Academic Work
Broadly, my research centres on the intersections of cinema, culture, gender, and language in the context of Asia. I was a PhD candidate at the National University of Singapore, supported by the President’s Graduate Fellowship and NUS Research Scholarship, before exiting my program in 2022 to transition into an industry role.
I have a Master of Philosophy in Film Studies from the Australian National University and a Bachelors of Arts (Hons.) in English Literature from the National University of Singapore.
Find me on Academia.edu and Google Scholar.
Video Essay
The last place I expected to find a recipe was in a rape-revenge film. Yet, there it was, in the first act of the critically acclaimed Indonesian film Marlina Si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak/Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017) directed by Mouly Surya. When Marlina realises that the gang of men at her doorstep have come to rape and rob her, she knows that she must kill them in a pre-emptive act of self-defence.
Watch How to Cook Marlina’s Sup Ayam and read the full essay on MAI.
Published as part of the special issue MAI, vol. 13 (Winter 2024): Doing Women’s Global Horror Film History, edited by Dr. Alison Peirse. Supported by the AHRC Research, Development and Engagement Fellowship.
Academic Work
White hot heroes: Semiotics of race and sexuality in Hollywood ninja films. (Co-authored with Mie Hiramoto)
Language and Communication, vol. 71, 2020, 56-67.
Racializing heterosexuality: Non-normativity and East Asian characters in James Bond films. (Co-authored with Mie Hiramoto)
Language in Society, vol. 48, no. 4, 2019, 541-563.
Iron lady to old lady: the neutering of James Bond’s M.
Feminist Media Studies, vol. 18, no. 1, 2018, 94-107.
Mediatization of East Asia in James Bond films. (Co-authored with Mie Hiramoto)
Discourse, Context and Media, vol. 23, 2018, 6-15.
Response to ‘Seeking God in early Bergman: The cases of The Seventh Seal and Winter Light.
CINEJ Cinema Journal, vol.2, no. 1, 2012, 42-57.
Writing & Interviews
Sex Work Onscreen: Feminist Perspectives on The Shades of Love.
NUS Gender and Sexuality Research Cluster, 8 July 2021.
Interview: “Southeast Asian filmmakers are telling us stories about ourselves that we may not always feel comfortable talking about openly.”
Sindie, 26 January 2021.
Screening the Forest: Slow days at the Asian Film Archive.
Asian Film Archive, 29 June 2018.
The Silent God of Andrei Tarkovsky and Ingmar Bergman.
fourbythree, no. 6, 2016.
‘It’s in the film that I try to say everything’: Andrei Tarkovsky on women, spirituality, and the autonomy of the filmmaker. (With Irena Brežná)
Metro no. 173, 2012, 72-78.
Awards
President’s Graduate Fellowship
National University of Singapore, 2019-2021
Research Scholarship
National University of Singapore, 2016-2019
Graduate Students’ Teaching Award
National University of Singapore, 2016-2018
Best Presentation
Nanyang Graduate Student Colloquium, Nanyang Technological University, 2017
Thanks and acknowledgements:
Co-authors Mie Hiramoto and Irena Brežná
Editors Alison Peirse and the scholars of Doing Women’s Global Horror Film History.