Research Areas

Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies logo


Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies offers three strongly interconnected areas of focus—studies, production, and curation/programming.  The curriculum is designed to stimulate inventive dialogue in ways that ensure their respective influence, and open access to multiple disciplinary formations, primarily based in arts, humanities and creative practice methods and theories. This collaborative tripartite structure is not offered in any other film, media, cinema, art or communication Master’s or PhD program in Ontario.


Feminist, Critical Race, Indigenous and LGBTQ2+ Screen Cultures

Film, Media and Screen Cultures are examined from Feminist, Critical Race, Indigenous and LGBTQ2+ perspectives, often using intersectional approaches. We study the politics of representation in media and cultural texts, acknowledging the historical formations, responses and critiques of mainstream culture, as well as independent production and self-representation.

Faculty members: Ali Na; Emily Pelstring, Dan Vena; Karine Bertrand; Keren Zaiontz; Tamara de Szegheo Lang; Susan Lord; Dorit Naaman, Jennifer Hosek; Kip Pegley


National Cinemas, Cultural Institutions and Curatorial Events

A critical focus on national cinemas and institutional funding and distribution structures, from national funding agencies, film festivals, art galleries and national competitions. We have experts in the cinemas and media cultures of Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Germany, Israel, Italy, Korea, Palestine, Quebec, as well as expertise in regional cinemas and media more broadly.

Faculty membersGabriel Menotti; Susan Lord; Jennifer Hosek; Scott MacKenzie; Karine Bertrand; Blaine Allen, Frank Burke; Dorit Naaman; Ali Na; Dan Vena; Alicia Boutlier; Ian Robinson, Kip Pegley


Moving Image Production (Narrative, Documentary, Experimental, Animation, Open Media)

We approach production of media from within a Research-Creation framework, producing creative work in tandem with intellectual/critical writing. Our focus is on producing artwork that expands the range of generic conventions, pushes open new perspectives, and offer multi-and cross-media experiences when appropriate.    

Faculty members: Gary Kibbins, Adonay Guerrero Cortes, Matt Rogalsky, Emily Pelstring, Sunny Kerr, Dorit Naaman, Gabriel Menotti


Curatorial Studies

Curatorial studies is embryonic as a discipline, given curating’s brief history as a vocation and set of methods and practices. We approach "the curatorial" as a mediator of art’s public dimension and explore it as a tool of cultural agency. Research involves both project-based experimentation and analyzing diverse perspectives toward the critical examination of curating in the material and virtual spaces it activates.

Faculty members: Sunny Kerr, Alicia Boutilier, Gabriel Menotti, Tamara de Szegheo Lang


Film, Media and Performance Studies

We approach performance, media, and film from myriad perspectives. Scholarship, creation, and/or curation may include: live performance with technology, performance as approach to film and/or media, performativity of self through media, the performance of media and/or technology, theatre and media/film/technology, media installation as performance, performances as representation in media, and documenting performance.

Faculty membersAli Na, Keren Zaiontz, Emily Pelstring, Ian Robinson, Gabriel Menotti, Matt Rogalsky


Archives, Curation and Remediation

We study the practices, material histories and politics of the preservation and digitization of film, video, audio and new media. We develop methods and processes to ensure media are preserved and made available according to culturally specific and ethically driven forms of access, thus engaging in new conversations about cultural heritage.  Curatorial and programming practices build access to media archives. We study “born digital media” alongside a variety of “obsolete” and “marginal” media, all of which share their own kinds of material histories and ecologies. We have expertise in community archives and artist-run-centres, Indigenous, women’s, Canadian and LGBTQ+ collections.

Faculty membersTamara de Szegheo Lang; Susan Lord, Gabriel Menotti, Blaine Allen


Historical and Contemporary Film and Media

The study of different modes of expression across the history of cinema and other technical media, attentive to their underlying social, economic, political, and material conditions. Encompass pre-modern forms and practices, stretching far back into the “deep time” of media, as well as the new ones emerging within computational and networked communication systems.

Faculty members: Scott MacKenzie; Gabriel Menotti; Jennifer Hosek; Ian Robinson; Frank Burke; Dan Vena; Tamara de Szegheo Lang, Blaine Allen, Kip Pegley, Karine Bertrand, Dorit Naaman, Susan Lord, Ali Na, Keren Zaiontz


Experimental Media

The study of film, television and new media, as it pertains to, and engages with, the environments we live in, as well as issues of global environmental concerns. We are guided by Indigenous cosmologies, and decolonial approaches to environmental issues in Canada specifically. We also have faculty members who are creative practitioners in environmental media.

Faculty members: Scott MacKenzieMatt Rogalsky, Dorit Naaman, Jennifer Norton.