Heiða Jóhannsdóttir

Heiða Jóhannsdóttir
Laufásvegur 62 – 101 Reykjavík
E-mail: hej1@hi.is / h.johannsdottir@ucl.ac.uk

Studies

September, 2006. Enrolled in Ph.D. research programme in Comparative Literature, at University College London.

Spring and summer term, 2005. Enrolled in Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Lectureship and 12 credit coursework in the field of film and cultural studies. The coursework at UW-Madison was evaluated as part of my Ph.D. research studies at the University of Iceland.

January, 2005. Enrolled in Ph.D. research programme in the Department of Comparative Literature, at the University of Iceland.

October, 2004. M.A. degree in Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland. Coursework in the field of world literature and literary theory, film studies, gender studies and cultural studies.

May, 1997. B.A. degree in Comparative Literature, with Icelandic as a minor field, from the University of Iceland.

Awards

British Council 2006/2007 Chevening Scholarship.

University College London Graduate School Research Scholarship 2006/2007.

Overseas Research Students Award at UCL 2006/2007.

Teaching experience

Spring, 2006 and Fall 2004. Co-instructor of the course Contemporary Cultural Studies at the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland.

Spring, 2006. Lecturer of a 2 week section on Psychoanalysis, Film and Literature in the course Theories of Gender Studies, in Gender Studies at The Department of Sociology, University of Iceland. Course supervisor: Professor Þorgerður Einarsdóttir.

January, 2006. Guest Lecturer in Urban Studies, a course in the Visual Arts Department at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Subject: Gendered images and the cultural reconstruction of the city of Reykjavík. Course supervisor: Gunnar Hersveinn, lecturer.

April, 2006. Guest Lecturer in Scandinavian Film, a course in the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Subject: Friðrik Þór Friðriksson’s Cold Fever. Course supervisor: Tanya Thresher, assistant professor.

April, 2006. Guest Lectureer in Icelandic film: image and identity, a course in the Department of Anthropolgy at the University of Iceland. Supervisors: Kristinn Schram and Katla Kjartansdóttir, lecturers.

Fall, 2005. Instructor of the course Contemporary Hollywood Cinema, in the Film Studies Programme at the University of Iceland.

Fall, 2005. Instructor of the course Film Festivals, a course in the Film Studies Programme at the University of Iceland.

Spring, 2005. Instructor of the course Modern Icelandic II at the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. Course supervisor: Professor Kirsten Wolf.

November, 2003. Guest Lecturer in the course The City in Film and Literature. Subject: “The cinematic city”. Course instructor: Professor Ástráður Eysteinsson.

Spring, 2000. Guest Lecturer in Film Theory, a course in The Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland. Subject: “The narrative structure of the Hollywood Action Film.” Course instructor: Associate professor Guðni Elísson.

Professional experience (selection)

Currently: Film reviewer, columnist and freelance writer for Morgunblaðið newspaper. Since October, 2001.

Since fall, 2004. Member of programming committee for the Reykjavík International Film Festival. The post involves active participation in shaping the artistic objectives of the film festival, selecting and reviewing films for the programme.

Summer, 2004 and 2005. Programmer and coordinator for the Reykjavík International Film Festival. Responsibilities involved programming for the festival, organizing seminars and lectures as well as presenting the festival program to the media.

September, 2003 – May, 2004. Production manager in the Madison office of the Icelandic Online Project, a cooperative effort by the University of Iceland and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to produce a web-based course in Modern Icelandic. Project supervisor: Dick Ringler, Emeritus Professor of English and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
January, 2001 – January, 2003. Journalist in the Arts and Culture Department of the Morgunblaðið newspaper. The job involved writing interviews, columns and feature coverage of various cultural events and issues.

2001. Among founders and member of advisory board of Gallery Skuggi, an art exhibion space in central Reykjavik wich ran from 2001-2004.

2000. Participation in organization of film festival White Wales (Hvítir hvalir), on December 13 – 17, the first retrospectice festival dedicated to Icelandic film director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson’s works.

