Learning on ScreenNew Frontiers in the Spaghetti West
I have compiled an edited volume that features thirteen chapters that have their origins in the events that I have organised or attended over the past two years and this collection is currently being readied for publication with Rowman & Littlefield. Publicity surrounding my research and events resulted in me being interviewed for a BBC Radio 5 feature about Ennio Morricone’s working relationship with Sergio Leone, which was broadcast on 19 December 2014.
I have also run a series of Western film screenings and mini-seasons with the Leeds International Film Festival, the Holmfirth Film Festival and Screen Seven in Leeds. I introduced these screenings with a variety of talks and public papers. These events have been very effective research dissemination and public engagement exercises, drawing good audience numbers and sparking questions and discussions that were often restarted and continued after the screenings had ended. The enthusiasm with which the Western screenings have been received runs counter to the idea that Westerns no longer possess popular appeal and this has also been evident in the classroom. In 2014/15 I designed, wrote and taught in full the Level 2 module ‘Psychotronic Cinemas: The Cult Movie World Wide’ and its research-led sessions on cult Westerns proved to be extremely popular with the students.
Future Activities
I am convening a further research seminar series in 2015/16 and the final major event relating to my research project will be the international conference ‘Current Thinking on the Western III’ that will take place in 2016.
Dr Lee Broughton
