
“Digital as the new popular in African cinema? The impact of digital technologies on African screen media”, presentation as part of Screen seminar series, Film and Television Studies, University of Glasgow, Jan 2013
“Images of Global Women: Identity and transcultural experiences in African female filmmaking”, presentation at Les réalisatrices africaines francophones conference, Paris, France, Nov 2012
“National South African cinema”, presentation at symposium on the 100 years anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress (ANC), University of Leeds, March 2012
“Bongoland's Hollywood: Funding, production and distribution in the Tanzanian video-film industry”, Centre of African Studies seminar, University of Edinburgh, Feb 2012

Invited presentations – non-academic institutions

Panel member for Glasgow Short Film Festival symposium, March 2015
Presented two workshops on African film festival management and curation, Colours of the Nile Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 2014
“Film distribution and the Africa in Motion film festival”, presentation at Film Africa Festival Distribution Forum, London, Oct 2012
“Beyond the tourist curios: Popular arts in contemporary Africa”, presentation at Creative Scotland International Conference Engaging with the arts and infrastructure of sub-Saharan Africa, Edinburgh, Oct 2012
“Africa in Science Fiction”, presentation at the Arnolfini Arts Centre, Bristol, June 2012
“Women in African Cinema: Questions of presence and absence”, masterclass presented at National Gallery of Zimbabwe as part of International Images of Women Film Festival, Harare, Zimbabwe, Dec 2011, funded by the British Council in Zimbabwe

Conferences

“Women in African Cinema: Female identity on screen”, presentation at (Re)reading African Feminisms Colloquium, Rhodes University, South Africa, July 2017
Panel convener and chair for series of panels on the theme “African Utopias/Dystopias”, African Studies Association UK (ASAUK) conference, University of Sussex, Sept 2014
Panel convener and chair for series of panels on the theme “Global and transnational connections in contemporary African arts and creative practice”, European Centre for African Studies (ECAS) conference, Lisbon, Portugal, June 2013
“Beyond social realism: Fantasy and science fiction in contemporary African cinema”, African Cinema Conference at University of Westminster, London, Nov 2012
“A modern medium in an ancient world: Reflections on the Zanzibar International Film Festival”, presentation at the African Studies Association UK (ASAUK) conference, University of Leeds, Sept 2012
Panel convener and chair for series of panels on African cinema at African Studies Association UK (ASAUK) conference, University of Leeds, Sept 2012
“The rise of East African cinema: Women leading the way”, Women in Film and Africa Conference at University of Westminster, London, Nov 2011
“Representing Africa in Europe: Programming the Africa in Motion Film Festival”, presentation at the African Studies Association UK (ASAUK) conference at St Antony’s College, Oxford, Sept 2010
“Digital production and distribution in African Cinema”, Postcolonial Studies Association Conference at University of Stirling, May 2010
“Women Making Movies: The female pioneers of African cinema and the launching of a tradition”, African Cinema Conference at the University of Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, US, Nov 2007
“History, Memory, Truth, Fiction: The Ethics of Representation in the Case of Rwanda”, Peacemaking in the World of Film Conference at the University of Edinburgh, July 2007
“Female Storytelling through Film: Women Directors in West African Cinema”, African Studies Association UK (ASAUK) conference, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, Sept 2006
“A New Wave of South African Cinema: Filmmaking in the post-apartheid era”, New Waves and New Cinemas Conference, University of Leeds, July 2006
“New Filmmaking in the New South Africa: The Project 10 Documentary Series”, Crossing Places Conference, University of Nottingham, Feb 2006

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2007

Number of items: 31.

2019

Bisschoff, L. and Van de Peer, S. (2019) Women in African Cinema: Film Beyond the Body Politic. Routledge. ISBN 9780415425667 (In Press)

2018

Bisschoff, L. (2018) The power of film: grassroots activism in Ousmane Sembène’s Moolaadé. MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture, (Accepted for Publication)

Bisschoff, L. , Atkinson, J. and Van De Peer, S. (2018) Africa in motion: busting the canon since 2006 or who calls the shots in African films and festivals? MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture, (Accepted for Publication)

Bisschoff, L. (2018) Introduction. Critical African Studies, (Accepted for Publication)

Bisschoff, L. and Daya, S. (2018) Editorial introduction. Critical African Studies, 10(2), pp. 127-129. (doi:10.1080/21681392.2018.1517940)

2017

Bisschoff, L. (2017) African cyborgs: females and feminists in African science fiction film. Interventions: The International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, (Accepted for Publication)

Bisschoff, L. (2017) The power of film: grassroots activism in Ousmane Sembène’s Moolaadé. In: Peacebuilding and the Arts. Oxford University Press. (Accepted for Publication)

Bisschoff, L. (2017) The future is digital: an introduction to African digital arts. Critical African Studies, 9(3), pp. 261-267. (doi:10.1080/21681392.2017.1376506)

2016

Bisschoff, L. (2016) Katrina Daly Thompson , Zimbabwe's Cinematic Arts: language, power, identity. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press (pb $27 – 978 0 25300 651 6). 2013, 256 pp. Africa, 86(1), pp. 184-185. (doi:10.1017/S000197201500090X) [Book Review]

Bisschoff, L. (2016) Seeing ourselves on screen: African film stars in Nollywood and beyond. In: Bell, J. (ed.) Black Star: a BFI Compendium. British Film Institute: London. ISBN 9781844579716

2015

Bisschoff, L. (2015) Cinema in East Africa. Journal of African Cinemas, 7(2), pp. 71-78. (doi:10.1386/jac.7.2.71_2)

Bisschoff, L. (2015) From Nollywood to New Nollywood: the story of Nigeria’s runaway success. Conversation, 28 Sep.

