Colleen Laird, PhD
Assistant Professor of Japanese Film
Dept. of Asian Studies
University of British Columbia
Video captured at the "NINAGAWA Mika with EiM: Where Humanity Meets Nature" in Hirosaki, Japan. June 2024.
Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor of Japanese Film and Popular Culture (2019--–present)
Department of Asian Studies
University of British Columbia
Associate Professor of Japanese Studies (2019—2020)
Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies (2016—2019)
Department of Modern and Classical Languages
Western Washington University
Visiting Assistant Professor (2014–2016)
Asian Studies Program, Japanese Studies
Bates College
Lecturer of Japanese Studies (2011–2014)
Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Education
Doctorate of East Asian Languages and Literatures (2012)
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Monbukagakushō Visiting Research Scholar (Japanese AY 2010–2011)
筑波大学 Tsukuba University, Tsukuba, Japan
Professional Advanced Japanese Language Training (AY 2007–2008)
アメリカカナダ大学連合日本研究センター Inter-University Center, Yokohama, Japan
Master of Arts in East Asian Languages and Literatures (2006)
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Bachelor of Arts, Asian Studies & Biology majors, Japanese minor (2002)
Macalester College, St. Paul, MN
Study Abroad—Japanese Language and Culture Studies (2001)
早稲田大学 Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Research
Interests
Japanese film and popular culture
Videographic criticism
Gendered image production, gendered reception, and women in industry
Cinema, video games, new media, and streaming media
Paratexts: distribution, exhibition, and production materials
Articles, Book Chapters, and Essays
"彼岸花 / Equinox Flower (Warr’s Constraint)." [in]Transition. Vol. 11, No. 3. September, 2024.
"家." Tecmerin: Journal of Audiovisual Essays. Issue 13. Published July 25, 2024.
"Female Benshi, Past and Present." The World of the Benshi. Edited by Daisuke Miyao and Micheal Emmerich. Yanai Initiative. 2024. pp. 113-128
"Kūki." MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture. February 2, 2024.
"Eye-Camera-Ninagawa." [in]Transition. 10.2, 2023.
"I am Yakusho Kōji." Tecmerin: Journal of Audiovisual Essays, No. 11, 2023.
"Crossing Thresholds: Contemporary Female Directors at Home in Japanese Cinema." Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 15:1, pp. 37-54, 2023. Taylor and Francis.
"One Ghost, Two Shells: The Transnational Treasure Text of Kikuchi Rinko." Feminist Media Studies. Taylor and Francis. February, 2020.
"Imaging a Female Filmmaker: The Director Personas of Nishikawa Miwa and Ogigami Naoko." Frames Cinema Journal. May 2013.
"Star gazing: Sight lines and studio brands in post-war Japanese film posters." The Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 3: 2, pp. 95–115, 2012.
"Japanese Cinema, the Classroom, and Swallowtail Butterfly." Jump Cut. No. 52, Summer 2010.
"Tanada Yuki." The World Directory of Cinema: Japan, 3rd Edition. Edited by John Berra. Intellect Ltd. 2015.
"Kawase Naomi’s Mogari no Mori." The World Directory of Cinema: Japan, 2nd Edition. Edited by John Berra. Intellect Ltd. 2012.
"Nishikawa Miwa’s Dear Doctor." The World Directory of Cinema: Japan, 2nd Edition. Edited by John Berra. Intellect Ltd. 2012.
"Nishikawa Miwa’s Yureru." The World Directory of Cinema: Japan, 2nd Edition. Edited by John Berra. Intellect Ltd. 2012.
"Ogigami Naoko." The World Directory of Cinema: Japan, 2nd Edition. Edited by John Berra. Intellect Ltd. 2012.
Public-Facing Scholarship
& Other Contributions to Film and Media Studies
Film Festival Screening: Eye-Camera-Ninagawa. Marienbad Film Festival. Mariánské Lázně, Czech Republic. June 15, 2024.
"Ways of Doing: The Video Essay Podcast." 80 minutes. Recorded June 10, 2024.
"Doing Women's Global Horror Film History: The Video Essay Podcast." 53 minutes. Episode released Friday, May 18, 2024.
