Updated on 23 Feb. 2010. PDF
Full Name
Sérgio Emanuel Dias Branco
Place of Birth
Lisboa, Portugal
Year of Birth
1977
Professional Email
Personal Email
Personal Site
Research Areas
Aesthetics and philosophy of the moving image.
Stylistic analysis of films, music videos, television series, and videos.
Genres, convention and exception.
Education
PhD in Film Studies. University of Kent, 2006-.
Thesis: “Strung Pieces: On the Aesthetics of Television Fiction Series”.
Supervisors: Prof. Murray Smith and Dr. Steven Peacock (University of Hertfordshire).
Associate Teacher Accreditation Programme. University of Kent, 2007-09.
MA in Film Studies: distinction. University of Kent, 2004-05.
Dissertation: “Melodies of the Visible: Diversity in Music Video”.
Supervisor: Dr. Sarah Cardwell.
Examiners: Dr. Cardwell and Prof. Steve Neale (University of Exeter).
Licentiate Degree in Architecture. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture, 1995-2002.
Other Education
Poetics of the Last, Poetics of the Trace and Poetics of the Passage. Sintra Museum of Modern Art, Berardo Collection, 2001.
Form Z. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture, 1999.
Themes for an Introduction to the Aesthetics of Film. National Society of Fine Arts, 1997-98.
10th-12th grade. Father Alberto Neto School, 1992-95.
7th-9th grade. D. Filipa Private School, 1989-92.
1st-6th grade. Champagnat Day School 1984-89.
Positions
Associate Lecturer in Film Studies, part-time. University of Kent, 2008-09.
Assistant Lecturer in Film Studies, part-time. University of Kent, 2007-08.
Teaching
Long Essay in Film Studies. Module convening and supervision of 5 students. University of Kent, Jan.-May 2009.
Long Essay in Film Studies. Module convening and supervision of 5 students. University of Kent, Sept.-Dec. 2008.
Long Essay in Film Studies. Supervision of 5 students. University of Kent, Jan.-May 2008.
Introduction to Narrative Cinema 2: World Cinema. Seminars to 2 groups. University of Kent, Jan.-May 2008.
Long Essay in Film Studies. Supervision of 6 students. University of Kent, Sept.-Dec. 2007.
Introduction to Narrative Cinema 1: American Cinema. Seminars to 2 groups. University of Kent, Sept.-Dec. 2007.
Introduction to Narrative Cinema 2: World Cinema. Seminars to 1 group. University of Kent, Jan.-May 2007.
Introduction to Television Studies. Seminars to 1 group. University of Kent, Jan.-May 2007.
Commitment to Research Groups/Projects
Invited
“The Magnifying Class”. University of Oxford, 2008-.
Participation
“The Magnifying Class #6” on Trafic (1971). University of Oxford, 3 Dec. 2009.
“The Magnifying Class #5” on Elephant (2003). University of Oxford, 18 Jun. 2009.
“The Magnifying Class #4” on The Little Foxes (1941). University of Oxford, 12 Mar. 2009.
“The Magnifying Class #3” on Charulata (1964). University of Oxford, 5 Dec. 2008.
Other Academic Experience
Part-time teachers’ representative, Film Studies Board. University of Kent, School of Arts, 2007-09.
Colaboration in organisation. Nas Margens da Arquitectura conference series. Technical University of Lisbon, Faculty of Architecture, 2002.
Organiser and presenter. Os Sentidos da Cidade screening and debate series. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture and Fnac Colombo, 2002.
Internship. Section of Theory and Criticism of Architecture, Department of History and Phenomenology of Architecture. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture, 2002.
Award
PhD scholarship. University of Kent - School of Arts, 2006-09.
Affiliations
Accepted Member
European Society for Aesthetics. 2009-.
Society for Cinema & Media Studies. 2009-.
Presentations
Accepted
“Televisual Works”. “Screen” Conference 2009. University of Glasgow, 4 Jul. 2009.
“Super Style: Heroes and Television Aesthetics”. The Politics of Super-Heroes: Renegotiating the Super-Hero in Post-9/11 Cinema. Yale University, 31 Jan. 2009.
“Borrowed Sounds, Appropriated Images: Music Videos and Found Footage”. Cultural Borrowings: A Study Day on Appropriation, Reworking and Transformation. University of Nottingham, 19 Mar. 2008.
“Laughing in Friendship: The Intimate Ensemble Comedy of Friends”. Playing for Laughs: On Comedy in Performance. De Montfort University, 9 Feb. 2008.
