Professor Robin Waugh’s Retirement Celebration

Department colleagues gathered on April 10, 2024 to congratulate and celebrate Professor Robin Waugh on his retirement.

For over two decades, Professor Robin Waugh has been a vital member of the Department of English and Film Studies. Since joining us in 2000, he has been a popular teacher of Medieval and Old English literature for graduate and undergraduate students, an important scholar and researcher who has published on Patience literature, Icelandic sagas, women in Medieval romances, etc. He has also served on various departmental committees, including our Curriculum Committee, our Liaison and Promotion committee, our Graduate Studies committee, Appointments committees, and others. In addition, he has taken on leadership roles and served as Chair of English and Film Studies, as well as Medieval Studies Program Coordinator. He has organized successful Medieval Day colloquia and Visiting Speaker events for the Medieval Studies Program which attracted a large number of students, staff and faculty.

One of Robin’s best qualities is his ability to stay calm and rational always maintaining a sense of humour even when there are moments of agitation amongst us. We always appreciate his willingness to help us out where needed, to remain flexible to the changing needs of the department and students. He is one of the few professors who can make a subject sound sexy and attractive, inventing, for examples titles like “Dangerous Medieval Sexualities” and “Medieval Poetry of the Fantastic” for his courses on Middle English literature. 

As a scholar, Robin Waugh has a highly respectable record, with a monograph, two edited volumes, four chapters in books, 18 refereed articles and numerous conference papers. He has represented our university nobly at international congresses of Medieval Studies, at the Modern language Association, at conferences on Rhetoric, and Saga conferences.

We will miss his friendly presence in the hallways, his equanimity, his strong contributions to departmental committees, and his generosity to students and faculty alike. We wish him all the best in his retirement.

English and Film Studies Undergraduate Symposium

Organized by Professors Markus Poetzsch, Jenny Kerber, and Russell Kilbourn, this year’s symposium featured excellent presentations by English and Film Studies students. Students, faculty, friends, and families came out to listen to undergraduate research papers and creative work.

Dr. Sofie Lachapelle, Dean of Arts, opened the Symposium and talked about Undergraduate conferences that become key moments of nostalgia for the future.

“Gender, Sexuality, and the Art Film Director” (Chair: R. Kilbourn)

Margaux Klein, “Performing in the French New Wave: Breathless, Cleo From 5 to 7, and Portrayals of Gender”

Adam Pollard, “Bruce LaBruce, The Politics of Gay Sexuality, and its Life on Screen”

Taralynn Arsenault, “Romanticism, Nihilism, Art Film and Emotion: The Films of Tarsem Singh”

“Persistent Pasts, Alternative Futures: Environmental Cultures Now” (Chair: J. Kerber)

Veronica Specyal, “Plastic and Pollution in Adam Dickinson’s ‘Hail'”

Virginia Murphy, “Hair of the Dog in Kate Beaton’s Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands“

Hayley Stewart, “Gears and Peers: The Proper Pursuit of Pleasure”

“Creative Explorations: Writing Fiction and Creative Nonfiction” (Chair: M. Pirbhai)

Jasmine Hourahine, “That Wretched Moon”

Aneesha Laroia, “To Meet My Maker, To Take My Shot”

Gloria Her, “In the Middle”

Elysha Vorstenbosch, “The Gambler” 

“Justice Then and Now?” (Chair: K. Carter)

Dustin Orr, “The Complicity of Canadian Literary Institutions with Colonial Violence”

Lily Boughton, “Meaning-Making as Resilience: Queer Possibilities in Canadian literature and Canadian video games.” 

Grace Nunn, ‘The Inequity of Justice in Dickens’ ‘In Chancery’ and Hurston’s ‘The Conscience of the Court”

“Great (and Dashed) Expectations” (Chair: E. Ty)

Olivia Serratore, “The Comfort of Your Absence: Love & Indifference in Jeanette Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal?”

Kenedy Choma, “The Happiness Hoax in Y-Dang Troeung’s Landbridge”

(John) Alejandro Mansilla, “Constructing the American Dream: Media, Myth and Reality in Ruth Ozeki’s My Year of Meats”

Erin McOstrich, “Abjection in Jenny Wills’ Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related.”

