Associate Professor Ben McCann

Associate Professor Ben McCann
 Position Associate Professor
 Org Unit School of Humanities
 Email benjamin.mccann@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone 831 35149
 Location Floor/Room 8 ,  Napier ,   North Terrace

  • Biography/ Background

    I completed an BA in History and French at Keble College, Oxford (1994-1998) and completed a PhD in 1930s French Cinema at the University of Bristol (1999-2003).  I am interested in all areas of French Cinema, particularly in 1930s French 'Poetic Realist' cinema, the films of Marcel Carné and Julien Duvivier, set design and film decor, film adaptation, and the films of Jean Dujardin.

    I was Head of the French Department from 2016 to 2021, and have been Head of the Department of European Languages and Linguistics since 2024.

    I serve as the Associate Head (International) for the School of Humanties (2022-2025)

    I serve as the Academic Integrity Officer for the School of Humanities (2022-2025)

     

  • Qualifications

    PhD: University of Bristol: 'Set Design, Spatial Configurations, and the Architectonics of 1930s French Poetic Realist Cinema' - (1999-2004)
    BA (Hons): Keble College, Oxford University (French and History, 1994-1998)

    Graduate Certificate in Higher Education: 成人大片 - (2008)

    Teaching English as a Foreign Language: Liverpool John Moores University - (2005)

  • Awards & Achievements

    2008: Awarded the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Prize for Excellence in Teaching (成人大片)

    2009: Awarded a $219,000 Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Grant entitled "A collaborative multi-faceted approach to address the gaps between student expectation and experience at university" - Principal Investigator

    2010: Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council: 'For using language immersion, along with joie de vivre, to motivate students and inspire engagement in French grammar, literature and culture'

    2011: Awarded the Stephen Cole the Elder Award for Excellence in Teaching (成人大片)

    2014: Awarded a $60,000 grant from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) to explore the experiences of first-in-family students at the 成人大片

    2021: Awarded a Commendation for the Enhancement and Innovation of Student Learning: Promoting Student Wellbeing (成人大片)

    2022: Awarded the Stephen Cole the Elder Award for Excellence in Teaching and Support for Learning (成人大片)

    2022: Awarded a Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (UK)

    2023: Awarded a School of Humanities Research Impact Award (成人大片)

  • Teaching Interests

    In 2024, I will be teaching and coordinating

    - Upper Intermediate French

    - Advanced French

    - Introduction to French Literature

    - Contemporary France

    - Europe on Screen

    I have been an Honours Supervisor for dissertations on, among other topics:

    - French colonial cinema

    - French immigration

    - the representation of schools and teachers in French cinema

    - music and fashion in Diva (1981)

    - Camus, philosophy and literary style

    - film adaptations of French crime fiction

    I have been a PhD co-supervisor for doctoral theses on:

    - the cinema of Jean-Luc Godard

    - French cinema and the body

    - Tamil Nadu cinema and politics

    - the representation of the Second World War and the Occupation in French cinema from 1995 to 2015

    - representations of cities in Chinese cinema

    - Indian and Chinese cinema

    I welcome Honours and PhD proposals on any area of French cinema.

  • Research Interests

    French 1930s cinema

    set design and decor

    the development of the French horror film

    the role of music and sound in Jacques Tati’s films

    European auteur cinema

    the French New Wave

    developments in French New Millennium Cinema

    animation

    the life and work of Alexandre Trauner

  • Publications

    Books

    Julien Duvivier (French Film Directors Series) (Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 2017)

    Framing French Culture: From Ethnographic Illustrations to Photographic Self-Narratives (成人大片 Press: Adelaide, 2015) [co-edited with Natalie Edwards and Peter Poiana]

    Ripping Open The Set: French Film Design 1930-1939 (Peter Lang: Bern and Oxford, 2013)

    Le Jour se lève (French Film Guide: Ciné-file French Film Guides) (I.B. Tauris: London, 2013)

    The Cinema of Michael Haneke (Wallflower: London, 2011) [co-edited with David Sorfa]

    Book chapters

    McCann, B. (2015) 'The Return of Trauner: Late Style in 1970s and 1980s Film Design', in Framing French Culture, eds. Natalie Edwards, Ben McCann and Peter Poiana (成人大片 Press, Adelaide), pp. 156-172.

    McCann, B. and J. West-Sooby (2014) '"I love how the content stimulates me to want to continue to learn French", or How teaching literary adaptations makes for better French students', Selected Proceedings of the Second National LCNAU Colloquium, Canberra 3-5 July 2013, eds. Catherine Travis, John Hajek, Colin Nettelbeck, Elizabeth Beckmann and Anna Lloyd-Smith, pp. 457-469. 

    McCann, B. (2013) 'Body Horror', in To See the Saw Movies: Essays in Post-9/11 Horror, eds. James Aston and John Wallis (McFarland: Jefferson, NC, and London), pp. 30-44.

    McCann, B. (2013) 'Julien Duvivier', in Directory of World Cinema: France, eds. Tim Palmer and Charlie Michael (Intellect: Bristol), pp. 17-20.

    McCann, B. (2013), 'Horror', in Directory of World Cinema: France, eds. Tim Palmer and Charlie Michael (Intellect: Bristol), pp. 276-283.