Bisschoff, L. (2015) Defining Afro-modernism: African cinema’s response to modernity. In: Ross, S. and Lindgren, A. (eds.) The Modernist World. Series: Routledge worlds. Routledge. ISBN 9780415845038

2014

Bisschoff, L. and Murphy, D. (Eds.) (2014) Africa's Lost Classics: New Histories of African Cinema. Series: Moving image. Maney: Leeds. ISBN 9781907975516

Bisschoff, L. (2014) Gender equality, women and African film. Discussion Paper. UNESCO.

Bisschoff, L. (2014) "They have made Africa proud": The Nollywood star system in Nigerian and beyond. In: Bandhauer, A. and Royer, M. (eds.) Stars in World Cinema: Screen Icons and Star Systems Across Cultures. Series: Tauris world cinema. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9781780769776

Bisschoff, L. (2014) Women's stories and struggles in "These Hands" (Flora M'mbugu-Schelling). In: Bisschoff, L. and Murphy, D. (eds.) Africa's Lost Classics: New Histories of African Cinema. Legenda: Oxford. ISBN 9781907975516

Bisschoff, L. and Murphy, D. (2014) Introduction: revising the classics: opening up the archives of African cinema. In: Bisschoff, L. and Murphy, D. (eds.) Africa's Lost Classics: New Histories of African Cinema. Series: Moving image (5). Legenda and Maney Publishing. ISBN 9781907975516

Fletcher, M. and Bisschoff, L. (2014) African sport in the global arena: contemporary approaches and analyses. Critical African Studies, 6(2-3), pp. 123-133. (doi:10.1080/21681392.2014.957923)

2013

Bisschoff, L. and Van der Peer, S. (Eds.) (2013) Art and Trauma in Africa: Representations of Reconciliation in Music, Visual Arts, Literature and Film. Series: International library of cultural studies. I.B. Tauris: London. ISBN 9781848856929

Bisschoff, L. (2013) African history through the arts: editorial introduction. Critical African Studies, 5(2), pp. 61-66. (doi:10.1080/21681392.2013.821376)

Bisschoff, L. (2013) Representing Africa in Europe: programming the Africa in Motion Film Festival. Research in African Literatures, 44(2), pp. 142-162. (doi:10.2979/reseafrilite.44.2.142)

2012

Bisschoff, L. (2012) Reconciling the African nation: Fanta Regina Nacro’s La Nuit de la Vérité. In: Bisschoff, L. and Van De Peer, S. (eds.) Art and Trauma in Africa: Representations of Reconciliation in Music, Visual Arts, Literature and Film. Series: International Library of Cultural Studies, 21. I.B. Tauris, pp. 213-230. ISBN 9781848856929

Bisschoff, L. and Van de Peer, S. (2012) Representing the unrepresentable. In: Bisschoff, L. and Van de Peer, S. (eds.) Art and Trauma in Africa: Representations of Reconciliation in Music, Visual Arts, Literature and Film. Series: International Library of Cultural Studies. IB Tauris: London, pp. 3-25. ISBN 9781848856929

Bisschoff, L. (2012) The emergence of women’s filmmaking in sub-Saharan Africa: From pioneering figures to contemporary directors. Journal of African Cinemas, 4(2), pp. 157-173. (doi:10.1386/jac.4.2.157_1)

Bisschoff, L. and Moura Mendes, I. (2012) Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival 2011: Children and Youth in Africa [Review]. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 24(1), pp. 107-112. (doi:10.1080/13696815.2012.676318)

Bisschoff, L. and Overbergh, A. (2012) Digital as the new popular in African cinema? Case studies from the continent. Research in African literatures, 43(4), pp. 112-127.

2010

Bisschoff, L. (2010) Visions of Female Emancipation: Three recent films from West Africa. Journal of African Cinemas, 2(1), pp. 37-48. (doi:10.1386/jac.2.1.37_1)

2009

Bisschoff, L. (2009) Sub-Saharan African cinema in the context of FESPACO: close-ups on francophone West Africa and anglophone South Africa. Forum for Modern Language Studies, 45(4), pp. 441-454. (doi:10.1093/fmls/cqp116)

2007

Bisschoff, L. (2007) Framing diversity in the new South Africa: The Project 10 documentary series. In: Baker, C. and Norridge, Z. (eds.) Crossing Places: New Research in African Studies. Cambridge Scholars Press: Newcastle, UK. ISBN 9781847180964

Bisschoff, L. and Murphy, D. (2007) Africa’s Lost Classics: Introduction. Screen, 48(4), pp. 493-499. (doi:10.1093/screen/hjm050)

This list was generated on Sun Apr 21 18:56:55 2019 BST.