Phoebe Anson

Thesis Title: Dreams, Reality, ‘Surreality’: Reigniting the Surrealist Flame in Contemporary World Cinema.

My PhD is focused around examining Surrealist aesthetics and tendencies in contemporary world cinema. My project consists of researching both the historical precedent of the European movement, such as the films of Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, and René Magritte, and also examining contemporary, independent filmmakers from different nations whose films include stylistic similarities. The contemporary filmmakers I am focusing on are Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Sandra Wollner, Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña, and Maya Deren. In researching filmmakers from both within and outside of Europe, I am looking to see the impact of surrealism on different (national) cinemas and how the movement is being brought into the 21st century. Alongside this, my research interests also include horror film, realist cinema and documentary, creative writing poetry, contemporary and mid-century modern literature, as well as examining representations of mental illness both on the screen and in text.