“This Time With Feeling: Emotion in Film Cognition” (Chair: K. Spring)

Ayanfe Ayeni, “Unveiling Suspense: Exploring the Paradox of Suspense in Film Trailers”

Grace McKinnon, “Beyond Good and Bad: On Allegiance to Unsympathetic Characters in Film”

Isabella Trevisan, “The Affect of Nostalgia in Compilation Soundtracks”

“Film in Theory: Audience, Apparatus, and Identity” (Chair: S. Annett)

Lauren Miatello, “Audience Participation and the Rocky Horror Picture Show: Analyzing the Theatrical Spirit of Film Spectatorship” 

Haley Richards, “Epstein’s Close-Up Theory in Blade Runner” 

Parker Cuperus, “The Conflict of Individual Interiority: Kaufman and Postmodern Surrealism” 

Feminist Posthumanism in Contemporary Science Fiction Book Launch

On Wednesday January 17, 2024, the launch was held at the Robert Langen Gallery, in the WLU Library, for Feminist Posthumanism in Contemporary Science Fiction Film and Media: From Annihilation to High Life and Beyond. Co-edited by Julia Empey (a graduate of our program) and Russell Kilbourn, this collection was published by Bloomsbury in fall 2023. A good number of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, friends, and family turned out to enjoy tasty snacks and beverages (we had the best bar on campus), and listen to readings from and discussion of the book, surrounded by Adeyemi Adegbesan’s amazing digital art works.

Prof. Russell Kilbourn, Photography by Alexander Jacobi

Dr. Kilbourn welcomed everyone and introduced the book, followed by Julia with the land acknowledgment and an account of the book’s genesis out of an FSAG panel cancelled (with the whole of Congress) by the first wave of covid. If it hadn’t been for this initial disappointment, they might never have decided to send out another cfp for what became this edited collection on a whole new area of scholarly endeavour. The book features 13 chapters, all but two of which are written by women (including a chapter each by the co-editors).

Julia Empey, Photograph by Alexander Jacobi

One of the contributors, Sarah Best, is also a PhD candidate in Religion and Culture at Laurier. Sarah read an extract from her chapter—one of the book’s strongest—on two post-apocalytpic world-building video games: Abzû and Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Sarah Best, Photography by Alexander Jacobi

This event gave everyone a good sense of the book’s depth and diversity, and the ensuing discussion was rewarding for all.

Book Launch and Meet the Profs 2023

Russ Kilbourn, Chair of English and Film Studies, in conjunction with the English Students and Film Studies Students Associations, organized a book launch and Meet the Profs event held on October 18, 2023. The event was well attended, with convivial intellectual and social exchange.

Students introduced faculty members who talked about and read excerpts from their recent books.

Makayla Mallet introduced Professor Tamas Dobozy who launched  5 Mishaps (School Gallery, 2021) and Ghost Geographies: Fictions (New Star Books, 2021).

Alejandro Mansilla introduced Professor Richard Nemesvari who talked about why there was a need for Wilkie Collins in Context (co-ed. William Baker) (Cambridge University Press, 2023)

Mazada Eva introduced Professor  Mariam Pirbhai who read from  Garden Inventories: Reflections on Land, Place and Belonging (Wolsak & Wynn Publishers, 2023)

Deni Pivač  introduced Professors Philippa Gates and Katherine Spring who talked about the genesis of  Resetting the Scene: Classical Hollywood Revisited (Wayne State University Press, 2023)

Virginia Murphy introduced Professor Eleanor Ty who spoke about Beyond the Icon: Asian American Graphic Narratives (Ohio State University Press 2022)

Lauren Miatello introduced Professor Jing Jing Chang who talked about the essays inChinese Cinema: Identity, Power, and Globalization (co-eds. Jeff Kyong-McClain, Russell Meeuf) (Hong Kong University Press, 2022).

The evening ended pleasantly with informal conversations over light snacks. Some books were even sold, courtesy of Laurier Bookstore.

Convocation Fall 2023

Congratulations to all the graduates at Laurier’s Fall convocation.

Heather Alanna Olaveson, Doctor of Philosophy
Dissertation: “(Re)Mediating History in Canadian Auto/Biographic Long Poems Since 1970”
Supervisor: Dr. Tanis MacDonald

Master of Arts in English and Film Studies

Hallie Madison Elaine Acton
Tyra Forde
Alexander David Jacobi

Bachelor of Arts/ Honours Program

Jacob John Bonus, Film Studies
MacHenry James Gilmour, Film Studies
Evan Charles Hutton, English
Alexander Patricia Cecilia Martin, Film Studies
Grant Alexander McKenna Meger, English
Katey Colleen Valerie O’Connor, Film Studies
Alisha Sayal, English

Bachelor of Arts

Branden Steven Joseph Lounds, English
Nealie Riane Norris, English

FS Graduate Priscilla Galvez (’13) Wins Laurier’s Alumna of the Year Award!