    McCann, B. (2011) "'A many splendoured thing?': Plural visions of the city in Paris je t'aime", in Hexagonal Variations: Diversity, Plurality and Reinvention in Contemporary French Studies, eds. Murray Pratt, Jo McCormack and Alistair Rolls (Rodopi: Amsterdam), pp. 339-354.

    McCann, B. (2011) ‘Introduction', in Cinema Utopia: The Cinema of Michael Haneke (Wallflower: London), pp. 1-9.

    McCann, B. (2011) ‘Acting, Performance and the Bressonian Impulse in Haneke's films', in Cinema Utopia: The Cinema of Michael Haneke (Wallflower: London), pp. 24-37.

    McCann, B. (2008) "'Du verre, rien que du verre': Negotiating utopia in Playtime", Nowhere is Perfect: French and Francophone Utopias/Dystopias, ed. John West-Sooby (University of Delaware Press: Newark), pp. 193-210.

    McCann, B. (2007) "Bliss in Blueness: Colour Strategies in the Films of Michael Mann", Questions of Colour in Cinema: From Paintbrush to Pixel, ed. Wendy Everett (Peter Lang: Bern), pp. 141-160.

    McCann, B. (2005) ‘Les Enfants du Paradis', The Cinema of France, ed. Phil Powrie, (London: Wallflower), pp.51-59.

    McCann, B. (2003) "Enjoying the Scenery": Landscape and the Fetishisation of Nature in ‘Badlands' and 'Days of Heaven', in The Cinema of Terrence Malick, ed. by Hannah Patterson, (London: Wallflower), pp. 75-85.

    McCann, B (2000) 'Spaces and Places - Architecture as an Instrument in Rewriting the Political: The Exposition Coloniale de Paris', Dialogues 3: Rewriting the Political, ed. by Daniel Hall and Ben McCann (London: Intellect) pp.75-81.

    Articles

    McCann, B. (2015), 'Introduction', Australian Journal of French Studies, vol. 52(2), pp. 107-111 (co-written with Benjamin Andréo).

    McCann, B. (2013), 'Jean Dujardin, OSS 117, and the Art of the Spoof', Essays in French Literature and Culture, vol. 50, November, pp. 69-84.

    McCann, B. (2011), "'Je disais tout haut ce que beaucoup pensaient tout bas!': Marcel Carné, Film Critic', French Studies Bulletin, vol. 120, Autumn, pp. 57-62.

    McCann, B. (2011), 'Marcel Carné', Senses of Cinema, vol. 58.  Published online 13 March 2011: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2011/great-directors/marcel-carne.

    McCann, B. (2009), '(Under)Scoring Poetic Realism - Maurice Jaubert and 1930s French Cinema', Studies in French Cinema, vol. 9(1), pp. 37-48.

    McCann, B. (2009) ‘What Trauner did next': The Continuation of a French Design Aesthetic in an American Context, French Cultural Studies, vol. 20(1), pp. 65-81.

    McCann, B. (2008) ‘Pierced Borders, Punctured Bodies: the Contemporary French Horror Film, Australian Journal of French Studies, vol. 45(3), pp. 225-237.

    McCann, B., Brinkworth, R., Nordström, K., and Matthews, C. (2008) 'First Year Expectations and Experiences: Student and Teacher Perspectives', Higher Education. Published online: 6 December 2008: http://www.springerlink.com/content/j1683741v277j6n2/.

    McCann, B. (2008) ‘"If it's not Disney, what is it?": Traditional Animation Techniques in Les Triplettes de Belleville', French Studies Bulletin, vol. 108, Autumn, pp. 59-62.

    McCann, B. (2004) ‘"A discreet character?" Action spaces and architectural specificity in French poetic realist cinema', Screen, vol. 45/4, Winter, pp. 375-382.

    Encyclopedia entries

    McCann, B. (2014), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films, eds. Sabine Haenni, Sarah Barrow and John White (Routledge: London and New York).  Entries on: A nous la liberté (pp. 12-14), Boudu sauvé des eaux (pp. 115-118), Les Enfants du paradis (pp. 220-222), and Mon Oncle (pp. 353-356).

    McCann, B. (2013), Directory of World Cinema: France, eds. Tim Palmer and Charlie Michael (Intellect: Bristol).  Entries on: Nogent, eldorado du dimanche (pp. 54-6), Le Jour se lève (pp. 164-6), Le Quai des brumes (pp. 166-9), Le Boucher (pp. 227-9), A l'intérieur (pp. 284-5), Frontières (pp. 292-4), and Ils (pp. 296-9)

  • Community Engagement

    Secretary, Australian Society for French Studies (2017-)

    Member of Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia (HERDSA) Executive (2013-2018)

    Member of Adelaide Film Festival Review Panel (2011-2013)

    Member of Mercury Exhibition Group (2008-2012)

    Elected Chair of the 成人大片 Theatre Guild (2008-2014)

    Committee Member, Alliance Française of Adelaide (2009-2014)

    Member of the Adelaide EDGE Rotary Club (2006-2012)

  • Files

  • Media Expertise
    CategoriesArts & Culture, Foreign Language & Culture
    ExpertiseFrench cinema; European cinema; film culture; contemporary French society
    NotesChair of the 成人大片 Theatre Guild;
    2010: Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council: 'For using language immersion, along with joie de vivre, to motivate students and inspire engagement in French grammar, literature and culture'
    2011: Stephen Cole the Elder Award for Excellence in Teaching

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Entry last updated: Tuesday, 3 Dec 2024

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