About
Russ Hunter is a Senior Lecturer in Film & Television Studies in the Department of Arts at Northumbria University and works closely with a number of European film festivals. His work focuses upon two main research areas: film festivals and genre film (particularly Italian genre cinema). He has have given talks at a wide variety of international film festivals to both general audiences and to filmmakers, including Babel Film Festival (Cagliari, Italy), The European Minority Film Festival (Husum, Germany) and Sunderland Shorts Film Festival (Sunderland, UK). Russ is currently working with a number of European genre film festivals, such as Offscreen Film Festival (Brussels, Belgium), Kurja Polt Genre Film Festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Abertoir Horror Festival (Wales, UK), where he organises a variety of educational initiatives.
Russ recently co-edited Italian Horror Cinema with Dr Stefano Baschiera (Queens University Belfast) and is currently writing a book on Italian giallo and horror director Dario Argento. His scholarship has appeared in journals such as Studies in European Cinema, Film Studies, The Italianist and The Journal Italian of Cinema and Media Studies, as well as in books such as International Film Festivals: Contemporary Cultures and History Beyond Venice and Cannes (2018), Italian Horror Cinema (2016), Screening the Undead: Vampires and Zombies in Film & Television (2013) and European Horror since 1945 (2012).
He is a recognised expert on both film festivals and genre cinema and has provided analysis for numerous media outlets. In this respect, he has been interviewed for a variety of sources such as BUZZ (Brussels), Radio Študent (Slovenia) and Radiotelevizija Slovenija (Slovenia), as well as appearing on documentaries, such as: ‘Fascism on a thread: The strange story of Nazisploitation films’ for the American Severin release of Luigi Batzella’s The Beast in Heat (1977) and ‘The Prince of Plasma: The Gianetto de Rossi story’, a retrospective on Italian SFX/make-up maestro Gianetto De Rossi for the German Turbine release of Rob Cohen’s Daylight (1996) and the USA release of Killer Crocodile for Severin.
Russ has written for a number of popular film publications including When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, This is Cinema, 101 Cult Films, 101 Action Films, 101 Horror Films, 101 War Films, 101 Science Fiction films, 501 Movie Stars and 501 Movie Directors.
Russ Hunter is a Senior Lecturer in Film & Television Studies in the Department of Arts at Northumbria University and works closely with a number of European film festivals. His work focuses upon two main research areas: film festivals and genre film (particularly Italian genre cinema). He has have given talks at a wide variety of international film festivals to both general audiences and to filmmakers, including Babel Film Festival (Cagliari, Italy), The European Minority Film Festival (Husum, Germany) and Sunderland Shorts Film Festival (Sunderland, UK). Russ is currently working with a number of European genre film festivals, such as Offscreen Film Festival (Brussels, Belgium), Kurja Polt Genre Film Festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Abertoir Horror Festival (Wales, UK), where he organises a variety of educational initiatives.
Russ recently co-edited Italian Horror Cinema with Dr Stefano Baschiera (Queens University Belfast) and is currently writing a book on Italian giallo and horror director Dario Argento. His scholarship has appeared in journals such as Studies in European Cinema, Film Studies, The Italianist and The Journal Italian of Cinema and Media Studies, as well as in books such as International Film Festivals: Contemporary Cultures and History Beyond Venice and Cannes (2018), Italian Horror Cinema (2016), Screening the Undead: Vampires and Zombies in Film & Television (2013) and European Horror since 1945 (2012).
He is a recognised expert on both film festivals and genre cinema and has provided analysis for numerous media outlets. In this respect, he has been interviewed for a variety of sources such as BUZZ (Brussels), Radio Študent (Slovenia) and Radiotelevizija Slovenija (Slovenia), as well as appearing on documentaries, such as: ‘Fascism on a thread: The strange story of Nazisploitation films’ for the American Severin release of Luigi Batzella’s The Beast in Heat (1977) and ‘The Prince of Plasma: The Gianetto de Rossi story’, a retrospective on Italian SFX/make-up maestro Gianetto De Rossi for the German Turbine release of Rob Cohen’s Daylight (1996) and the USA release of Killer Crocodile for Severin.
Russ has written for a number of popular film publications including When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, This is Cinema, 101 Cult Films, 101 Action Films, 101 Horror Films, 101 War Films, 101 Science Fiction films, 501 Movie Stars and 501 Movie Directors.
