Professor Michael Chanan

Michael Chanan is a documentary
film maker who also writes on both
film and music. His most recent
film is The American Who
Electrified Russia (2009,
105mns). His latest book, The
Politics of Documentary, was
published by the BFI in 2007. He has
a range of special interests,
including Latin American cinema,
documentary, the film soundtrack,
and the social history of music. In
2000, he was Visiting Professor in
the Literature Program at Duke
University, USA, and then joined the
University of the West of England
where he was Professor of Cultural
Studies, 2002-2007.

Research Supervision & Interests

Currently supervising research
students in:
Argentine cinema; the film
soundtrack; documentary
practice; and music and memory.

Research interests: Latin American
cinema; documentary theory and
practice; film music and the
soundtrack; social history of music;
early cinema; film and politics;
‘third cinema’; an ecclectic range of
individual directors such as Buñuel,
Huston; Kiarostami; Loach; Renoir.