“Dreams/夢中人.” Video essay collaboration for Dr. Ian Garwood’s “Indy Vinyl” video essay project. Published online June 8th, 2023. 4:42 minutes
“Negative Space.” Published online October 24, 2022. Videographic essay created for “Doing Women’s Global Horror Film History.” University of Leeds.
“Dr. Irene González-López on Haneda Sumiko.” 40 minutes. Published September 11, 2022.
“Prof. Kate Taylor-Jones on Andō Momoko.” 31 minutes. Published August 29, 2022.
“Prof. Ayako Saitō on Tanaka Kinuyo.” 54 minutes. Published August 15, 2022.
“Alejandra Armendáriz-Hernández on Tanada Yuki.” 56 minutes. Published July 16, 2022.
“Prof. Lindsay Nelson on Asato Mari.” 41 minutes. Published June 8, 2022. https://youtu.be/6rPBe4oeW_w
“Japanese Cinema: Editing (Part Two).” OER Video published June 6, 2022. https://youtu.be/I5cnK-D3mfA
“Japanese Cinema: Editing (Part One).” OER Video published April 27, 2022. https://youtu.be/7xC_5T1ZHEk
Video Games and the Media mix. In Media Res. Theme Week Coordinator for UBC graduate students Iman Isa, Catherine Tran, Yuewei Wang, Anika Kudzyk, and Bianca Chui. March 21-25, 2022.
“Japanese Cinema: Cinematography.” OER Video published Jan. 25, 2022.
“Japanese Cinema: Mise en scène.” OER Video published Jan. 12, 2022.
“Interview with Prof. Lindsay Nelson on Shiraishi Kōji’s Shirome.” OER Video published Mar. 19, 2021.
“Interview with Prof. Kinoshita Chika on Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Loft.” OER Video published Mar. 6, 2021.
“Interview with Prof. Raechel Dumas on Shimizu Takashi’s Ju-On.” OER Video published Feb. 28, 2021.
“Interview with Dr. Kathryn Hemmann on Miike Takashi’s Audition. OER Video published Jan. 25, 2021.
“Interview with Prof. Steven Brown on Asato Mari’s Bilocation.” OER Video published Jan. 16, 2021.
Japanese Paratexts. In Media Res. Theme Week Coordinator for UBC graduate students Ai Yamamoto, Oğuzhan Kaya, Rosaley Gai, Lilian Higashikata, Jaylene Laturnas, and Alisa Guo. August 17-21, 2020.
Feminism in the Works: Japanese Women Directors and Behind-the-Scenes Collaboration. In Media Res. November 13, 2019.
Sight and Sound as Compromised Witness: Kore’eda’s “The Third Murder.” In Media Res. August 29, 2019.
—Featured as a “Staff Pick” highlight and reposted on November 24, 2019.
Conference Panel Organization & Moderation
A Ghostly Chronology: Video Essays on the History and Evolution of Japanese Horror Cinema. Panel Discussant. Asian Studies Conference Japan. Tokyo, Japan. July 6, 2024.
Videographic Star Studies: The Screen Stars Dictionary. Roundtable co-organizer and co-chair. The Society and Cinema Media Studies annual international conference. March 16, 2024. Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Home Renovation: Reimaging Domestic Spaces in Contemporary Japanese Cinema and Literature. Panel Organizer. The European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS) annual conference. Ghent, Belgium, August 17-20, 2023.
Sakoku 2.0?: Borders in Modern and Contemporary Japan. Panel Organizer, Discussant, and Chair. Modern Language Association annual conference. San Francisco, California, USA. January, 2023.
Precarities in Public Scholarship and on Public Platforms in Japanese Studies. Roundtable Organizer. Modern Language Association annual conference. San Francisco, California, USA. January, 2023.
Picturing Japanese Women Directors. Panel Organizer. The Society for Cinema and Media Studies annual conference. Chicago (online). April 2, 2022.
Anti-Racist Approaches in Modern Japanese Studies (1900–Present). Panel discussant. Modern Language Association annual conference. Friday, January 7, 2022.
Indigenous Interventions in Japanophone Media (1900–Present). Panel organizer. Modern Language Association annual conference. Friday, January 7, 2022.
