Thomas Austin

Prof Thomas Austin is a Professor of Film Studies at the University of Sussex, affiliated with the School of Media, Arts and Humanities. He holds a BA from the University of Cambridge and both MA and PhD degrees from the University of East Anglia. His research focuses on intersections between socio-political issues and film aesthetics, particularly examining race, racialization, and contemporary crises in cinema. He has authored and edited numerous books, including ReFocus: The Films of Steve McQueen (2023) and Cinema of Crisis: Film and Contemporary Europe (2020). His recent work explores trees as symbols in cinema and Black image-making in white societies. Austin has supervised 16 doctoral topics, including studies on filmmakers like Aki Kaurismäki and Steve McQueen, and has received grants for his research. He currently teaches European Cinema and Cinema and Migration, and is on research leave in 2025.

His research spans European and American cinema, with a focus on directors like Alice Diop, Pedro Costa, and Aki Kaurismäki. Recent articles analyze films such as La Permanence and Nous, and explore topics like neoliberalism in cinema and racial representation in Spike Lee’s work. Austin’s publications frequently bridge film theory with socio-political critique, emphasizing visual aesthetics as a site of cultural contestation.

He has collaborated with institutions like Edinburgh University Press and co-edited collections with scholars such as Angelos Koutsourakis. His current projects include a monograph on trees in cinema and a forthcoming book on Black Image Making and Whiteness, examining how non-white creators interrogate whiteness. Austin’s work is characterized by interdisciplinary approaches, combining film analysis with critical theory, migration studies, and postcolonial discourse.