Professor Geoffrey King
Honorary Professor

Teaching

I teach on a number of modules across the film programmes. The module closest to my research interests is FM3015: American Independent Cinema, which I lead and teach entirely. This is focused around a close examination of the industrial, formal and socio-cultural dimensions of American indie film, a topic on which I have published several books. 

I lead the level 1 module FM1619: Technology, Industry and Form, teaching weeks on early cinema, the movement towards the classical style, the coming of sound and Hollywood from the classial system to the corporate era today. Also weeks on spectacle and narrative in Hollywood blockbusters, widescreen and 3D technologies, home and mobile film viewing, low-budget digital production and Nollywood. 

At level 2, I lead FM2625: World Cinemas and the shorter version, FM2621: Introduction to World Cinemas. On the modules I teach sessions introducing dimensions and definitions of world cinema; global Hollywood art cinema; meaning-making in Hollywood cinema including issues of cultural imperialism/cultural exchange; the Hollywood Renaissance; Chinese independent cinema; the Greek 'weird' wave and cinema of discomfort; and crime films from Argentina.

I also lead the level 2 FM2623: Film and TV Genres, teaching sessions on genre theory, science fiction, crime and comedian comedy. On the level 2 module FM2606: Understanding the Film and TV Industries, I teach sessions including one on marketing and distribution in Hollywood and in the art/indie film sectors.

Activities:

Books

The Cinema of Discomfort: Disconcerting, Awkward and Uncomfortable Experiences in Contemporary Art and Indie Film, New York: Bloomsbury, 2022

Positioning Art Cinema: Film and Cultural Value, I.B. Tauris, 2019

Quality Hollywood: Markers of Distinction in Contemporary Studio Film, I.B. Tauris, 2016

Indie 2.0: Continuity and Change in Contemporary American Indie Film, I.B.Tauris & Co, 2014

Lost in Translation, American Indies series, Edinburgh University Press, 2010

Indiewood, USA: Where Hollywood Meets Independent Cinema, London: I.B. Tauris, 2009

Donnie Darko, ‘Cultographies’ series, London: Wallflower Press, 2007

American Independent Cinema, London: I.B. Tauris & Co/Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005, pp 294. Also translated into Italian, Einaudi, 2006.

New Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction, London: I.B. Tauris & Co./New York: Columbia University Press, 2002, pp 296, reprinted 2005. Also translated into Italian, Einaudi, 2004.

Film Comedy, London: Wallflower Press,  2002

Spectacular Narratives: Hollywood in the Age of the Blockbuster, London: I.B. Tauris & Co./New York: St Martin’s Press,  2000

Mapping Reality: An Exploration of Cultural Cartographies, Basingstoke: Macmillan Press/New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996

Co-authored: Tomb Raiders and Space Invaders: Videogame Forms and Contexts, co-authored with Tanya Krzywinska, London: I.B. Tauris, 2005

Science Fiction Cinema: From Outerspace to Cyberspace, co-authored with Tanya Krzywinska, London: Wallflower Press,  2000

Editor of collection:

The Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond, editor, contributor of introduction and chapter, Bristol: Intellect Press, 2005

ScreenPlay: Cinema/Videogames/Interfaces, co-editor with Tanya Krzywinska, co-author of introduction, author of chapter, London: Wallflower Press, 2002