Female Trouble: Female Filmmakers, Trouble Texts. Panel Chair. Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference. Online March 19, 2021.
Streaming Japan. Panel Chair and Organizer for accepted panel. Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference. Seattle, Washington, USA. March 17, 2019.
Liminal Bodies and Magical Girls: Gender, Adolescence, and the Posthuman in Japanese Horror and Science Fiction. Discussant. Association for Asian Studies (AAS) International Conference. Seattle, Washington, USA. April 2, 2016.
Japanese Celebrity Culture. Panel Chair and Organizer. Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference. Chicago, Illinois, USA. March 9, 2013.
Promotional Paratexts and the Construction of Female Audiences. Panel Chair and Organizer. Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference. Boston, Massachusetts, USA. March 24, 2012.
Female Filmmakers in Asia. Panel Chair and Organizer. Association for Asian Studies (AAS) International Conference. Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. April 3, 2011.
Women in Industry: New Citizenship in Mainstream Media. Sponsored by the Women’s Caucus. Panel Chair and Organizer. Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. March 11, 2011
Selected Conference Presentations and Roundtable Participation
The Boundaries of Space and Place in Japanese Cinema. Roundtable presentation. Kinema Club Conference: Borders, Boundaries, Edges, and Fringes in Japanese Film (Studies). University of Sheffield, UK. June 13, 2024.
Japanese Cinema and Videographic Scholarship. On the panel “Mixed Media and the Extra-Cinematic” at the Kinema Club Conference: Borders, Boundaries, Edges, and Fringes in Japanese Film (Studies). University of Sheffield, UK. June 13, 2024.
I am Yakusho Kōji. Videographic essay presentation as part of the “Videographic Star Studies: Screen Stars Dictionary” roundtable at the Society For Cinema And Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference. March 16, 2024. Boston, MA, USA.
Exploring a Personal Relationship with Japanese Cinema. Videographic performance presentation at the In the Works: Makings and Unmakings of the Video Essay conference. November 4, 2023. Lucerne, Switzerland.
What is Home but Four Walls, a Floor, and a Ceiling? The Suitcase in the Works of Contemporary Japanese Women Directors. Videographic essay presented at the European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS) annual conference. Ghent, Belgium, August 17-20, 2023.
Doing Women's (Global) (Horror) Film History. Video essay presentation as part of a roundtable at the Doing Women’s Film and Television History conference. University of Sussex, UK. June 14-16, 2023.
Reflecting Ashizawa Akiko. Roundtable presentation for the “New Voices in Cinephilia” series at the University of Leeds, UK. May 3, 2023.
The Accented Video Essay: Ashizawa Akiko. Videographic essay presented as part of a roundtable for the Society For Cinema And Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference. Denver, CO, USA. April 12-15, 2023.
Kūki. Videographic essay presented at the Workshop on Videographic Criticism hosted at Western Washington University. April 6, 2023.
Women's Film History Roundtable. Participant. De-Westernising Horror Conference. October 31-November 1, 2022. Kings College London, UK.
Eye-Camera-Ninagawa. Videographic essay presented at the "Theory and Practice of the Video Essay: A Conference” International Conference on Videographic Criticism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Sept. 22-23, 2022.
Nishikawa Miwa’s Way with Words: Gender, the Japanese Film Industry, and the Art of Adaptation. Paper presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies annual conference. Chicago (online). April 2, 2022.
Shifting the Syllabus: Reframing the Masculine Narrative in Japanese Cinema Classrooms. Paper presented at the Teaching Women’s Filmmaking Conference. International Conference. Online. April 17, 2021.
Butterflies and Blood Spatters: The Ostentatious Scopophilia of Ninagawa Mika’s Feminine Fantasies. Paper presented at Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual International Conference. Online. March 25, 2021.
Extravagance and Extremes: Seeing Red in Ninagawa Mika’s Female Narratives. Paper accepted for presentation at Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference. Online. March 19, 2021.
AAS Digital Dialogue on Gender Equity and Fair Practices. Workshop panelist. Hosted online by the Association for Asian Studies. October 14, 2020.
