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Photograph of Jeffrey Romero Middents

Jeffrey Romero Middents Nondegree Graduate-CAS

Degrees
PhD, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan

MA, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan

BA, English and Psychology, Dartmouth College

Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Favorite Spot on Campus
Sudama, the granite and water sculpture that is atop the hill behind Kogod. With all the trees aroun
Bio
Jeffrey Romero Middents studies and teaches film and world literature at 海角换妻 in Washington, DC, specifically focusing on Latin American narratives from the 1960s to the present. His screen-oriented courses cover a wide range of concepts, including national cinemas, genre, the auteur, stardom, film criticism, Netflix, and short films. His book, Writing National Cinema: Film Journals and Film Culture in Peru (UPNE, 2009) investigates the historical place of cultural writing within a national discourse by tracing how Peruvian cinema was shaped by local film criticism. Professor Middents has also published essays 鈥 in print and video versions 鈥 on a variety of other topics, including documentary aesthetics in the work of Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzman, Peruvian director Luis Llosa鈥檚 films made under producer Roger Corman, the theoretical perspective espoused by Kathryn Bigelow鈥檚 Strange Days, the sense of place in contemporary Latin American cinema, movie stardom and 鈥渢he indigenous鈥 in the works of Dolores del Rio and Magaly Solier, the pedagogy of teaching 鈥渨orld cinema,鈥 and the racial complexities of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is currently working on a monograph on transnational auteurism and the work of Alfonso Cuar贸n.
See Also

Teaching

Fall 2024

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-098 Honors Capstone Supplement

  • HNRS-395 Theories of Inquiry

  • LIT-446 Advanced Studies in Film: Auteur Study: Alfonso Cuaron

Spring 2025

  • HNRS-151 海角换妻 Honors Research Experience: Dystopia Then, Reality Now

  • LIT-246 Cinema & the Twentieth Century

Partnerships & Affiliations


  • Member


  • Member


  • Member


  • Ringmaster, Masons Theater

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Selected Publications

Books

Chapters in Collected Editions

  • 鈥淐on nariz (blanqui)roja: Peruvian Comedy, Marca Per煤 and Ricardo Maldonado鈥檚 隆Asu Mare!鈥 . Sarah Barrow and Cynthia Vich, eds. London: Palgrave, 2020. Spanish language translation by Isis Sadek, published in Cine peruano de inicios del siglo XXI: Dinamismo e incertidumbre, Lima: Editorial Universidad de Lima (Peru), 2021. 67-84.
  • 鈥淭he Research and the Remix: Video Essays as Creative Criticism.鈥 . Lisa Patti, ed. London: Routledge, 2020.
  • "A Sweet Vamp: Critiquing the Treatment of Race in Buffy and the American Musical Once More (with Feeling)." In . Kendra Leonard, ed. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010.
  • "Roger Corman Dis/Covers Peru: National Cinema and Luis Llosa's Hour of the Assassin/Misi贸n en los Andes." In Latsploitation, Exploitation Cinemas and Latin America. Victoria Ruetalo and Dolores Tierney, eds. London: Routledge, 2009. 55-69.
  • "Another 尝颈尘别帽辞 Fantasy: Peruvian National Cinema and the Critical Reception of the Films of Francisco Lombardi and Federico Garc铆a." In Representing the Rural: Space, Place and Identity in Films About the Land. Catherine Fowler and Gillian Helfield, eds. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2006. 307-322.
  • "Me mor铆a: Aesthetics, Documentary and the Creation of Nostalgia in Patricio Guzm谩n's Chile, memoria obstinada." In Democracy in Chile: The Legacy of September 11, 1973. Silvia Nagy-Zakmi and Fernando Leiva, eds. Sussex: Sussex Academic Press, 2005. 185-191.
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Journal Articles

Video Essays

  • "The National Auteur 鈥淕oes World鈥: Claudia Llosa and the Critical Responses to Aloft/No llores, vuela."听,听2, July 2019. Refereed.
  • "Memories of C/Leo: On Auteurism and听Roma." 惭别诲颈谩迟颈肠辞. December 24, 2018. Invited, part of special dossier on听Roma.听Cited as a "."
  • 鈥Birdman or, Fantasy Hopscotch, Not Played Very Often: Alejandro Gonz谩lez I帽谩rritu and Julio Cort谩zar.鈥 , September 18, 2017. Refereed.
  • 鈥溌縋or qu茅 me miras as铆?: Magaly, Dolores and the Indigenous Icon.鈥 Journal of Videographic Film and Moving Image Studies, 3.3,听 March 20, 2016. Refereed.

