Research News and Events

Victoria won The Pixelogic Media Director Award, which was presented by Stacey Dooley. This award recognises outstanding achievement by a woman director in film, TV or digital media across entertainment, comedy or drama within the last two years.

The Women in Film & Television Awards event honoured women across 14 categories including directing, writing, producing, performance, business and contribution to the medium.

Professor Mapplebeck, from the Department of Media Arts at Royal Holloway said: “I was delighted to receive the Women in Film & Television Awards Director’s award.

“In 2023, 83% of the top 250 films had no women directors. I’m honoured to be part of an organisation who have been so transformative in promoting gender equality and showcasing female talent.

“To see so many other talented women directors, producers, designers, writers and presenters celebrated on Friday made for an amazing day.”

CEO Katie Bailiff at Women in Film & Television Awards said: “We're celebrating the unstoppable force that is women in film and television. Our vision as a thriving, creative, inclusive industry where women are supported, empowered and celebrated at every level.

“We've come a long way, but there are still clearly doors that need to be opened and ceilings that need to be smashed, as we continue to fight for equal representation both off and on screen.

“This has been one of the industry's toughest ever years. With all the creativity, resilience, and brilliance the women in our industry are defined by, we pull it off. Because we always do.”

This incredible win follows Victoria’s success after her film Motherboard was premiered in the UK during the BFI London Film Festival.

Professor Daniela Berghahn’s latest monograph Exotic Cinema: Encounters with Cultural Difference in Contemporary Transnational Film (Edinburgh University Press) has won the Janovics Center Award for Outstanding Humanities Research in Transnational Film and Theatre.

Here’s what the international jury says about her book, which was selected as the Best Book of 2023:
The Jury commends the monograph as an outstanding example of transnational film studies research, which analyzes many films from various continents and regions of the globe. Berghahn's meticulous scholarship, comprehensive writing, and well-constructed argument are praised for decentering concepts such as the exotic and exoticism, inviting readers to rethink them. The book moves away from the received wisdom of exoticism, too often coupled with orientalism and colonial power, and offers an original and insightful look at what the notion means today. With a profound understanding of the literature in her field, Berghahn offers a courageous critical reassessment of the aesthetic strategies and cultural value of exoticism against competing concepts describing cross-cultural encounters, such as orientalism, colonialism, primitivism, imperialism, and cultural appropriation. Her case studies are meticulously discussed and offer a multifaceted picture not just of individual films but also of their production context and reception.

Berghahn has also been invited to present her research at an international Awards Colloquium at the Janovics Center (Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca) in May 2024.

In addition, she was also presented with the ‘Author of the Year 2024 in African Studies Award’ by the Centre for African Studies at Babeș-Bolyai University. Although African cinema does not feature prominently in Berghahn’s monograph, her innovative analysis of decentred exoticism in contemporary transnational and world cinema was commended as establishing a new paradigm that is just as pertinent to the study of African cinema.