“Labyrinths of the Self: Different Characters, Identical Bodies in Battlestar Galactica”. BSG 2007: The Politics, Poetics and Philosophy of “Battlestar Galactica”. Bucks New University, 28 Jul. 2007.
“Being Her/She in ‘Who Are You?’”. It’s the End of the World. Again?!?: Why Buffy Still Matters. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 16 Mar. 2007.
Invited
“Each Voice: Internal Variation in Grey’s Anatomy”. Graduate Student Presentations. University of Kent, 27 May 2008.
“Compreensões do Cinema: Funções da Linguagem Analítica e Crítica”. Minho University, 21 May 2009.
“Compreensões do Cinema: Funções da Linguagem Analítica e Crítica”. New University Lisbon, 20 May 2009.
“Cowboys no Espaço: Convergências de Género em Firefly e Serenity”. Fantastic Forum 2008. University of Lisbon - Faculty of Fine Arts, 4 Oct. 2008.
“Visualising Inference: Image Motifs in CBS Police Procedurals”. Graduate Student Presentations. University of Kent, 21 May 2008.
“Três Idades de Casais: Closer, Husbands and Wives, Saraband”. Portuguese Society of Family Therapy, 24 Nov. 2006.
“Imagens Sequências: A Partir do Conceito de Storyboard”. Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, 11 Dec. 2005.
“Narração do Espaço, Espaço da Narrativa”. Manuel Teixeira Gomes Higher Institute, 12 Nov. 2003.
Publications
Chapters in Books
“Magic and Loss: Carnivàle and Aesthetic Progression”. In Bloodlust and Dust: Essays on HBO’s “Carnivàle”, ed. Peg Aloi and Hannah Johnston. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010. IN PREPARATION
“Dead Inside: Allegory and Subjectivity in Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction”. In Renegade Visions: Films and Filmmakers that Defy Popular Cinema, ed. Matthew Edwards. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010. IN PREPARATION
“Kino Kino Kino Kino Kino: Guy Maddin’s Cinema of Artifice”. In Renegade Visions: Films and Filmmakers that Defy Popular Cinema, ed. Matthew Edwards. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010. IN PREPARATION
“Sci-Fi Ghettos: Battlestar Galactica and Genre Aesthetics”. In Reading “Battestar Galactica”: Flesh, Spirit, and Steel, ed. Roz Kaveney and Jennifer Stoy, pp. 185-98. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010. FORTHCOMING
“Super Style: A Stylistic Analysis of Heroes”. In Investigating “Heroes”: Truth, Justice and Quality TV, ed. David Simmons. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010. IN PREPARATION
Refereed Articles
“Entendimentos do Cinema: Funções da Linguagem Analítica”. Diacrítica: Filosofia e Cultura (2010). Pub. Minho University. IN PREPARATION
“Music Videos and Reused Footage”. Scope: An Online Journal of Film & TV Studies, “Cultural Borrowings: Appropriation, Reworking, Transformation” e-book, ed. Iain Robert Smith (2009): pp. 111-21. http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/cultborr/chapter.php?id=10 [University of Nottingham]
“The Mosaic-Screen: Exploration and Definition”. Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media 14 (2008). http://blogs.arts.unimelb.edu.au/refractory/2008/12/27/the-mosaic-screen-exploration-and-definition-–-sergio-dias-branco/ [University of Melbourne]
Blogs
Aesthetics and Other Philosophies. Blogger, 2007-. http://aestheticsphilosophies.blogspot.com/
Motions of Images. Blogger, 2007-. http://motionsimages.blogspot.com/
Writing of Images. Blogger, 2010-. http://writingimages.blogspot.com/
Other Publications
“Life on Mars: Fora de Tempo”. Premiere 96 (2007): p. 21.
“Prison Break: O Suspense da Fuga”. Premiere 95 (2007): p. 21.
Review of Death Proof (2007). Premiere 92 (2007): p. 10.
Review of 98 Octanas (98 Octanes, 2006) and “Cinema em Casa: Ler”. Premiere 84 (2006): pp. 10 and 96.
Review of United 93 (2006), “Entrevista com... Carla Chambel”, “Curtas Vila do Conde 2006: Elogio dos Esquecidos”, and “Cinema em Casa: Ler”. Premiere 83 (2006): pp. 12, 58-59, 72-74, and 96.
Review of Poseidon (2006) and “Cinema em Casa: Ler”. Premiere 82 (2006): pp. 12 e 96.
Review of The Squid and the Whale (2005), “Curtas Vila do Conde 2006”, and “Cinema em Casa: Ler”. Premiere 81 (2006): pp. 13, 30 and 94.