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Research Interests

  • Latin American Cinema
  • Transnational Cinema
  • Video essays/audiovisual criticism听
  • Short Films
  • Subtitles 听听
  • Auteur and star studies 听
  • Television studies
  • Metafiction/Metafilm
  • 20th-21st Century world fiction

Professional Presentations

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  • 鈥淢y Mother Is Rita Moreno.鈥 Video essay presentation accepted for the Celebrity Studies Journal Conference 2024, Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 1-3, 2024.
  • 鈥淎uthor, Spectator, Critic, Actor: On subjectivity.鈥 Part of a roundtable entitled 鈥淐inematic Thinking: Essay Film, Video Essay and the Presence of the Maker.鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2024, Boston, MA, March 16, 2024.
  • 鈥淏eing There: The Long Take and Alfonso Cuar贸n鈥檚 Gravity.鈥 In the Works: Making and Unmakings of the Video Essay. Lucerne School of Art and Design, Lucerne, Switzerland, November 3, 2023. Co-presented with Kerry Hegarty (Miami U of Ohio).
  • Co-chair and presenter in roundtable entitled 鈥淭he Accented Voice in Digital Audiovisual Practices鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2023, Denver, CO, April 12, 2023.
  • 鈥淢i sue帽o es representar la belleza de la mujer de mi estado: Framing Beauty in Latin American Cinema.鈥 Theory and Practice of the Video Essay: An International Conference on Videographic Criticism, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, September 21-22, 2022.
  • 鈥淭his Series Is Going to Fabuloso Itself: Television Comedy, the Foreign, and One Day at a Time.鈥 Forthcoming for Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2022, Chicago, IL, March 31-April 1, 2022.
  • 鈥淣etflix and Xochitl: Transnational Streaming Distribution and Non-English 鈥楶restige Content.鈥欌 Part of a panel entitled 鈥淕lobal Latin American Film and Media: New Intersections of Aesthetics, Production and Distribution in the 21st Century.鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2019, Seattle, WA, March, 2019.
  • 鈥淭he National Auteur 鈥楪oes World鈥: Claudia Llosa and Aloft.鈥 Part of a panel entitled 鈥淭ransactions and Translations of World Cinema: Videographic Approaches.鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2018, Toronto, Canada, March 17, 2018.
  • 鈥淢i sue帽o es representar a la belleza de la mujer de mi estado: Framing Beauty in Latin American Cinema.鈥 Encrucijadas 2017: The Digital Turn. Princeton, NJ, November 10, 2017.
  • 鈥淐iudadano Cuar贸n: Transnational Auteurism and Mexican Cinema.鈥 Part of a panel entitled 鈥淣ew Approaches to Transnational Mexican Cinema,鈥 Latin American Studies Association 2017, Lima, Per煤, April 30, 2017.
  • Presenter on workshop entitled 鈥淟atin American Film Studies and Digital Humanities,鈥 Latin American Studies Association 2017, Lima, Per煤, May 1, 2017.
  • 听鈥溾楳y dream is to represent the beauty of the women from my State鈥: Latin American vs. World Cinema.鈥 Part of a panel titled 鈥淕lobal Latin American Cinema: Politics, Aesthetics and Ethics,鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2016, Atlanta, GA. April 1, 2016
  • 鈥淥ut of One, Many: First-Year Student Research and The Contemporary World Cinema Project.鈥 Part of a workshop titled 鈥淰ideo Essays in Transnational Cinema Studies,鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2016, Atlanta, GA. March 31, 2016.
  • 鈥淢i sue帽o es representar la belleza de mi estado: Latin American vs. World Cinema.鈥 Part of a panel entitled 鈥淕lobalization and Latin American Film: Politics, Aesthetics and Ethics,鈥 Latin American Studies Association, San Ju谩n, Puerto Rico, May 27-30, 2015.
  • 听鈥淩eading Between the Subtitles.鈥 Part of a panel entitled 鈥淥n Subtitles,鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2015, Montr茅al, Canada, March 25-29, 2015.
  • 听鈥淭he Movies That Become 鈥榃orld Cinema鈥 (And the Movies That Don鈥檛).鈥 Part of a panel entitled 鈥淲orld Cinema鈥 organized by Dudley Andrew, ACL(x): Examine, Penn State University, September 28, 2013.