Dr. Sandra Annett, Priscilla Galvez, and Dr. Katherine Spring at the Alumni Awards of Excellence ceremony, Sept. 20, 2023.

Film Studies alum Priscilla Galvez (’13) was the celebrated recipient of the prestigious Alumna of the Year Award at Laurier’s 2023 Alumni Awards of Excellence. The award recognizes outstanding achievement by a Laurier graduate and was granted to Priscilla at a ceremony that took place on September 20 in the Senate & Board Chambers.

Since graduating from Laurier with an exceptionally high GPA in her combined-honours degree of Film Studies and Communication Studies, Priscilla has ascended through the ranks of the Canadian film industry, having produced and/or directed films that have appeared on Netflix, Hulu, Crave, PBS, the CBC, the National Film Board of Canada, the Syfy Channel.

In 2021, she released the feature-length film Islands to critical acclaim. A coming-of-middle-age story about a Filipino-Canadian man, Islands was lauded by Variety magazine as “a lonely-heart drama as honest as it is touching” and earned multiple accolades, including the coveted Audience Choice Award at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and a Special Jury prize at SXSW.

A co-founder (with Jeff Pavlopolous) of Silent Tower Media, Priscilla has produced films that have played at TIFF, Slamdance, and SXSW, among other notable festivals. On September 18, 2023, Silent Tower’s film Motherland (dir. Jasmin Mozaffari) won the Best Canadian Film Award at TIFF’s Short Cuts Program.

Click here to read a feature interview with Priscilla and to learn more about her path from Laurier student to Canadian film producer.

We are extraordinarily proud of Priscilla’s many accomplishments, and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours!

Welcome MA and PhD students 2023!

We welcome nine students to our MA in English and Film Studies this school year. Two of them travelled from afar to join us.

John Lee Bannister

Jacob Bonus

Tiffani Crant

Brenda Montemayor Hernandez

Grant Morrison

Amritha Shiji Nair

Adam Tavares

Jared Wallis

John Wrublewskyj

Photos courtesy of Katherine Bell.

We also welcome two new PhD students.

Alexander Jacobi

Adrian Virgilio

We wish you every success!

Professor Eleanor Ty Receives Book Award

Professor Eleanor Ty’s Beyond the Icon: Asian American Graphic Narratives (Ohio State University Press, 2022) won the 2022 Prize for Edited Book Collection from the Comics Studies Society.

The prize was presented by the President of the society, Corey Creekmur (University of Iowa) at the annual conference of the Comics Studies Society held at the University of North Texas in July 2023.

The volume features work on historical, autobiographical graphic narratives as well as on superheroes.

Eleanor Ty was very honoured and pleased to receive this recognition for her work.

Congratulations, Class of 2023!

Spring Convocation: June 14, 2023

English and Film Studies Profs getting ready!
Profs. K. Bell, E. Ty, R. Nemesvari, S. Annett, K. Spring, R. Kilbourn

MA Graduating Class of spring 2023

Alexa Dupuis-Bissonnette
Melissa Emanoilidis
Linda Huemiller
Aruba Khurshid
Daelyn Newman
Tiffany Pellack
Oscar Tsilkas

Honours BA English

Honours BA in Film Studies

All good wishes to our graduates!

Photos and Story: Eleanor Ty

Film Studies Symposium 2023

The WLU Film Society held its annual Film Symposium on Friday, March 24,2023, in the spacious setting of room 1E1. Over the course of three hours, students presented a variety of works, including academic papers, short films, and other creative presentations, and participated in a Q&A and discussion after each presentation. The event was attended by Film Studies students and professors, all of whom enjoyed a casual but intellectually stimulating environment for discussion.

            The event was kicked off by WLU Film Society co-president Daelyn Newman. Presenting a section of her academic paper titled “The Art of the Monstrous Human Form: Film Prosthetics as Art in Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and Glow-up: Britain’s Next Make-up Star (2019),” Newman focused on the use of prosthetics in both del Toro’s film and the reality TV show, and examined, through a feminist lens, the construction of beauty in horror media.

