Staff profiles

Dr Aidan Power
Lecturer in Film
7046
01392 727046
Email: a.power3@exeter.ac.uk
Office: Queen's 254
My research focuses predominantly upon European and Hollywood cinemas with a specialisation on the relationship between science fiction film and the various crises (social, political, economic) to have beset the European Union in the 21st century. My monograph Contemporary European Science Fiction Cinemas was published by Palgrave in 2018 and my work has appeared in journals including Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, Studies in European Cinema, Film Studies, and Science Fiction Film and Television.
I co-edited the collection Reality Unbound: New Departures in Science Fiction Cinema (2017)—which has also been translated into German—and have published book chapters on Black Mirror, Catalan sf, modernist European cinema and British dystopian cinema.
I am a co-founder and editor of Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media and have worked as a peer-reviewer for Academic Quarter, Journal of Scandinavian Cinema, Paradoxa: Studies in World Literary Genres, Studies in European Cinema, Utopian Studies, and Routledge books.
My most recent article "Eurocentrism, The Anthropocene and Climate Migration in Aniara" was published in Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction in 2021.
Office Hours for Term 1: Tuesdays 11-12, Fridays 10-12
Book a slot
External impact and engagement
Invited Talks
2021
“Consume, Destroy, Evacuate: Aniara in the Anthropocene”, Film and Television Screen Studies Research Seminars, University of Exeter, November 24th.
2020
“In Our Immense Sarcophagus We Lay: Charting the Anthropocene in Aniara”, Environmentalism, Fantasy and Intersectionality Conference, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, November 6th.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlvvup5U4AA
2018
“The Overlords Have Landed: Science Fiction Cinema and the European Project”, Centre for Interdisciplinary Film Research, University of Exeter, November 21st.
2017
“Night Watch/Nochnoy dozor”, From Russia With Film, Irish Film Institute, Dublin, April 11th.
“Future Imperfect: Science, Fiction, Film”, Berlin Film Festival Retrospective, Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin, February 11th.
“The Camel and the Hippopotamus: Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster and the European Project”, Film and Screen Media Invited Research Seminar Series, University College Cork, January 30th.
2014
“Tempering Dystopia: Science Fiction Film and the European Union”, Zemki Invited Speakers Series, Universität Bremen, Jan 9th.
Conference Presentations
2018
“Nation, Patriarchy and the Capitalist Death Drive in Catalan Science Fiction Cinema”, Bremen International Film Conference, City 46 Bremen, April 27th.
2017
“There Once Was a Dream That Was Rome: The European Union and the Creation of the Future”, Science Fiction Research Association Conference, University of California, Riverside, July 1st.
2016
“Utopia Interrupted: Connecting Science Fiction and European Integration”, NECS: In/Between Cultures of Connectivity, The Brandenburg Center for Media Studies, Potsdam, July 28th.
2015
“Eurimages and the Funding of European Cinema”, Research Colloquium: Film Media Art and Popular Culture, Universität Bremen, Oct 27th.
“Why Science Fiction? A Historical Overview”, University of Bremen Internal Research Workshop, Universität Bremen, July 6th.
“Science Fiction as Creative Unit: Film Studies, Linguistics and Computer Science”, Film Media Art and Popular Culture, Universität Bremen, May 11th.
“The Future is Now: An Introduction”, The Future is Now: Science Fiction Cinema as Audio-visual Blueprint of Histories, Spaces and Sounds, 20th International Bremen Film Conference, City 46 Bremen, May 7th.
2014
“Vacations in Dystopia: Tourism, Culture and Authenticity in Science Fiction Cinema”, NECS: Creative Energies, Creative Industries, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milan, June 21st.
“Reworking the Foundational Myths: Some Thoughts on Richard Fleischer’s Soylent Green”, Research Colloquium: Film Media Art and Popular Culture, Universität Bremen, May 26th.
