I am delighted to confirm that Dr Michael Cowan will be joining the Department of
Film Studies at the University of St Andrews as a Reader in Film Studies from January 2015.
Focusing on German and European cinemas, Dr Cowan’s work examines
the intersections between film, cultural history, visual culture and media history. Particular interests include film and the body, the historical avant-garde, non-theatrical and useful cinema, film and media technologies, visual culture and graphic design.
His latest book, Walter Ruttmann and the Cinema of Multiplicity, examines Ruttmann as a pivotal – if controversial – representative of the imbrications between early experimental cinema and “applied” film forms such as advertising, industrial and medical
films. He received his training in German, French and film studies at the University of California Berkeley. Before coming to St Andrews, Dr Cowan taught at the University of Virginia and McGill University.
Professor Robert Burgoyne
Chair in Film Studies
University of St. Andrews