1999. Assistant in the publishing process of the film studies reader, Heimur kvikmyndanna (The World of Cinema), edited by Guðni Elísson, 1999.

1998-2000. Member of editorial board and freelance journalist, with feminist journal Vera, founded in 1982.

Scholarly publications

Forthcoming, October, 2006: “Under the Tourist Gaze”. Publication following the ACUME conference The Cultural Reconstruction of Places, held in Reykjavík, June 24-26, 2005. University of Iceland Press.

2003. “Sjónræn nautn og frásagnarkvikmyndin” (“Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”). Icelandic translation of Laura Mulvey’s article. Published in Áfangar í kvikmyndafræði (Landmarks in Film Theory), May, 2003. Editor, Guðni Elísson.

1999. “Frásagnarfræði hasarmynda” (Narrative Structure of the Action Film”) published in Heimur kvikmyndanna (The World of Cinema), editor, Guðni Elísson, 1999.

1998. “Skotvopnið í sokkaskúffunni: Ímynd karlmennsku í hasarmyndinni The Rock” (“The Gun in the Sockdrawer: Images of Masculinity in The Rock”) published in Flögð og fögur skinn (Beneath the Bodies’ surface), editor, Guðni Elísson, 1998.

Public lectures

March, 2006. “The city of hot women and cold winters: The cultural reconstruction of Reykjavík as the party capital in the north.” Lecture at the spring seminar series of The Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Iceland. March 2, 2006.

October, 2005. “Creating a new city image of Reykjavík.” Lecture at the seminar, Reykjavík: A Gendered City, held at the Reykjavík Art Museum, Harbor House. Held in collaboration of The City of Reykjavík and The Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Iceland, October 29, 2005.

June, 2005: “Under the Tourist’s Gaze: Reykjavík as the City that Never Sleeps”. Lecture at the international conferenece, The Cultural Reconstruction of Places, held at the University of Iceland, June, 22– 24, 2005. The conference is organized as part of the ACUME project, an ongoing research project on cultural memory in European countries, co-ordinated by a network of European Universities, based at the University of Bologna, Italy.

November, 1999. “It’s Rambo!: On Gender and Narrative Structures of Contemporary Action Film.” Lecture given at a conference, held on November 28, 2005, in Háskólabíó (University Cinema) in Reykjavík, organized in relation to the publication of the film studies reader, World of Cinema. Editor Guðni Elísson.

July, 1998. “Drawing the map: An Introduction to the Works of Icelandic Women Filmmakers.” A open lecture on Icelandic women filmmakers as part of a an Womens Art Festival, organized by the Nordic House in Reykjavík, Iceland. July, 7, 1998.

April, 1998. “The Gun in the Sockdrawer: On the Structures of Masculinity in The Rock”. Lecture given at seminar held on June 3, 1998 at the Living Art Museum in Reykjavík in relation to the publicaton of Flögð og fögur skinn, editor, Guðni Elísson.

Seminars and conferences – organizational experience

October 8, 2005. Moderator and organizer of panel discussion in Tjarnarbíó culture house on media consolidation and the “popularization” of news in relation to a screening the 1979 film The Network. Organized in collaboration between the Reykjavík International Film Festival and the Icelandic Press Association.

October 5, 2005. Organization and participation in a seminar on Film and Human Rights in the Nordic House in a cooperation of the national committee of UNIFEM and the Reykjavík International Film Festival, 2005.

November 20, 2004. Organizer of the conference Film and Society in The Reykjavík Art Museum, Harbor House. The conference consisted of two parts: “The role and importance of film festivals” and “Icelandic cinema in an international context

November 17, 2004. Organizer of panel discussion in The Reykjavík Art Museum, Harbor House on the representation of war in the media in relation to a screening the documentary Control Room. Organized as a collaboration of the Reykjavík International Film Festival and The Reykjavík Art Museum.