Dr Valentina Ippolito

About

I'm a Senior Lecturer in Filmmaking and award-winning filmmaker with a DPhil in Cinema of Migration from the University of Oxford, Pembroke College. I have an internationally recognised profile in practice as research as a documentary filmmaker and photographer focusing on the ethical and poetic representation of minorities and marginalised communities. My filmmaking and photography work is centred around the representation of otherness: the migrant identity; indigenous cultures in Thailand, Nepal and India; men as warriors in Basha Miao Village (China) and women and babies in prison. A central facet of my work is the ethical encounter between the filmmaker and the represented subject; as a self-shooting director this typically requires me to film in restricted and uncontrolled spaces, ranging from a mother-and-child prison unit in Rome to jungles in Northern Thailand. My documentaries have been screened at international film events across the world including Africa, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Mexico, India and the United States.

My academic publications have examined topics including the cinematic representation of the journey of migration, accented modes of self-representation by women migrants and the emancipatory potentials of fantasy in migrant women's resistance against violence. My most recent article "Migrant Filmmakers" published in the 2023 Immigration Report by Caritas & Migrantes advocates for a more inclusive film industry for migrant women. 

My published monograph The dialogical gaze: the migratory journey to Italy in contemporary Italian and Romanian cinema investigates the way in which the character of the Romanian migrant is represented in their encounter with Italy, on their physical, temporary, or imaginary journey between memory and desire. The dialogical gaze paradigm can act as a model to create opportunities for cultural interdiscursivity and social empathy in the wider cinema environment. The book was published in 2021 with the patronage of the Romanian National Film Archive/ Arhiva Nationala de Filme and the Romanian Academy in Rome. 

Academic responsibilities

Senior Lecturer in Filmmaking

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) Cinema of Migration, University of Oxford
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • MA Documentary by Practice, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • BA (Hons), University College London (UCL)

Teaching and learning

Research

Business, knowledge transfer and international

Professional practice, knowledge exchange and impact

Leadership and management

Social media

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