Japanese Cinema: De-centering Film Studies and Visual Literacy Pedagogy. Paper presented at the Japan in the World, The World in Japan International Symposium. Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. September 16-17, 2019.
Gender Troubles and Gendered Directors in Contemporary Japanese Cinema. Presented by invitation at the Feminist World-Building in Japanese Cinema / Building Feminist Worlds in Japanese Cinema Symposium. University of California at San Diego, USA. May 2-3, 2019.
Made In Japan: Netflix Original Content and Mobile Transnationalism. Paper presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference, on the panel “Streaming Japan.” Seattle, Washington, USA. March 17, 2019.
Screened and Not Heard: the Transnational Treasure Text of Kikuchi Rinko. Paper presented at the Console-ing Passions Annual Conference. Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, USA. June 27, 2016.
Crossing The Threshold: Running Away From Home in the Works of Contemporary Japanese Female Directors. Paper presented at the Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ) Annual Conference. Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. June 21, 2014.
Directors Served à la Carte: The Gendered Paratexts of Trendy Production Company Paradise Café. Presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference, on the panel “Promotional Paratexts and the Construction of Female Audiences.” Boston, Massachusetts, USA. March 24, 2012.
The Power of Not Looking: How Female Audiences Shaped the 1960s Decline of Japanese Studio Cinema. Presented at “The Art Theater Guild of Japan: Spaces for Intercultural and Intermedial Cinema Symposium” at Birkbeck, University of London, London, U.K. July 30, 2011.
Changing Spaces: The Cinematic Styles of Ogigami Naoko and Nishikawa Miwa and Japanese Film Reception. Presented at the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) International Conference, on the panel “Female Filmmakers in Asia.” Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. April 03, 2011.
Girl’s Style Cinema: Selling Independent Female Filmmakers in Japan. Presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) National Conference, on the panel “Exhibition, Distribution, Marketing.” Hollywood, California, USA. March 17, 2010.
ガールズ•スタイル：F１層と映画マーケティング (Girl’s Style: The F1-sou and Movie
Marketing). Presented in Japanese at the Inter-University Center year-end conference. Minato-Mirai Hall, Yokohama, Japan. June 04, 2008.
Selected Grants, Awards, Distinctions, and Fellowships
Reframing the Argument: Videographic Criticism as Graduate Research Practice 2025
SSHRC Connection Grant
Reframing the Argument: Videographic Criticism as Graduate Research Practice 2024-2025
TAU-Notre Dame University Joint Workshop Grant
Sight and Sound Best Video Essays of 2023
Ishibashi Foundation/The Japan Foundation Fellowship Program for Japanese Art 2023
Japan Foundation, Los Angeles
Affiliate Visiting Scholar: Meiji University (Japan) June, 2023
Department of Political Science and Economics
Affiliate Visiting Scholar: University of Leeds (UK) May, 2023
School of Media and Communication
Embodying the Video Essay 2023
SSHRC Connection Grant
Sight and Sound Best Video Essays of 2022
British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund: Collaborative Digital Heritage Studio (CoDHerS) 2022-2024
British Columbia, Canada
Scholarship in Sound and Image 2022
Middlebury College
OER Implementation Fund 2022
University of British Columbia
Japanese Women Directors Project 2022
SSHRC Connection Grant
Arts & Culture and Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange Grant 2022
Japan Foundation: Toronto
Public Humanities Faculty Fellowship 2021
University of British Columbia
Hampton Fund Research Grant in the Humanities and Social Sciences: New Faculty Grant 2020-2022
University of British Columbia
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Dissemination Fund 2019
University of British Columbia
Japan Foundation Japanese Teaching Materials Purchase Grant 2019
Japan Foundation, Los Angeles
Japan Foundation Japanese Teaching Materials Purchase Grant 2018
Japan Foundation, Los Angeles
College of Humanities and Social Sciences Summer Teaching Grant 2018
Western Washington University
Japan Foundation Short Term Teacher Training Fellowship 2017
Japan Foundation Japanese Language Institute, Urawa, Saitama, Japan
College of Humanities and Social Sciences Summer Research Grant 2017
Western Washington University
Teaching Excellence Award 2013-2014
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, College of Arts and Sciences