Judith Noble appointed as Professor of Film and the Occult

Arts University Plymouth celebrates conferment of professorship

Arts University Plymouth has appointed Head of Academic Research Judith Noble as Professor of Film and the Occult, recognising her significant contribution to academic scholarship, teaching and research, particularly her outstanding and sustained international contribution to the scholarship of surrealism, film and the occult.

The professorship was conferred by Arts University Plymouth’s Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Professor Paul Fieldsend-Danks, following a meeting of the Professorial Committee, a panel of esteemed Professors drawn from institutions across the UK.

Professor Noble is joint coordinator of the Black Mirror research network. Her research interests centre on experimental, avant-garde and artists film, Surrealism and the occult and magic. She has published extensively on Maya Deren and on Kenneth Anger and Derek Jarman. Judith founded and is a member of the Inner Space Exploration Unit (ISEU), an artists’ project that makes practice-led collaborative research that is published online and exhibited physically.

Professor Paul Fieldsend-Danks said: “This is a well deserved recognition for Judith that follows a long and distinguished career working in the UK’s world-leading film and television industries, alongside creating opportunities for students to participate within the same industries as practitioners and researchers. In addition to her significant contributions to film in the UK, the breadth of Judith’s areas of academic expertise span a wide range of fields that include Surrealism, the occult and magic, particularly within the creative arts. With such a unique range of specialisms, it is only fitting that Judith has earned the title of the world’s first Professor of Film and the Occult.

“Under Judith’s leadership, she has helped to develop and implement our strategy for the development of an enhanced research culture and increased our international visibility. From her work on the University's flagship research platform Making Futures, to her international scholarship on surrealism and cinema, Judith’s influence is widespread. I’d like to congratulate Professor Noble for her success and thank her for her many and varied contributions to Arts University Plymouth.”

Professor Noble recently completed work on ‘The Dance Of Moon and Sun - Ithell Colquhoun, British Women and Surrealism’, which was published in March 2023 by Fulgur Press. She has published extensively on the work of Maya Deren. In 2014 she organised the Visions of Enchantment conference with Dan Zamani and Rachel Parikh. Before returning to Higher Education in 2007, she worked for many years in arts funding and the film industry.

From 1984 to 1996 she was Film and Television officer at South West Arts; from 1996 to 2001 she was Chief Executive of the South West Media Development Agency; and from 2001 to 2006 she was Head of Production at Sgrin Cymru Wales, where she was responsible for executive-producing and developing feature films supported by the Wales Lottery Film Fund. These included Peter Greenaway’s Tulse Luper Suitcases trilogy (in competition at Cannes and Berlin 2002-4), Amma Asante’s A Way Of Life (BAFTA winner 2005), Patagonia (Gruff Rhys) and Sleep, Furiously (Gideon Koppel).

In 2007 she joined the staff of the BA (Hons) Film Production course at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB). She held an AUB Research Fellowship in 2010-11, trained as a PhD supervisor and became Course Leader for BA (Hons) Film Production in 2014, before joining Arts University Plymouth.

At Arts University Plymouth, Professor Noble is responsible for the development of research culture and provision: devising and implementing research policy and strategy; developing and managing staff research; coordinating and developing research groups; managing major projects; and is joint editor of the Making Futures online journal.

Professor Noble is a Member of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism and the Modernist Studies Association. She is a trustee of Plymouth Arts Cinema and a director of Pagan Phoenix SW. She holds an MFA from Reading (1980) and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent (1978).