Professor Erik Knudsen
Erik is a filmmaker, professor of media practice and Director of Research. His research revolves around cinematic story and narratives. Erik leads creative practice research and supervises PhD students in the field. He publishes filmmaking practice research and runs a large AHRC funded international research project: StoryLab Skills Training for Democratised Film Industries.
Predominantly, Erik conducts practice-led film research, particularly narrative documentary and fiction. He is interested in alternative methods of cinematic narratives, the changing narrative practices from developments in production and dissemination technologies, and the fact and fiction within the moving image. His work is concerned with the exploration and development of transcendent themes in cinematic storytelling and understanding the meaning and impact of independence in contemporary filmmaking.
Erik supervises PhD students and has seen many to completion. He himself holds a PhD from the University of Salford (2002). He leads the international Arts and Humanities funded research project: StoryLab Skills Training for Democratised Film Industries running research projects in Malaysia, Ghana, Colombia and California. As Faculty Director of Research, Erik handles the delivery and development of the research strategy.
Before joining us, Erik was a Professor of Visual and Digital Culture at Bournemouth University’s Media School. He has also been a Professor of Film Practice at the University of Salford, where he was Head of the School of Media, Music and Performance. Erik was the University of Salford’s Director of Graduate Studies during his many years of study. Here, he also led programmes in the MA in Fiction Film Production, the MA in Television Documentary Production and the MA in Wildlife Documentary Production. Prior to this, he was Head of Production at the Northern Film School at Leeds Beckett University. Erik is also Visiting Professor and the former Head of the Editing Department, at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television in Cuba. He sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Media Practice and Education, being a former chair, and was an AHRC Peer Review College member, involved in their funding of decision-making panels. He writes about creative film practice and his latest book is Finding The Personal Voice In Filmmaking, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2018.
He is principal investigator on two recent Arts and Humanities Research Council grants: StoryLab International Film Development Research Network (2016 - 2018) and StoryLab Skills Training for Democratised Film Industries (2019 - 2020).
As a prize winning filmmaker, his films include:
- True Calling (88 minutes, fiction, 2021)
- Cleft Lip (84 min., fiction, 2018)
- The Raven On The Jetty (88 min., fiction, 2015)
- The Silent Accomplice (84 min., fiction, 2011)
- Vainilla Chip (17 min., Documentary, 2009)
- Veil (for Horse & Bamboo Theatre Company’s touring show, 2008)
- Heart of Gold (40 min., documentary, 2006)
- Sea of Madness (86 min., fiction, 2006)
- Brannigan’s March (99 min., fiction, 2004)
- Bed of Flowers (50 min., documentary, 2001)
- Signs of Life (70 min., fiction, 1999)
- Reunion (50 min., documentary, 1995)
- One Day Tafo (70 min., documentary, 1991)
Erik runs his own film production company, One Day Films Ltd. More recently, Erik has been engaged with photography. He has exhibited and published. For example, his photographic essay Cuba in Waiting is available as a book and was exhibited at the Cervantes Institute in Manchester (2013) and Dean Clough Galleries (2014). His latest work, entitled Doubt. photographic and poetic book, combined with a film. This work was exhibited in Manchester in 2018 and at Dean Clough Galleries from October 2018 to January 2019.
- Professor
- PHD Media Arts, University of Salford, 2002
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Specialised Honours in Film Production, York University, Toronto, Canada, 1983
- Best Film, Black Star International Film Festival 2018 (Film: Cleft Lip)
- Best Foreign Film, Lebanese Independent Film Festival 2018 (Film: Cleft Lip)
- Best Supporting Actor, Amsterdam International Filmmaker Festival 2018 (Film: Cleft Lip)
- Jury Award, Madrid International Film Festival, 2014 (Film: The Raven On The Jetty)
- Bronze Award, Houston International Film Festival 1991 (Film: One Day Tafo).
- Filmmaking
- Photography
- Screenwriting
- Story and narrative
- Creative industries
- Visiting Professor, Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television, Cuba
- Advisory Board Member, British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS).
Use the links below to view their profiles:
- Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
- C4Globe
- Research Institute for Citizenship Society and Change
- Creative Practices Research Academy
- AHRC StoryLab International Film Development Research Network (2016 - 2018)
- AHRC StoryLab Skills Training for Democratised Film Industries (2019 - 2020)
- Cleft Lip – feature film released on 8 March 2019
- True Calling – feature film released in UK and Ireland in October 2021.
- Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2016 £27031
- Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2018 £92000
- 2022 Keynote Speech: 2nd International Media and Society Symposium, Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey, May 2022
- 2020 Keynote Speech: 7th International Communication Days, Uskudar University, Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, April 2020
- 2019 Keynote Speech: 9th International Conference on Current Debates in Social Sciences, School of Communication of Beykent University, Istanbul, December 2019
- 2018 Keynote Speech and Symposium Organiser: Arts and Humanities Research Council StoryLab International Film Development Research Network Symposium, University of Central Lancashire, January 2018
- 2017 Keynote Speech: Method in Madness: a case study in creative practice research, Aberystwyth University, April 2017
- 2016 Keynote Speech: Method in Madness: a case study in creative practice research, Greenwich University, September 2016
- 2016 Keynote Speech: Research Is Research Is Research, Centre for Practice Based Research in the Arts Symposium, Canterbury Christchurch University, May 2016
- 2016 Keynote Speech: Rethinking Film Narrative, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, May 2016
- 2016 Keynote Speech: Rethinking Film Narrative, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China, May 2016
- 2016 Keynote Speech: Rethinking Film Narrative, Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, China, May 2016
Telephone:+441772893050
Email: Email:Professor Erik Knudsen
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