            Next, we were joined by 4^th-yr. major Hannah Nicholls with a presentation titled “Film Art and Academia.” The presentation concentrated on production design and lamented the absence of art-related analysis in the university curriculum. Nicholls reflected on her experiences at WLU, as well as her year at the Vancouver Film School, to argue for the importance of the often overlooked art department in film studies. Her presentation was accompanied by a brilliant and reflective montage of various film clips, each of which was prefaced by observations about the importance of colour theory and costume design.

CAPTION: Audience watching Catherin Zhang’s award-winning film, Moving On.

To begin the latter half of the symposium, 4^th-yr. BBA major (and FS minor) Catherine Zhang showed her award-winning short film Moving On, which she co-wrote and directed. A film about family, homophobia, and generational trauma which two siblings must navigate together, Moving On earned the Best First Time Filmmaker award at the Cannes Shorts film festival and has played elsewhere, including the Seguin Film & Arts Festival (Texas). Next, Catherine showed her suspense/heist thriller, You Stole My Heart. Catherine co-wrote and acted in this film for the Toronto’s 48-hour Film Project, for which the film had to be written, shot and edited within two days.

CAPTION: A frame from Mackenzie Lo’s short film, Practice Makes Perfect

The symposium continued with three film presentations by 3^rd-yr FS major Mackenzie (Mack) Lo. First was Turntables, a comedic police interrogation that takes costume changes to a hilarious extreme. Mack took on the roles of cinematographer and editor for this IB Film program project. Next, Mack presented the short film Practice Makes Perfect, which he wrote, directed, shot and edited!  Practice Makes Perfect depicts a perfectionist theatre director and the challenges that the cast and crew face as a result of his fury. Following the screening, Mack spoke about some issues he faced while shooting this film, such as boom malfunctions and not having the script ready on the day of shooting. He and his team navigated these problems and were able to create a wonderful short film. In particular, Mack was praised for his brilliant use of lighting throughout. Last, Mack presented his trailer, a twist on The Wizard of Oz (1939) as if it were a dark thriller. The music accompanying the film was made by AIVA, an AI software.

            WLU Film Society Outreach Liaison, Jared Wallis, screened his short film, Ghosts. A Story. A Sequel. Jared, who shot the film on his iPhone 14, explained how film can be made anywhere and everywhere. Jared then showed us his film Trees. A Story. The audience shared numerous laughs, and they applauded Jared’s excellent comedic timing and creativity. 

            The next presentation was unusual but engaging. Over the course of two years, VP of Finance and 4^th-yr BBA student Connor Maclachlan and his roommates watched more than 120 films. For the symposium, Connor presented an ambitious and sharp montage of clips from all the films they had seen. With clever transitions and innovative use of colour and matches-on-action, the project left the audience with a great roster of films to add to their watchlist!

CAPTION: A frame from Owen Armbruster and Harrison Mingail’s short film, Clowning Around.

Next, 2^nd-yr FS majors Owen Armbruster and Harrison Mingail presented their short film, titled Clowning Around, which they had created for the Kitchener Youth Video competition. The film is a mockumentary following a clown, Joe King, and the daily struggles he faces trying to live his life of puns and knock-knock jokes in the modern world. Featuring actors Michael Muscat and Rebecca Janzen-Martin, the witty short film was a great creative and imaginative addition to the symposium. 

            4^th-yr FS major Palmer Wells then presented his short film, Crossfire, which he created during his time at VFS as an homage to film noir. Palmer describes the film thusly: “Through a cloud of cigarette smoke and a haze of gin and tonic, Jack Monroe and Violet Grey met and a fast romance began. But when ghosts from Jack’s past veer their ugly heads, his romance with Violet meets a fatal and tragic end just as quickly and quietly as it began.” Through an extensive Q&A session following the film, which he had written and directed, attendees learned about the camera used in the film, how Palmer chose his actors, and the exciting festivals the film has entered. Good luck Palmer!

            To conclude the symposium, Hannah Nicholls screened her short film, The Life and Death of a God, which was shot during her time at VFS in the production pathway. Hannah, who worked as the production designer on the film, discussed the mythology and creativity behind the project. The closely-knit production team created a whimsical and thrilling film based on Celtic mythology. The Life and Death of a God has also been entered into festivals. Best wishes to you and your work, Hannah!

            The symposium was a success for both presenters and attendees, and proved to be a lively and inspiring way to spend a Friday afternoon. We thank all the students who chose to present their work, and everyone who joined to watch and learn!

By: Taylor Stezinar (Film Studies Major)