Aaron Kerner

Aaron Kerner is a Professor and Director in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University (SFSU), affiliated with the School of Cinema. He has taught at SFSU since 2003 and previously lectured at UC Santa Cruz’s History of Art and Visual Culture Department.

Education:

• Ph.D., Macquarie University (Australia)
• M.A., University of Leeds (UK)
• B.A., UC Santa Cruz (USA)

Research focuses on Holocaust representation in film, catastrophic imagery, and aesthetic critiques of ugliness/disgust in contemporary art forms like Butoh and Torture Porn cinema. His 2011 monograph Film and the Holocaust remains a seminal work in the field. Current projects explore intersections between visual culture and traumatic memory.

Notable work includes the 2006 NEA-funded Reconstructing Memories exhibition and publications on Japanese filmmaker Katsuhige Nakahashi’s work. His writings analyze cultural allegories in disaster films (e.g., Gojira) and gender dynamics in anime.

Office: Fine Arts Building 245 | Email: amkerner@sfsu.edu