Dr Leila Mukhida

Biography

I am a Fellow and Director of Studies in Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity Hall; I also lecture and carry out undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and examining in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics.

My primary research interests lie in the field of German-language film and film philosophy; in my book, Sensitive Subjects: The Political Aesthetics of German and Austrian Cinema, I asked how early film theories from different political and cultural contexts can inform our understanding of political cinema today. I considered films by Michael Haneke, Valeska Grisebach, Ulrich Seidl and others, and argued that medium-specific devices like lighting, sound, and mise-en-scène in these works may help to cultivate political sensitivity in their spectators. More broadly, I am interested in queer and intersectional approaches to German-language film and literature and this is reflected in and informed by the teaching that I conduct for the Faculty. You can hear me talking about decolonising the German curriculum here.

At undergraduate level, I teach and supervise on a range of topics in modern German (1945 onwards) and Film, including the film ‘Western’ by Valeska Grisebach for paper Ge1; Turkish-German Literature and Film for Ge6; Gender and Writing and Brechtian Theatre for Ge10; Islam in German Culture for Ge13; Documentary Film for Ge15; and Queer Cinema for CS6. At postgraduate level, I teach the Ge Modern Culture module for the ELAC Mphil course, and I teach a seminar on non-normative gender identities for the Film and Screen Studies MPhil.