Review of The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Running Scared (2006), “IndieLisboa 2006: Um Tanto Maior do que Lisboa”, and “Cinema em Casa: Ler”. Premiere 80 (2006): pp. 9, 11, 34-36 and 94.
Review of Hostel (2005), “Daniela Costa: Sob a Pele”, and “Cinema em Casa: Ler”. Premiere 79 (2006): pp. 12, 31, and 94.
Review of Shijie (The World, 2004), “Inventar a Independência: Nos Bastidores do IndieLisboa 2006”, and “Cinema em Casa: Ler”. Premiere 78 (2006): pp. 10, 32-37, and 94.
Review of Syriana (2005), “Sienna Miller: A Bela Impertinente”, and “Cinema em Casa: Ler”. Premiere 77 (2006): pp. 11, 56-58, and 94.
Review of Caché (Hidden, 2005). Premiere 76 (2006): p. 11.
“Evocation of Fear”. Big Lens: The Kent Film Magazine 3, no. 2 (2005): p. 2.
“The Nocturnal Art”, Dark Contrast photo exhibition. Fnac Chiado/Colombo (2005).
“Il paesaggio”. Zero Mag 5 (2003): pp. 11-12.
“A Banalidade” and “O Silêncio dos Olhares”. Registos 0 (2003): pp. 6 and 30-31.
“Cinco Detritos”. V-Ludo 7 (2002): pp. 60-62.
“O Cinema Justo”. AO: Boletim da Ordem dos Advogados 21 (2002): pp. 85-86.
“A Política dos Autores: Pensar a Nossa Solidão”. V-Ludo 6 (2001): pp. 75-81.
“Edifícios de Palavras (Universidade)”. V-Ludo 4 (2001): pp. 45-47.
“Dança Fúnebre”. Festa V-Ludo. Higher Institute of Business and Labour Sciences (2001).
“Estranhos Dias”. Higher Institute of Business and Labour Sciences (2001).
“Rituais do Indecifrável”. V-Ludo 3 (2000): pp. 61-65.
“O Feminino Plural”. V-Ludo 1 (2000): pp. 18-21.
“Stanley Kubrick (1928-99): Labirintos e Olhares”. Boletim Informativo da Faculdade de Arquitectura 2000 (2000): pp. 16-17.
“Verdade e Mentira”. Xinema 4 (1999): p. 3.
“O Mundo nos Nossos Olhos Atentos: Xinema, um Relatório de Actividades”. Folha 9 (1999): p. 8.
“Morrer Assombrado pela Beleza”. Xinema 3 (1998): p. 1.
“Profundo Oceano de Fantasmas”. Xinema 2 (1998): p. 1.
“Akira Kurosawa (1910-98): Entre o Sonho e a Morte Between”. Xinema 1 (1998): p. 1.
“1997: Figurar o Imaterial”. Folha 8 (1998): p. 7.
“Intensidade e Segredo”. Folha 7 (1997): p. 4.
“A Linha que Fecha a Forma”. Folha 6 (1997): p. 4.
Interview
By Luís Salvado. Premiere 93 (2007): p. 28.
Attendances
“Como Vejo a Encíclica Caritas in veritate” by Eduardo Lourenço. Technical University of Lisbon - School of Economics and Management, 28 Jan. 2010.
“Visualidade Háptica e os Neurónios Espelho” by Patrícia Silveirinha Castello Branco. “Questões de Estética” seminar. New University of Lisbon - Philosophy of Language Institute, 17 Dec. 2009.
“Philosophical Insight, Emotion, and Popular Fiction: The Case of Sunset Boulevard” by Noël Carroll. New University of Lisbon, 14 Dec. 2009.
XI Autumn Colloquium (Performance Studies): Global Performance/Political Performance. University of Minho, 10-12 Dec. 2009.
Acting Out: A Symposium on Film Performance, Inference and Interpretation. University of Reading, 20 Mar. 2009.
“Lost Logos: Channel 4 and the Branding of American Event Television” by Paul Grainge. University of Kent, 25 Feb. 2009.
Key Concepts in Aesthetics by Jerrold Levinson. University of Kent, 21 Jan. - 9 Apr. 2009.
“The Muzzling of Samuel Fuller’s White Dog” by Lisa Dombrowski. University of Kent, 16 Dec. 2008.
“Cultural Problems of Classical Film Theory: Béla Balázs, ‘Universal Language’, and the Birth of National Cinema” by Mattias Frey. University of Kent, 3 Dec. 2008.
“The Experience of Auteurism in Contemporary Film Culture” by Catherine Grant. University of Cambridge, 2 Dec. 2008.