Qualifications
PhD in Film Studies (Aberystwyth University) MA in Audience and Reception Studies (Aberystwyth University) MA in Latin American Politics & Government (Essex University) BA (hons) in Government (Essex University) |
Professional Affiliations
Russ is a member of the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS) |
Employment
Having previously worked as an Operations Manager in central London, Russ started his current role at Northumbria University in 2010. Russ previously taught as tutor in Film at Aberystwyth University from 2006 -2009. |
Institutional Roles
Russ has previously served as Programme Leader for both the Mass Communications suite of programmes and for Film & TV Studies degree. He is currently leading an Impact Case Study for REF2021 'Transforming Genre Film Festivals and Film Culture in Slovenia through research informed educational initiatives' |
PhD Supervision
Russ is currently supervising a PhD on the Alternative Movie Poster phenomenon and its cultural and socioeconomic inpact. He has previously supervised students to completion on Italian movie vampires and their cultural significance, intermediality in American indepdendent cinema and alternative histories of British horror cinema. Russ welcomes PhD applications in the areas of film festival studies, european genre cinema and environmental cinema. |
Modules Taught
Russ has taught a number of undergradute and postgraduate modules during his time at Northumbria. He currently teaches:
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Public Engagement
Russ works closely with several European genre film festivals and has organised the following festival-based educational events in recent years: ‘Death on Film: International conference’, Offscreen Film Festival (Cinema Nova, Brussels, 23rd March 2019) ‘Video games and film: Internation conference’, Offscreen Film Festival (Cinema Nova, Brussels, 16th March 2019) ‘Contamination, ruination and damnation! Cult cinema and the nation’, Kurja Polt Genre Film Festival (Kindovor, Ljubljana, April 20th 2018) ‘The land of imitation? The curious case of Italian genre cinema’, Offscreen Film Festival (Cinema Nova, Brussels, 17th March 2018) ‘Trash of Treasure? The Politics of Genre Cinema’, Kurja Polt Genre Film Festival (Kindovor, Ljubljana, April 21st 2017) ‘42nd Street forever’ Offscreen Film Festival (Cinema Nova, Brussels, 12th March 2016) ‘1980s Action cinema and Reganite politics’, Offscreen Film Festival (Cinema Nova, Brussels, 20th March 2015) ‘Divine Trash: International Conference on Camp and Trash Cinema’, Offscreen Film Festival (Cinema RITS, Brussels, 8th March 2013) Russ has also given talks and taken part in industry panels at Sunderland Shorts Film Festival (2019), The European Minority Film Festival (2018) and Babel Film Festival (2016) He has recently appeared on a number of DVD special feature documentaries relating to European genre cinema. |
Conferences & Talks
Conference presentations Russ has given include: ‘Horrifically local: European funding initiatives’, European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (Milan) ‘Mostruoso! Italy’s silent horror’, Italian Horror Cinema: An International Conference (University of Bedford) ‘Breast foot forward: the career of Russ Meyer’, Divine Trash: International Conference on Camp and Trash Cinema (Cinema RITS, Brussels) ‘I had convulsions for three days’: Critical realism and the Italian film reception of Dario Argento, European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (Lisbon) |
Recent Publications
Hunter, Russ, ‘Cult film festivals’ in The Companion to Cult Cinema, Mathijs in Ernest and Jamie Sexton, Routledge (2019, forthcoming) Hunter, Russ, ‘Genre Film Festivals and Rethinking the Definition of “The Festival Film’ in International Film Festivals: Contemporary Cultures and History Beyond Venice and Cannes, Tricia Jenkins (ed), I.B.Tauris (2018), pp.90-105 Hunter, Russ, ‘Morasta mesta. Italijanski film okoljski diskurzi’, Kino!, Volume 36 (2018) , pp.144-158 Hunter, Russ, ‘I have a picture of the Monster!’: Il mostro di Frankenstein and the search for Italian horror cinema, Journal Italian of Cinema and Media Studies, Volume 5, Number 2, March 2017, pp. 159-172(14), (2017) Hunter, Russ, ‘Luxembourg calling: regional funding initiatives and the European horror film’, Film Studies, Issue 15, Autumn (2016) Hunter, Russ and Stefano Baschiera (eds), Italian Horror Cinema, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2016) |
Peer Review
Russ has acted as a peer reviewer for both proposals and completed manuscripts a variety of publishers, such Edinburgh University Press, Peter Lang and Wallflower Press. He has also reviewed journal articles for a number of film and media journals, including: Adaptation; The Journal of Popular Television; Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies and Screen. |