About
Alanna Thain is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Director of the Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at McGill University. Her work intersects film theory, affect studies, and performance, focusing on bodies in media and their temporal dynamics. She leads the Moving Image Research Lab (MIRL), exploring the body in post-digital cinema, and runs Cinema Out of the Box, a bicycle-powered mobile cinema project.
Thain holds a Ph.D. in Literature from Duke University and a B.A. (Honours) from McGill. Her research spans minoritarian horror, sleep as sociable practice, dance on screen, and feminist media communities. Key projects include the SSHRC-funded Anarchival Outbursts examining dance and post-digital cinema, and States of Immersion on bodies and technology.
Her publications include Bodies in Suspense: Time and Affect in Cinema (2017) and co-edited volumes like Lo Tech Pop Cult: Screendance Remixed (2024). Awards include SSHRC grants and the Richard Plant Award for her work on Dave St-Pierre’s performance art.
Thain’s interdisciplinary approach blends scholarly research with creative practice, emphasizing "research-creation" that bridges theory and embodied experience. Current projects explore reproductive horror, queer post-apocalyptic practices, and ecological mobile cinema.
