Dr Anna Blagrove

Dr Anna Blagrove specialises in teaching Film, Media and Animation Contextual Studies and Theory, Media Roles and Practices, Global Media Contexts, generally focussing on Research and Study Skills. She attended University of East Anglia where she completed her film audience research PhD and MA in Film Studies. She is Director of Reel Connections (CIC), a community interest company that uses film, music, and the creative arts to engage individuals and groups. Anna has Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, a professional recognition of teaching excellence in higher education, awarded by Advance HE. In 2025 she graduated from the Aurora Leadership Development Programme.

Anna has significant experience as a Lecturer on the BA Animation and BA Animation and Visual Effects degrees at Norwich. She was an Associate Tutor and Module Convenor at BA and MA level at UEA before that. Anna was an Education Officer in the cinema exhibition industry for over ten years and is skilled in programming, marketing, and delivering projects, courses, and events. She is proficient in arts administration and marketing. Working in the industry with arts organisations and community groups whilst simultaneously studying has enabled her to clearly link practise and research. This was recognised by the UEA in 2020, when she was awarded the Post Graduate Researcher prize for Public Engagement and Outreach.

She has a wide range of experience of public speaking and event management via Reel Connections, Cinema City Education, and Norwich Film Festival. Over the years Ishe has chaired numerous live Q&A sessions and panel discussions with visiting actors and filmmakers. Examples include Sir John Hurt, Jo Brand, Jessica Hynes, Jane Horrocks, Julian Jarrold, and Andrew Haigh.

Publications

Book Review: Stella Hockenhull and Frances Pheasant-Kelly (eds.), Tim Burton’s Bodies: Gothic, Animated, Corporeal and Creaturely (2021), Fantasy/Animation Online Academic Resource, Published online 12 January 2024. Link: https://www.fantasy-animation.org/current-posts/review-stella-hockenhull-and-frances-pheasant-kelly-eds-tim-burtons-bodies-gothic-animated-corporeal-and-creaturely-2021

Book Review of Live Cinema: Cultures, Economies, Aesthetics (editors: Sarah Atkinson and Helen.W. Kennedy), Bloomsbury, Participations Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, May 2021 issue. Available at: https://www.participations.org/18-01-28-blagrove.pdf

‘Engaged/Vacant: UK Audience Engagement with Specialised Cinema’. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies (November 2021 issue). Available at: https://www.participations.org/18-02-11-blagrove.pdf

‘Interview with Catharine des Forges, Director of the Independent Cinema Office’, Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies (November 2021 issue). Available at: https://www.participations.org/18-02-26-blagrove.pdf

Cinema City: A Medieval Movie-House. In: The International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST). (2017) Available at: https://iamhist.net/cinema-city-medieval-movie-house/

Norfolk’s Barren Beauty: The County on Film. (2015) Norfolk at the Pictures, 90-91, Archant publication.

Red Dog: Film of the Year. (2015) In: Goldsmith B and Lealand G (eds) Directory of World Cinema: Australia and New Zealand 2. Bristol, UK: Intellect Ltd (peer reviewed book section).

The Pleasures of the Familiar: Norfolk-made Films (2015). In: University of East Anglia Film, TV and Media Studies Blog. Available at: filmtelevisionmediauea.wordpress.com.

Red Dog: The Pilbara Wanderer (2013) Coolabah Australian Studies Centre, Universitat de Barcelona (11): 19-24 (peer reviewed). Available at: https://shorturl.at/aL9be

Forthcoming publications

‘Candy-Coloured Splatter Fest: An Exploration of the Critical and Audience Reception of ‘Unicorn Wars’ (2022, Alberto Vázquez)’.

Conferences and awards

February 2025 Completion of the Advance HE Aurora Women’s Leadership Programme.

June 2024 Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy – professional recognition of teaching excellence in higher education – awarded by Advance HE

2 March 2021 Paper presented: Teenage Flicks: A Study of the Specialised Film Consumption and Cinema-Going of Norfolk-based Young Audiences at Audiences Beyond the Multiplex conference. Virtual conference hosted by University of Glasgow.

14 December 2020 Masterclass presented on Reel Connections: Transitioning from Physical to Digital Connections with Communities as part of Oxford Brookes University Film Industries Masterclass programme.

7-9 September 2020 Paper presented based on PhD thesis at the Film Audience Migrations and Movements conference at Oxford Brookes University, and hosting of panels and discussions.

June 2020 Won the UEA Arts and Humanities Postgraduate Researcher prize for Public Engagement and Outreach. Commended for achievements spanning years of film education and public engagement.

November 2018 PhD Poster displayed in competition at the University of East Anglia (UEA) Postgraduate Research Exhibition.

July 2017 Paper delivered entitled Engaging Millennials with Specialised Cinema at the Community Cinema Symposium at the UEA.

April 2015 Paper delivered and chaired a panel at the ‘Exploring 30 Years of Studio Ghibli: Spirited Discussions’ symposium at Cardiff University. My paper title was: Oceans, Forests, and Kami: Environment, Location, and Spirituality in Miyazaki’s Films’.

November 2011 Organised and co-delivered the ‘New Forms of Cinema Exhibition’ Symposium at Cinema City Norwich in conjunction with UEA, the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), and Professor Mark Jancovich.

Upcoming project

Ongoing and developing projects with Reel ConnectionsCIC: reelconnections.co.uk/projects/