https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/22555 Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:18:45 GMT 2026-04-24T04:18:45Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142951 Title: Introducing adaptation studies at postgraduate level through American Psycho Authors: Bonnici, Glen Abstract: This article outlines a pedagogical model for introducing adaptation studies at postgraduate level through a case study of Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000). It argues for beginning the unit with a complex example that resists the conventional question of fidelity, encouraging students to approach adaptation as transformation rather than imitation. The lecture sequence moves from the linguistic and structural features of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel (1991) to the film’s cinematic translation of irony, ambiguity and detachment. This progression allows students to grasp how shifts in medium reshape meaning and form. The case demonstrates that Harron’s adaptation exposes the assumptions of fidelity discourse by reinterpreting, rather than reproducing, the novel’s critique of surface culture. The lecture uses this contrast to develop the theoretical vocabulary of adaptation, drawing mostly on Genette’s transtextuality, but also on Hutcheon’s notion of adaptation as process and Stam’s attention to medium specificity. It further examines the film’s horizontal influences, including its dialogue with other genres, visual media and contemporary reception, to show how adaptations participate in wider cultural networks rather than isolated text–source relations. Through this approach, students learn to analyse adaptations as products of cultural negotiation, shaped by historical distance, culture and form. The American Psycho case study thus serves as a methodological framework for postgraduate teaching that combines close reading, theoretical reflection and historical awareness to frame adaptation as an ongoing transformation rather than a single exercise. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142951 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142948 Title: Re-examining the past and envisioning the future of Italian cinema and media : Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies – fourth international conference, the American University of Rome, 13–15 June 2024 Authors: Bonnici, Glen Abstract: The fourth international conference of the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies (JICMS) was held at The American University of Rome on 13–15 June 2024. The co-organizers were Flavia Laviosa (Wellesley College) and Catherine Ramsey-Portolano (The American University of Rome) and this year’s title was Re-examining the Past and Envisioning the Future of Italian Cinema and Media. Participants from five continents and various countries, with diverse academic backgrounds, including film studies, Italian studies, media studies, social sciences and industry practice, came together for three days of stimulating discussions and productive exchanges of ideas and perspectives. The keynote address ‘Non-fiction filmmaking in contemporary Italy’ was delivered by Áine O’Healy from Loyola Marymount University. The conference was further enriched by the presence of directors Paolo Benvenuti, Monica Guerritore and Liliana Cavani. This report provides an overview of the conference. [excerpt] Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142948 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142934 Title: Liliana Cavani at the fourth edition of the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies conference, re-examining the past and envisioning the future of Italian cinema and media, The American University of Rome, 13–15 June 2024 Authors: Bonnici, Glen Abstract: Liliana Cavani accepted the invitation to participate in the fourth edition of the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media (JICMS) studies conference, held at the American University of Rome from 13–15 June 2024. Cavani attended a panel dedicated to her depictions of St Francis before taking the podium for an interview that was moderated by Flavia Laviosa (Wellesley College), the co-organizer of the conference and principal editor of JICMS, and Gaetana Marrone-Puglia (Princeton University), a leading scholar on Cavani’s body of work from Princeton University. Cavani reflected on her enduring fascination with St Francis despite her upbringing in a secular household, discussed many of her other films, and shared her opinions on the current state of affairs in Italy and beyond. At the end of the session, after Cavani hinted at her plans for the future, the moderators and Catherine Ramsey-Portolano (The American University of Rome), who co-organized the conference with Laviosa, presented the director with a plaque in recognition of her Inimitable Contribution to World Cinema. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142934 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142931 Title: Italian cinema and media : past and present, continuity and change, expectations for the future : Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies – third international conference, American University of Rome, 16–18 June 2022 Authors: Bonnici, Glen Abstract: In 2022, the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies ( JICMS) marked its tenth anniversary and a return to its in-person international conference. The third edition was once again held at The American University of Rome on 16–18 June 2022. The directors, Flavia Laviosa and Catherine Ramsey-Portolano, welcomed 130 academics and researchers from eighteen countries who reflected the current trends and directions within the Italian screen industries and studies. The keynote speaker was Stephen Gundle, and the programme also included a screening of the film Un confine incerto (An Uncertain Border) (2019), directed and co-written by Isabella Sandri, and a virtual seminar on academic publishing delivered by Intellect. Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142931 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z