Gwenda Young

I hold an MA and PhD in Film Studies from University College Dublin. My research interests lie primarily in American cinema, particularly classic Hollywood cinema; auteur studies; silent cinema (especially 1920s); film history; the horror genre; and animals in film and media. I completed an MA thesis on the films of David Cronenberg; and a PhD on the films of Jacques Tourneur. My research publications have mainly been in the area of American cinema, in peer-reviewed journals, books collections and my monograph on Clarence Brown (2018 UP of Kentucky). I have also published on amateur filmmaking (co-edited an edited collection, contributing an article; as well as being a AI on an IRC project on Irish amateur cinema). In addition, I have a publishing, teaching and supervising interest in nonhuman animals on screen. Many of my research projects are concerned with outreach activities, bringing research to the community. I collaborate with colleague Dan O'Connell on a Creative Ireland/Cork county council funded project on cinema-going memories, which so far (2025) has yielded a 4min-documentary film that has screened internationally, a multimedia open-access archive that is being continually updated, as well as numerous community outreach initiatives such as a major exhibition at Cork Library, Grand Parade (Feb/March 2020); roadshow events and screenings; movie memory days; radio and print coverage. The project won a CACSSS Research impact award: https://www.ucc.ie/en/cacsss/research/researchimpact/moviememories/ My monograph on Clarence Brown, published in 2018 (hardback) and 2023 (paperback) has won international acclaim and positive reviews in publications including The Wall Street Journal; Sight and Sound; DGA newsletter. It has also led to many international appearances as a k

My post-doctoral research has been centred on three broad areas: classical Hollywood cinema, silent cinema, and ethnicity in American cinema. I have conducted very extensive research on the career and life of American film director, Clarence Brown, whose career spanned the period 1915-1953. This research has incorporated significant archival research in a variety of collections in the US and also in London, including British Film Institute; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; UCLA Film Archive; USC MGM archive; Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences' archive/Margaret Herrick Library; David O.Selznick Collection at University of Texas at Austin; Clarence Brown archive at University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Film Study Center at MoMA, New York. My book was published in 2018 by the University of Kentucky press and is the first full length monograph on the career of a key American director (see https://www.amazon.com/Clarence-Brown-Hollywoods-Forgotten-Classics-ebook/dp/B07CVPH4T5/ref=sr_1_1?i...) I have already published articles on Brown in Sight and Sound, and The Journal of East Tennessee History and Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. Additionally, I co-curated, with film historian Kevin Brownlow, a retrospective on Brown for the National Film Theatre/BFI in London in April/May 2003. I also wrote programme notes for the retrospective, which were published by NFT/BFI. I have acted as a consultant for a long article on Brown by Jack Neely, which was published in Metropulse, Knoxville, Tennessee in March 2008. This article featured extensive quotes from me about my work on Brown and on his critical reputation. I recently completed a short documentary, written, pr

I was responsible for introducing film studies module into the School of English undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.I currently teach (and coordinate) EN2036 American Cinema/Genre; EN3037 with Dr Barry Monahan; FX1003 Early Cinema. In the past, I have taught a diverse ranges of seminars on such topics as: Encounters with the American West and Frontier in Film and Literature (UG module); "Projecting New York" (UG module); "Canadian Cinema" (UG module). At MA level, I coordinated and contributed for a number of years to the School of English's MA in American Literature and Film. With colleagues, I also established, taught and supervised on the interdepartmental MA in Film Studies (2005-2015), and redeveloped the MA in Film and Screen Media. Modules taught at PG level include: "Advanced Film Analysis and Theory"; "American Cinema after 1960"; and (from 2016): "Film Industries and Cultures" (my strand is one on nonhuman animals on screen). I served as co-Head of the Discipline of Film and Screen Media at University College Cork and with my colleague, Dott. Laura Rascaroli, served as head of discipline, and developed the BA in Film and Screen Media, which launched in September 2013. This is a three year major programme with a separate CAO entry. In 2015 the Discipline launched an MRes in Film and Screen Media, and also a PhD in Film (Creative Practice). In 2016 the Discipline launched an MA in Film and Screen Media.