Kartik Nair

Kartik Nair is an Assistant Professor of Film Studies in the Department of Film and Media Arts at Temple University, affiliated with the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts. His research focuses on cinematic infrastructures, genre cinemas, and visual space in film, with a particular emphasis on Indian horror cinema and digital production technologies. Prior to Temple, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at Purchase College, SUNY (2016-2018).

Education includes a PhD in Cinema Studies from New York University (2018), an MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Arts and Aesthetics (2010), and an MA in English from Delhi University (2008). His current book project, Seeing Things, examines material traces of film production in 1980s Indian horror films, to be published by UC Press in 2024. He co-edits Bioscope: South Asian Screen Studies and has published widely in journals like Journal of Cinema and Media Studies and Discourse.

Research interests bridge film materiality, digital aesthetics, and labor histories, analyzing how production infrastructures shape expressive forms. Recent work explores VFX software's impact on global genre cinema and the perceptual intersections of algorithmic and human creativity in digital spaces. Teaching includes graduate seminars, writing-intensive courses, and introductory lectures, with a focus on methodological innovation in cinema studies.

Public-facing writing appears in Los Angeles Review of Books, Film Quarterly, and India Today. Collaborative projects include a co-edited volume with Karen Redrobe on pedagogical approaches in Cinema and Media Studies.