“Authenticity in the Hybrid and Digital Arts” by Aaron Meskin. University of Kent, 26 Nov. 2008.
“The Morality and Immorality of Jokes” by Jerrold Levinson. University of Kent, 25 Nov. 2008.
“Stardom in the Age of Celebrity” by Pamela Church Gibson. University of Kent, 12 Nov. 2008.
“The New Cinema History” by Richard Maltby. University of Kent, 28 Oct. 2008.
“Hypothetical Intentionalism Defended” by Jerrold Levinson. University of Kent, 23 Oct. 2008.
“Self-Reflexivity in Three Films Noir: Laura, Double Indemnity, and Sunset Blvd.” by Christophe Gelly. University of Kent, 28 May 2008.
“The Censorship of Interiority: Shame, ‘Hejab’, Cinema” by Joan Copjec. University of Kent, 21 May 2008.
“Medium-Specificity Arguments and Cinema” by Berys Gaut. University of Kent, 28 Mar. 2008.
Kendall Walton and the Aesthetics of Photography and Film. University of Kent, 30 Nov. - 1 Dec. 2007.
“Auteur Machines?: Auteurism and the DVD” by Catherine Grant. University of Kent, 21 Nov. 2007.
“Why Nobody Needs a Theory of Art” by Dominic Lopes. University of Kent, 23 May 2007.
“Spectres of the Real: Documentary Time and the Surreal of Reality: Ways of Seeing and Knowing” by Elizabeth Cowie. University of Kent, 14 Feb. 2007.
“In-Between” by Andrew Klevan. University of Kent, 24 Jan. 2007.
The British Film Institute and Its Publics: A Historical Perspective. University of London - School of Advanced Study, 10 Nov. 2006.
International Conference on Architecture Criticism: Critical-Situation. Oporto, 13 Oct. 2002.
1st Congress of the Portuguese Architects’ Association. Evora, 26-29 Oct. 2000.
9th Congress of the Portuguese Architects. Evora, 26-29 Oct. 2000.
A Luz e a Sombra na Arquitectura e na Paisagem. Lisbon, 25 Nov. 1998.
Other Professional Experience
Columnist. Column Séries em Palavras. Premiere, Sept.-Oct. 2007.
Film critic. Cinema2000, 2006-. http://www.cinema2000.pt/
Film critic and journalist. Premiere, Jan.-Sept. 2006.
Jury. 2nd Short Films Festival of Júlio de Matos Hospital, 4-6 Jun. 2006.
Presenter. Film Tystnaden (The Silence, 1963). Fnac Colombo, 15 Feb. 2006.
Exam invigilator. University of Kent, May-Jun. 2005.
Organiser and presenter. Seminars and screenings for MA students in Film Studies. University of Kent, Feb.-Apr. 2005.
Presenter. Film Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983). Fnac Colombo, 13 Sept. 2004.
Presenter, with João Lopes. Collective film 11’09’’01: September 11 (2002). Fnac Colombo, 11 Sept. 2004.
Organiser and presenter. “By Brakhage” screenings. Fnac Colombo, 10 Sept. 2004.
Organiser and presenter. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)” screening series. Fnac Colombo, 4 Jun. - 28 Jul. 2004.
Presenter. Film Far from Heaven (2002). Fnac Colombo, 24 Mar. 2004.
Presenter. Film Baraka (1992). Fnac Colombo, 10 Mar. 2004.
Presenter. Film The Magdalene Sisters (2002). Fnac Colombo, 25 Feb. 2004.
Guest speaker. Opening of film retrospective Cinema e Arquitectura. Manuel Teixeira Gomes Higher Institute and Portimao City Council, 12 Nov. 2003.
Founder and editor. Magazine Registos, 2003.
Organiser and editor. Film Cinema 1990-99, Faculty of Architecture Student Association. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture, 2000.
Organiser and presenter. Retrospectiva Stanley Kubrick screening and debate series. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture, 1999-2000.
Cataloguer. Library Audiovisual Centre. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture, 1998-2000.
Founder and director. XINEMA cinema nucleus and Xinema publication. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture, 1998-2000.
Organiser. XINEMA III screening and debate series. Technical University of Lisbon - Faculty of Architecture, 1998-99.
Jury. 17th Award of the Youth. 51st Cannes Film Festival, 1998.
Film critic. Folha, 1997-98.
Languages
Portuguese: mother tongue.
English: fluent.
Spanish and Italian: good.
French: basic.
References
Catherine Grant (Visiting Research Fellow in Film Studies, University of Sussex).
Steven Peacock (Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Hertfordshire).
Murray Smith (Professor in Film Studies, University of Kent).