Dr. Romana Turina

I am a filmmaker and historian. My research focuses on Cultural geographies, Silenced History, Postmemory, Phenomenology of Space, and Creative practices in Film and Writing.

I am the Leader of the BAFTSS Essay Film Special Group Interest, which supports the study of the form, screenwriting practices, and development processes.

I am the author of the award-winning essay films Lunch with Family (2016) and San Sabba (2016), which are part of an ongoing project for the expression of Slovenian postmemory.

I currently work on multiple projects focused on the re-mediation of history, memory, archaeology, and the written word in performance (film, theatre, ballet). These include Uka Žeja/Thirst, a first-person essay film exploring Trieste's Slavic narrative tradition.

I am a filmmaker and historian. My research focuses on Cultural geographies, Silenced History, Postmemory, Phenomenology of Space, and Creative practices in Film and Writing.

I am the Leader of the BAFTSS Essay Film Special Group Interest, which supports the study of the form, screenwriting practices, and development processes.

I am the author of the award-winning essay films Lunch with Family (2016) and San Sabba (2016), which are part of an ongoing project for the expression of Slovenian postmemory.

I currently work on multiple projects focused on the re-mediation of history, memory, archaeology, and the written word in performance (film, theatre, ballet). These include Uka Žeja/Thirst, a first-person essay film exploring Trieste's Slavic narrative tradition.

INVITED LECTURES

Invited speaker, Seminar Series in Creative Practice, University College Cork, Ireland, 21 October 2019.

Invited speaker, Creative Practice Symposium, University College Cork, Ireland, 5 May 2018.

Invited speaker, London Essay Film Festival (affiliated event) Birkbeck – University of London.

Invited speaker, ‘San Sabba’ (Turina 2016) Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards 2018 nominated film – screening and round table, 4 April 2018.

Invited speaker, ‘Essay film and reparative storytelling: developing the narrative for Lunch with Family’, Centre for Research in Film – Research Seminar, University of Sheffield, March 2017.

PUBLICATIONS

Chapters

Narrative Experiences of History and Complex System, in Walsh, R. & Stepney, S., (2018). Narrating Complexity, New York: Springer, pp.123-142. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-... the Northeast: Trieste in Italian Cinema and the Remediation of Silenced History, in Rayner J. & Dobson, J., (2016). Mapping Cinematic Norths: International Interpretations in Film and Television, New York: Peter Lang., pp. 223-240. ISSN 1661-0261. ISBN 978-3-0343-1895-2 (print).

Articles

Out in the Open and Invisible: The City as Archive in the Essay Film San Sabba, Landscape Research (Special Issue), forthcoming (2020).

Auto-ethnography and Postmemory: a methodology for the use of film forms as research, Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, Issue 17 – Researching Creative Practice: Terminology, Policy, Models. no. 17, 2019, pp. 64–79. ISSN 2009-4078. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.17.04. (http://www.alphavillejournal.c... Animation in the Essay Film: the challenges presented by Silenced History, Journal of Screenwriting (Special Issue: Screenwriting and Animation). Volume 9, Number 3, 1 September 2018, pp. 297-316 (20). ISSN 1759-7137.

Lunch with Family, Screenworks, Volume 8.1, January 2018. ISSN 2514-3123. (http://screenworks.org.uk/archive/volume-8-1/lunch-with-family)

Romana covers all aspects of screenwriting research and creative practice (BA and MA).

RECENT FILMS

• Lunch with Family (2016) and San Sabba (2016), essay films entirely based on archival research, short listed at the AHRC Research in Film Awards and Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards.
• Behind the Book (2015) – Fictional Reconstruction based entirely on archival material.

Lunch with Family (Turina 2016) San Sabba (Turina 2016)

ORGANISED CONFERENCES

• The Essay Film Form and Animation: Intersectionality in Motion. Supported by the Arts University Bournemouth, the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS), the Society for Animation Studies (SAS), The Derek Jarman Lab. CAPA, London, 12th and 13th June 2019.
• Unconventional Approaches to Essay Filmmaking. Supported by the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) and The Derek Jarman Lab, Birkbeck, University of London. 24th March 2018.
• Essay Film and Narrative Techniques: First Symposium of the BAFTSS Essay Film Research Group. Supported by the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) and The Interdisciplinary Centre for Narrative Studies. The University of York, 18th and 19th November 2017.

• International Association for Media and History (2019)
• European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (2019)
• Screenwriting Research Network (2018)
• British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) - Leader of the Essay Film SIG (2017)
• NAWE - National Association of Writers in Education (2017)