“Tourism and Science Fiction: Exploring a Novel Perspective”, Research Colloquium: Film Media Art and Popular Culture, Universität Bremen, April 29th.
“Charting the End Times: ‘Authenticity’ in 21st Century European Science Fiction Cinema”, Society for Cinema & Media Studies, Seattle, March 21st.
2013
“Crises and Beyond: Science Fiction and the European Union”, European Film Cultures: ECREA Film Studies Section Interim Conference, Lunds Universitet, Nov 9th.
“Charting Filmic Responses to the Economic Crisis”, Research Colloquium: "Film, Media Art and Popular Culture", Universität Bremen, Oct 29th.
“Science Fiction Cinema and the European Union”, Excellence Series, Universität Bremen, June 25th.
“Community and Contemporary European Science Fiction Cinema”, Excellence Series, Universität Bremen, April 23rd.
2012
“Ragnarök Now: Moving Through the Interstices of Le temps du loup”, Cinema in the Interstices: Alphaville Inaugural Conference, University College Cork, Sep 7th.
“Clementine Wore a White Ribbon: Collective Memory in Michael Haneke’s Das Weiße Band (and John Ford’s West)”, NECS 2012: Time Networks: Screen Media and Memory, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, June 22nd.
2010
“A Microcosmic Look at Travel and Diaspora in French Cinema”, Italian Research Seminar Series 2010-2011, University College Cork, Oct 29th.
"The Last Tourist Office in Dystopia: Surveillance and the Metropolis", Transnational, Transcultural, Transmedial: European Cinema Today, University College Cork, May 14th.
“Fallujah: East London. Terror, Order and the Digital Panopticon”, Irish Postgraduate Film Research Seminar, Trinity College Dublin, April 22nd.
2009
“Darkness on the Edge of Town: Borders and Peripheries in Contemporary Westerns”, The Graduate School: Annual Conference, University College Cork, Nov 19th.
“A Weekend Break in the Country … with Zombies: Contrasting Space in 28 Days Later”, NECS 2009: Locating Media, Lunds Universitet, June 27th.
“Echoes from Elsewhere: Diasporic Journeys through Contemporary French Cinema”, Anthropological Association of Ireland Conference, Queens University Belfast, May 1st.
“Overheating the Melting Pot: Cultural Compositions in the Cinema of Michael Haneke”, Graduate Centre for Europe Conference, University of Birmingham, April 17th.
2008
“Strangers in Dystopia: Identity and Nation in Contemporary English Science Fiction Cinema”, College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Conference, University College Cork, Nov 8th.
“Spatial Relationships: Women in the Cinema of David Lean”, David Lean: 100th Anniversary Conference, Queen Mary, University of London, July 24th.
Conference Organisation
2015 Co-organiser: “The Future is Now: Science Fiction Cinema as Audio-visual Blueprint of Histories, Spaces and Sounds”, 20th International Bremen Film Conference, May 6th-9th. *part-funded by the German Research Council.
2012 Co-organiser: “Cinema in the Interstices: Alphaville Inaugural Conference”, University College Cork, Sep 7th-9th. *part-funded by The Irish Tourist Board.
2010 Co-organiser: “Transnational, Transcultural, Transmedial: European Cinema Today”, University College Cork, May 14th-15th.
Modules taught
- EAF1501 - Major Debates in Film Theory
- EAF1504 - Introduction to Film History
- EAF2502 - Shots in the Dark
- EAF2510 - Adaptation: Text, Image, Culture
- EAF2512 - European Cinemas: Art, Industry, Entertainment
- EAS1032 - Approaches to Criticism
- EAS1034 - Film Studies: An Introduction
Biography
I grew up in West Cork, Ireland. Having completed a PhD in Film Studies at University College Cork in 2012, I worked for three years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Bremen. I returned to Ireland in 2016, after being awarded a Government of Ireland Research Fellowship. I have lectured at Exeter since 2018.