Laure Astourian

Laure Astourian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages at Bentley University. She earned her Ph.D. in French from Columbia University (2016) and a dual B.A. in French and Film Studies from the University of California, Berkeley (High Honors, 2008).

Research Interests: Focused on French and Francophone cinema, particularly 1950s-1960s French cinema, ethnographic cinema, and intersections between anthropology and cinema. Her book The Ethnographic Optic (Indiana University Press, 2024) examines colonial ethnography's influence on 1960s French cinema, including works by Jean Rouch, Chris Marker, and Alain Resnais.

Teaching Interests: Specializing in French and Francophone cinema and television, French conversation, twentieth-century French literature, and study abroad programs. She explores multilingualism in metropolitan France and the relationship between fiction and documentary films.

Scientific Awards:

• Phi Beta Kappa Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship
• Fulbright Fellowship to France

Publications: Contributions to Studies in French Cinema, the edited collection Dans le sillage de Jean Rouch, and other journals including the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Romanic Review, and KinoKultura.