Graduation Day and Other Norwich Summery Tales

Norwich and Great Yarmouth, 14-18 July 2018.
Graduation Day: Norwich Football Club, 17 July 2018.
Alhamdulillah. Thank you, all!

enjoy the pictures and short videos:

OTW to Norwich Football Stadium

first picture with family as a graduand

with Dr. Toby Reynolds, fellow Bristol-based UEA PhD student

waiting for the moment

with Dr. Patrick Bingham-Scales, Dr. Adam Bingham-Scales, and  Dr. Tim Snelson, and UEA Bunny, of course,

in front of Norwich City Hall

with Dr. Rayna Denison, my secondary supervisor, at Biddys

with Prof. Mark Jancovich, my supervisor and mentor, a day before D-Day

with Dr. and Mr. Sheppard. Thank you for the gifts!

with Valencia and PPI Norwich, few days before D-Day

enjoying GoGoHare 2

the certificate! 

It's Official!

It's official! I am now  a DR. E.
The official letter was sent in April 23rd.
Alhamdulillah.
Thank you, all!

Official announcement of UA Engagement Awards 2015

Here's the official announcement and the list of the winners of UEA Engagement Awards (for outstanding contribution to Public & Community Engagement): http://www.uea.ac.uk/community-university-engagement/awards . Thank you guys. Alhamdulillah.

Me and Pete Tombs

Last Thursday and Friday were probably the most productive days in years. I met many great people in London. And one of them was MondomacabroDVD's Pete Tombs.

I knew Pete since 2007 when I found a DVD title Mystics in Bali in a DVD store in Amsterdam, It was Joko Anwar who introduced me with this kind of classic transnational exploitation Indonesian films from his multiply blog back in 2007. And he gave me Pete's email address. So I wrote an email to Pete and had a long interviews.  For me, Pete is important, not only for distributing this kinds of films, but he also wrote a chapter on Indonesian cinema in his book Mondo Macabro:  Weird and Wonderful Cinema Around the World (1998).  and a short documentary .  that time, those were the only sources on Indonesian films as cult and exploitation movies.

Fascinated by this kind of movies, in 2008, I was writing a paper for my final assignment for a master module at Universiteit van Amsterdam. I haven't realized that time, that this presentation would lead me to my PhD study i am doing currently. But surely, it took long journey, from 2007 to 2012, for me to take this path as one of my passions.

After graduated from UEA, I returned home and wrote some popular articles on Pete Tombs and his MondomacabroDVD, as well as global exploitation films from Indonesia in general,  including  Pete Tombs, Penjaga Taman Film Ekspolitasi Indonesia (Pete Tombs, Park Ranger of Indonesian Exploitation Cinema),   Cult Fan Boys Ketemu Jaka Sembung dan Leak (Cult Fan Boys Meet Jaka Sembung and Leak),    Sekali Lagi Tentang  Film Horror Indonesia  (again, on Indonesian Horror Films). Jaka Sembung dan Dunia Islam

And in 2009, I went to Melbourne for B for Bad Movies conference at Monash University. I presented a talk titled The Other Side of Indonesia: New Order’s Indonesian ExploitationCinema as Cult Films, which got published in the same year.

And, in December 2012, I flew to Norwich to start my PhD research on the same topic. And, last month, I just guest-edited a special issue for Plaridel journal on the topic, and I got many interesting papers from great scholars all over the world, all discussing the same topic: exploitation, cult, and b-movies.

In a way, I can conclude that Pete Tombs is one of the most influential person for my current research.

I knew Pete from 2007, but I just met him two days ago. And it was a great chat.
Thank you, Pete.

Presenting A Paper on "Lady Terminator" this month

FYI,

I will present one of my chapters at UEA's Study Day. The title of my presentation is "“The Real Guilty Pleasure”:   Lady Terminator¸ Sexuality,  and Public Censorship in Indonesia".

FTM Study Day will be held on Wednesday 29th October 2014,  at UEA's Julian Study Centre 1.02. The theme is "Mediating Desire: Sexuality and Contemporary Media". If you are around, please do come. I willl have my presentation at 9.30 am.

