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Jeffrey Middents Associate Professor Literature

Degrees
PhD, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan

MA, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan

BA, English and Psychology, Dartmouth College

Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Bio
Jeffrey Romero Middents studies and teaches film and world literature at American University in Washington, DC, specifically focusing on Latin American narratives from the 1960s to the present. His screen-oriented courses cover a wide range of concepts, including national cinemas, genre, the auteur, stardom, film criticism, Netflix, and short films. His book, Writing National Cinema: Film Journals and Film Culture in Peru (UPNE, 2009) investigates the historical place of cultural writing within a national discourse by tracing how Peruvian cinema was shaped by local film criticism. Professor Middents has also published essays – in print and video versions – on a variety of other topics, including documentary aesthetics in the work of Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzman, Peruvian director Luis Llosa’s films made under producer Roger Corman, the theoretical perspective espoused by Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days, the sense of place in contemporary Latin American cinema, movie stardom and “the indigenous” in the works of Dolores del Rio and Magaly Solier, the pedagogy of teaching “world cinema,” and the racial complexities of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is currently working on a monograph on transnational auteurism and the work of Alfonso Cuarón. On sabbatical leave AY 2023-24.
See Also
Literature Department
Academia.edu Profile
The Contemporary World Cinema Project
Vimeo profile (video essays)
Calendly: Click here for office hours appointments
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Fall 2024

  • LIT-250 Lit, Film & Globalization

  • LIT-446 Advanced Studies in Film: Auteur Study: Alfonso Cuaron

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Selected Publications

Books

Chapters in Collected Editions

  • “Con nariz (blanqui)roja: Peruvian Comedy, Marca Perú and Ricardo Maldonado’s ¡Asu Mare!” Peruvian Cinema in the 21st Century. Sarah Barrow and Cynthia Vich, eds. London: Palgrave, 2020. Spanish language translation by Isis Sadek, published in Cine peruano de inicios del siglo XXI: Dinamismo e incertidumbre, Lima: Editorial Universidad de Lima (Peru), 2021. 67-84.
  • “The Research and the Remix: Video Essays as Creative Criticism.” Writing about Screen Media. Lisa Patti, ed. London: Routledge, 2020.
  • "A Sweet Vamp: Critiquing the Treatment of Race in Buffy and the American Musical Once More (with Feeling)." In Buffy, Ballads and Bad Guys Who Sing: Music in the Worlds of Joss Whedon. Kendra Leonard, ed. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010.
  • "Roger Corman Dis/Covers Peru: National Cinema and Luis Llosa's Hour of the Assassin/Misión en los Andes." In Latsploitation, Exploitation Cinemas and Latin America. Victoria Ruetalo and Dolores Tierney, eds. London: Routledge, 2009. 55-69.
  • "Another Limeño Fantasy: Peruvian National Cinema and the Critical Reception of the Films of Francisco Lombardi and Federico García." In Representing the Rural: Space, Place and Identity in Films About the Land. Catherine Fowler and Gillian Helfield, eds. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2006. 307-322.
  • "Me moría: Aesthetics, Documentary and the Creation of Nostalgia in Patricio Guzmán's Chile, memoria obstinada." In Democracy in Chile: The Legacy of September 11, 1973. Silvia Nagy-Zakmi and Fernando Leiva, eds. Sussex: Sussex Academic Press, 2005. 185-191.
  •  

Journal Articles

Video Essays

  • "The National Auteur “Goes World”: Claudia Llosa and the Critical Responses to Aloft/No llores, vuela." TECMERIN, 2, July 2019. Refereed.
  • "Memories of C/Leo: On Auteurism and Roma." Mediático. December 24, 2018. Invited, part of special dossier on Roma. Cited as a "Best Video Essay of 2019."
  • “Birdman or, Fantasy Hopscotch, Not Played Very Often: Alejandro González Iñárritu and Julio Cortázar.” Mediático, September 18, 2017. Refereed.
  • “¿Por qué me miras así?: Magaly, Dolores and the Indigenous Icon.” [in]Transition Journal of Videographic Film and Moving Image Studies, 3.3,  March 20, 2016. Refereed.

