Agnès Calatayud

Agnès Calatayud is a Lecturer in French and Cinema Studies at Birkbeck College (University of London), affiliated with the School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication. She holds a Maîtrise ès Langues et Civilisations des Pays Anglophones from Université François Rabelais (Tours, France, 1988) and an M.A. in French Literature from Birkbeck College (1991). She currently serves as French Language Coordinator.

Her research focuses on 18th-century culture, contemporary world cinema, and representations of France's colonial past. Recent work includes studies on poet Jean-Antoine Roucher’s prison letters (1794), Agnès Varda’s self-portraiture, and postcolonial cinema. She has co-authored analyses on French cinema’s financial challenges and the cultural impact of colonial songs.

Publications span Dalhousie French Studies, Studies in French Cinema, and Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies. Her 2021 article on Baron de Besenval's iconography exemplifies her interdisciplinary approach to aristocratic culture and art history.

Teaching includes the French 3 module (Level 4). Administrative contributions include curriculum development in French language education and postcolonial cultural studies. Current research explores intersections of visual arts, film, and historical memory in French colonial contexts.