  • 鈥淧ermanent Residents?: Contemporary Hollywood and the International Auteur.鈥 Part of a panel entitled 鈥淟ocating Transnational Hollywood,鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2013, Chicago, IL, March 7, 2013.
  • 听鈥淎lfonso Cuar贸n as the Prisoner of Mex-kaban: The Transnational Auteur Meets the Franchise Film.鈥 Part of a panel entitled 鈥淪tyles of Global Authorship,鈥 Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2012, Boston, MA, March 23, 2012.
  • 鈥淵 tu Thundercat tambi茅n: Glocalization, National Cinema and Alfonso Cuar贸n.鈥 Part of panel entitled 鈥淭he Im/Possibility of National Cinema,鈥 American Comparative Literature Association 2010, New Orleans, LA. April 2-5, 2010.
  • "In Lima, Like You: Confronting Peruvian National Cinema with Claudia Llosa's Madeinusa." Part of a panel entitled "What Remains: Contemporary Latin American Cinema," American Comparative Literature Association 2009. Cambridge, MA. March 26-29, 2009. Also proposed, organized and co-chaired panel (with Silvia Spitta).
  • "Ibermediating National Cinemas." Part of a panel entitled "Programa Ibermedia and Contemporary Latin American Cinema," Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2008. Philadelphia, PA. March 8, 2008. Also proposed, organized and chaired panel.
  • "Hablemos de cine(filia) peruana: Film Journals and National Cinema in Peru, Then and Now." Part of panel entitled "Trans/National Cinephilias," American Comparative Literature Association 2007. Puebla, Mexico. April 22, 2007.
  • "It's Not Easy Being Brown: Rita, Lena and The Muppet Show." Part of a panel entitled "Race on Television." Society of Cinema and Media Studies 2007. Chicago, IL. March 9, 2007.
  • "Babes in the Amazon, Ponch in the Andes: Roger Corman and Peruvian Cinema." Part of a panel entitled "Hollywood Business Practices and Latin American Cinema" at Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2006. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, March 4, 2006. Also proposed, organized and chaired panel.
  • "Peru Vs. the New Latin American Cinema: Hablemos de cine and the Vi帽a del Mar Film Festivals of 1967 and 1969." Part of a panel entitled "Beyond La boca del lobo: Peruvian Cinema, Past, Present and Future" at Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2005. London, England, April 3, 2005. Also proposed, organized and chaired panel.
  • "Hablemos de Minnelli: A Peruvian Look at Some Came Running." Part of panel entitled "Hollywood por otros ojos: Film Spectatorship in Post-Revolutionary Mexico, Pre-Revolutionary Cuba and 1960s Peru" for ASA (American Studies Association) 2004, Atlanta, GA, November 12, 2004.
  • "A Sweet Vamp: Critiquing the Treatment of Race in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the American Musical Once More (with Feeling)." The Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Nashville, TN, May 28, 2004. Nominated for "Mr. Pointy" Award for Best Conference Paper.
  • "'Me mor铆a': Aesthetics, Documentary and the Creation of Nostalgia in Patricio Guzm谩n's Chile, Obstinate Memory. "Thirty Years After Chile's 9/11", SUNY-Albany, October 10, 2003.
  • "Teaching Cinephilia." Society for Cinema Studies 2003, Minneapolis, MN. March 9, 2003.
  • "Este pa铆s es una basura: Cultural Politics and the Adaptation of Mario Vargas Llosa's La ciudad y los perros." Literature/Film Association Conference 2002. Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, November 18, 2002.
  • "The Enigma of The Hire (www.bmwfilms.com)." Society for Cinema Studies 2002. Denver, CO, May 24, 2002.

Work In Progress

  • Monograph:听The Cinema of Alfonso Cuar贸n: Transnational, Auteur
  • Essay: "In Lima, Just Like You: Mapping a Response to Peruvian Cinema with Claudia Llosa's听Madeinusa"
  • Essay: "Without an image, there is no story:The Indigenous and Transnational aesthetics in Latin American Cinema" (with N煤ria Vilanova)
  • Video essays on framing women in Latin American cinema, voiceover, spectatorship, subjectivity, and auteurism