 

 

Research Interests

  • Latin American Cinema
  • Transnational Cinema
  • Video essays/audiovisual criticism 
  • Short Films
  • Subtitles   
  • Auteur and star studies  
  • Television studies
  • Metafiction/Metafilm
  • 20th-21st Century world fiction

Professional Presentations

 

  • “My Mother Is Rita Moreno.” Video essay presentation accepted for the Celebrity Studies Journal Conference 2024, Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 1-3, 2024.
  • “Author, Spectator, Critic, Actor: On subjectivity.” Part of a roundtable entitled “Cinematic Thinking: Essay Film, Video Essay and the Presence of the Maker.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2024, Boston, MA, March 16, 2024.
  • “Being There: The Long Take and Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity.” In the Works: Making and Unmakings of the Video Essay. Lucerne School of Art and Design, Lucerne, Switzerland, November 3, 2023. Co-presented with Kerry Hegarty (Miami U of Ohio).
  • Co-chair and presenter in roundtable entitled “The Accented Voice in Digital Audiovisual Practices” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2023, Denver, CO, April 12, 2023.
  • “Mi sueño es representar la belleza de la mujer de mi estado: Framing Beauty in Latin American Cinema.” Theory and Practice of the Video Essay: An International Conference on Videographic Criticism, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, September 21-22, 2022.
  • “This Series Is Going to Fabuloso Itself: Television Comedy, the Foreign, and One Day at a Time.” Forthcoming for Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2022, Chicago, IL, March 31-April 1, 2022.
  • “Netflix and Xochitl: Transnational Streaming Distribution and Non-English ‘Prestige Content.’” Part of a panel entitled “Global Latin American Film and Media: New Intersections of Aesthetics, Production and Distribution in the 21st Century.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2019, Seattle, WA, March, 2019.
  • “The National Auteur ‘Goes World’: Claudia Llosa and Aloft.” Part of a panel entitled “Transactions and Translations of World Cinema: Videographic Approaches.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2018, Toronto, Canada, March 17, 2018.
  • “Mi sueño es representar a la belleza de la mujer de mi estado: Framing Beauty in Latin American Cinema.” Encrucijadas 2017: The Digital Turn. Princeton, NJ, November 10, 2017.
  • “Ciudadano Cuarón: Transnational Auteurism and Mexican Cinema.” Part of a panel entitled “New Approaches to Transnational Mexican Cinema,” Latin American Studies Association 2017, Lima, Perú, April 30, 2017.
  • Presenter on workshop entitled “Latin American Film Studies and Digital Humanities,” Latin American Studies Association 2017, Lima, Perú, May 1, 2017.
  •  “‘My dream is to represent the beauty of the women from my State’: Latin American vs. World Cinema.” Part of a panel titled “Global Latin American Cinema: Politics, Aesthetics and Ethics,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2016, Atlanta, GA. April 1, 2016
  • “Out of One, Many: First-Year Student Research and The Contemporary World Cinema Project.” Part of a workshop titled “Video Essays in Transnational Cinema Studies,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2016, Atlanta, GA. March 31, 2016.
  • “Mi sueño es representar la belleza de mi estado: Latin American vs. World Cinema.” Part of a panel entitled “Globalization and Latin American Film: Politics, Aesthetics and Ethics,” Latin American Studies Association, San Juán, Puerto Rico, May 27-30, 2015.
  •  “Reading Between the Subtitles.” Part of a panel entitled “On Subtitles,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2015, Montréal, Canada, March 25-29, 2015.
  •  “The Movies That Become ‘World Cinema’ (And the Movies That Don’t).” Part of a panel entitled “World Cinema” organized by Dudley Andrew, ACL(x): Examine, Penn State University, September 28, 2013.
  • “Permanent Residents?: Contemporary Hollywood and the International Auteur.” Part of a panel entitled “Locating Transnational Hollywood,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2013, Chicago, IL, March 7, 2013.
  •  “Alfonso Cuarón as the Prisoner of Mex-kaban: The Transnational Auteur Meets the Franchise Film.” Part of a panel entitled “Styles of Global Authorship,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2012, Boston, MA, March 23, 2012.
  • “Y tu Thundercat también: Glocalization, National Cinema and Alfonso Cuarón.” Part of panel entitled “The Im/Possibility of National Cinema,” American Comparative Literature Association 2010, New Orleans, LA. April 2-5, 2010.
  • "In Lima, Like You: Confronting Peruvian National Cinema with Claudia Llosa's Madeinusa." Part of a panel entitled "What Remains: Contemporary Latin American Cinema," American Comparative Literature Association 2009. Cambridge, MA. March 26-29, 2009. Also proposed, organized and co-chaired panel (with Silvia Spitta).
  • "Ibermediating National Cinemas." Part of a panel entitled "Programa Ibermedia and Contemporary Latin American Cinema," Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2008. Philadelphia, PA. March 8, 2008. Also proposed, organized and chaired panel.
  • "Hablemos de cine(filia) peruana: Film Journals and National Cinema in Peru, Then and Now." Part of panel entitled "Trans/National Cinephilias," American Comparative Literature Association 2007. Puebla, Mexico. April 22, 2007.
  • "It's Not Easy Being Brown: Rita, Lena and The Muppet Show." Part of a panel entitled "Race on Television." Society of Cinema and Media Studies 2007. Chicago, IL. March 9, 2007.
  • "Babes in the Amazon, Ponch in the Andes: Roger Corman and Peruvian Cinema." Part of a panel entitled "Hollywood Business Practices and Latin American Cinema" at Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2006. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, March 4, 2006. Also proposed, organized and chaired panel.
  • "Peru Vs. the New Latin American Cinema: Hablemos de cine and the Viña del Mar Film Festivals of 1967 and 1969." Part of a panel entitled "Beyond La boca del lobo: Peruvian Cinema, Past, Present and Future" at Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2005. London, England, April 3, 2005. Also proposed, organized and chaired panel.
  • "Hablemos de Minnelli: A Peruvian Look at Some Came Running." Part of panel entitled "Hollywood por otros ojos: Film Spectatorship in Post-Revolutionary Mexico, Pre-Revolutionary Cuba and 1960s Peru" for ASA (American Studies Association) 2004, Atlanta, GA, November 12, 2004.
  • "A Sweet Vamp: Critiquing the Treatment of Race in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the American Musical Once More (with Feeling)." The Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Nashville, TN, May 28, 2004. Nominated for "Mr. Pointy" Award for Best Conference Paper.
  • "'Me moría': Aesthetics, Documentary and the Creation of Nostalgia in Patricio Guzmán's Chile, Obstinate Memory. "Thirty Years After Chile's 9/11", SUNY-Albany, October 10, 2003.
  • "Teaching Cinephilia." Society for Cinema Studies 2003, Minneapolis, MN. March 9, 2003.
  • "Este país es una basura: Cultural Politics and the Adaptation of Mario Vargas Llosa's La ciudad y los perros." Literature/Film Association Conference 2002. Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, November 18, 2002.
  • "The Enigma of The Hire (www.bmwfilms.com)." Society for Cinema Studies 2002. Denver, CO, May 24, 2002.

