Senior Lecturer

  • Academic
  • Research
Dr Stephen Connolly

Stephen is a Senior Lecturer at the new campus in China, the Institute of Creativity and Innovation, opened in partnership with Xiamen University.

Dr Stephen Connolly

Bio

Stephen joined the Film Production team at UCA in 2018, having previously worked as a freelance filmmaker and educator. He has an established artist practice as a filmmaker, screening work internationally since 2004. Starting with 16mm film, in recent years his practice has embraced digital media; he subscribes to the ‘complete filmmaker’ approach and undertakes all production roles in his work.

Stephen is interested in the depiction of space, history and mobility in his moving image work, winning awards at film and media festivals and serving as a festival juror. A Kent 50 Scholar at the University of Kent, his doctorate explored the space of the city of Detroit, UCA.

Further information:

Research statement

Stephen's work looks at the city as a space of politics and history. He is interested in developing new ways of visualising our surroundings with the moving image and cross-disciplinary work. Major projects have engaged with the contested landscape of Detroit in Michigan USA. More recently, his work has explored space, movement and travel as affected by the pandemic; and in relation to personal and social history in a family slide archive.

Recent talks & presentations:

  • Total Filmmaking in a Pandemic GEECT/CILECT 2020
  • Chep Kok Lap 2019 - Affect & Social Media#4.5 and The Sensorium Art Show 2020
  • Machine Space / Practice as Research Screening, Sightlines, RMIT Melbourne 2019
  • Spatial Cinema - Artist Presentation, Visible Evidence XXVI; USC Los Angeles 2019
  • Types of Desert - Zabriskie Point, Antonioni season; BFI Southbank 2019
  • Recapitulating Practice as Research as Archive, MeCCSA; University of Stirling 2019
  • Spatial Cinema - MeCCSA, London South Bank University 2018
  • Media Geology of Zabriskie Point- Whitechapel Gallery, London 2017

Professional Membership, Affiliation and Consultancy

  • BAFTSS
  • MeCCSA
  • FHEA
  • Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Taicang, China 2020-25

Awards:

  • First Prize, Practice as Research Portfolio, Moving Image BAFTSS 2018
  • Kent 50 Scholar, PhD Research Scholarship, University of Kent 2013-16
  • Ghostly Award for Sound Design - Ann Arbor FIlm Festival 2009
  • Girot Award for Editorial and Editing - Ann Arbor Film Festival 2006

Grants & Commissions:

  • GeoHumanities Creative Commission, Royal Holloway UL, University of Padua 2019-20
  • LAFVA Production Award, Film London/Arts Council of England 2008
  • One to One Award, Film London/ Arts Council of England 2006
  • Artist Commission, Metropole Gallery, Folkestone 2005
  • Artist Commission, Navigating History, Heritage Lottery/ACE 2004

Archives / Collections:

  • BFI Artists’ Moving Image Archive, London
  • LUX Artists’ Moving Image, London
  • University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado US
  • University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico US