Dr Julia Wagner

I am a lecturer, writer and public speaker specialising in film and television.

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I hold a PhD in Film Studies from UCL, for which I wrote my doctoral thesis on autobiographical documentary. I have an MA in Italian Studies and a specialist knowledge of Italian cinema and language.

I am passionate about media education and audience engagement. I regularly give public lectures and host Q&A events with filmmakers, and I teach film studies courses online and at cinemas across London. During the Coronavirus lockdown period, hundreds of international participants have attended my online lectures.

I consult with Film, TV and Theatre professionals to promote sensitive, accurate portrayals of Jewish people on stage and screen. See my Casting Jewish page for more information.

My writing has been published by the BFI, in Sight & Sound, the Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish Quarterly journal. My blog on film, television and memory was published on the Huffington Post UK. I curated Jewish Britain on Film, an JW3/BFI archive project arising from a BFIPlayer collection, completed in 2019. In 2020, I contributed to the British Film Institute’s Fellini Centenary programme of live events. I am a member of The Critics’ Circle Film Section.

I am currently writing Hester Street, a BFI Film Classics book published by BFI/Bloomsbury, to be released in 2025 to mark the 50th anniversary of the film.