Work In Progress

  • Monograph: The Cinema of Alfonso Cuarón: Transnational, Auteur
  • Essay: "In Lima, Just Like You: Mapping a Response to Peruvian Cinema with Claudia Llosa's Madeinusa"
  • Essay: "Without an image, there is no story:The Indigenous and Transnational aesthetics in Latin American Cinema" (with Núria Vilanova)
  • Video essays on framing women in Latin American cinema, voiceover, spectatorship, subjectivity, and auteurism

AU Experts

Area of Expertise

Cinema, Latin American cinema, film journals, film genres, auteurs/directors, short films

Additional Information

Jeffrey Middents studies and teaches film and world literature, specifically focusing on Latin American narratives from the 1960s to the 1980s, and serves as the advisor to the cinema studies minor. His film-oriented courses cover a wide range of concepts, including national cinemas, genre, the auteur, stardom, film criticism, and short film. His book, Writing National Cinema: Film Journals and Film Culture in Peru (UPNE, 2009), investigates the historical place of cultural writing within a national discourse by tracing how Peruvian cinema was shaped by local film criticism. Middents has also published essays on a variety of other topics, including documentary aesthetics in the work of Chilean filmmaker Particio Guzmán, Peruvian director Luis Llosa’s films made under producer Roger Corman, the theoretical perspective espoused by Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days, and the racial complexities of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His current project examines transnational cinema and the work of Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón.

For the Media

To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

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