Here's the abstract:

Keywords: Indonesian exploitation film, New Order regime, Media Reception, Public Censorship,Lady Terminator

After passed strict censorship board,  Pembalasan Ratu Laut Selatan (Tjut Djalil, 1988, Indonesia) or Lady Terminator was withdrawn from national distribution in 1988 due to  violence and, mainly, sexual scenes after 9 days on theatrical release in Indonesia.  Society, particularly public figures—from senators and journalists to religious leaders---blamed censorship board for being softened, some suspected that they might be bribed, for releasing the films.  Some people even planned to sue the board. Tempo Magazine, the biggest magazine,even picked up this issue as their headline, with the tagline “Astaghfirullah Film Indonesia” (Oh My God, Indonesian Movies!). The situation above is unique because it is notoriously known that Indonesia’s New Order (1966-1998) undertook state control on every aspect of life, including sharp censorship and controlling film organizations. The government also framed movies to “search for the real Indonesian faces on screen” and “represent the true Indonesian culture”, which means excluding violence and erotic scenes from the screen.  On the other hand, in this case, the film already passed the official censorship board, but was opposed by public and subsequently got withdrawn.

I assume that the film caused moral panics within the society because it was considered as a  ‘threat to societal values and interests’ (Cohen, 1972, p.9) and challenged legitimate culture. Bylooking at the media reception in 1988, this paper will investigate the bigger context of Indonesia’s political and social situation regarding the withdrawn of the film and social anxiety surrounding it. Particularly, I want to interrogate how various Politics of Tastes (government, culture elites, mainstream society, and film producers) interacted, contradicted, and negotiated within this case.


PS: "Lady Terminator" is one of the most popular Indonesian transnational exploitation films. It is also included in "100 Cult Films" by Xavier Mendik and Ernest Mathijs.

Next Destination: Fan Studies Network Symposium 2013 at UEA

In Fan Studies Network Symposium 2013 at University of East Anglia (UEA) next month, my paper will be in the "Transculture" panel with 3 other scholars. Here's the full schedule and abstracts: http://fanstudies.wordpress.com/fan-studies-network-symposium-2013/

I will present a paper titled ‘Rediscovering “Crazy Indonesia”: Classic Indonesian Exploitation Cinema according to 2000s Western Cult Fans’

Time to start panic?

\m/

Studentship in Film, Television, and Media at University of East Anglia

FYI,
The School of Film, Television and Media Studies at the University of East Anglia is inviting applications to our PhD programme. The Faculty of Arts and Humanities at UEA is a member of CHASE (with Sussex, Kent, Goldsmiths, Essex, The Courtauld and the Open University), a consortium that was recently awarded an AHRC Block Grant Partnership, which provides a series of studentships that are supplemented by other studentships funded by the School and the Faculty. 

Applicants applying to work in Film, Television and Media Studies (FTM) at UEA will compete for these studentships with applicants to other schools and other members of the consortium, but applicants to FTM have had a strong track record in winning earlier studentship competitions.

For UK students, these awards cover both fees and maintenance and for EU residents awards are on a fees only basis.

If you are interested in applying for a PhD in Film, Television and Media Studies at UEA, please contact the School’s Director of Postgraduate Research Su Holmes (susan.holmes@uea.ac.uk) who will help guide you through the process.

You may also wish to consult our list of staff and their research interests for guidance on possible supervisory expertise:http://www.uea.ac.uk/ftv/People

Those interested in MA applications should contact Peter Kramer, the Leader of Postgraduate Taught Programmes (p.kramer@uea.ac.uk) in the first instance.

The deadline for applications (including all supporting information such as references, etc) is 31 January, 2014, so it is important that prospective applicants contact the School as a matter of urgency to start the application process.
    
 More information and details of how to apply can be found at:http://www.uea.ac.uk/futurestudents/uk/postgraduates/admissions/pgtadmissions (for MA applications)http://www.uea.ac.uk/futurestudents/uk/postgraduates/admissions/pgradmissions (for PhD applications)

Alternatively, please contact the UEA Humanities Graduate School:humgrad.school@uea.ac.uk<mailto:humgrad.school@uea.ac.uk>


Professor Mark Jancovich
 Associate Dean for Research, HUM
 Film, Television and Media Studies
 University of East Anglia
 Norwich NR4 7TJ
 Tel: 01603 592787
 blog: http://fantasticfilmtv.com/