S. (Sergio) Rigoletto, PhD

Sergio Rigoletto's research focuses on the politics of film aesthetics and its relation to social change, queer media cultures, affect, stars and performance studies and Italian cinema. He is the author of two books: Masculinity and Italian Cinema: Sexual Politics, Social Conflict and Male Crisis in the 1970s  (Edinburgh University Press: 2014) and Le norme traviate  (Meltemi: 2020). His current book project, titled Queer from the South: Film, Video Art and Media Activism in the Mediterranean, examines the contributions of contemporary filmmakers, visual artists and media activists to the emergence of a transnational queer imaginary that engages the material conditions of life in the Mediterranean region. His second book projects considers the significance of stardom within Neorealist cinema alongside the post-WW2 Euro-American migration of film professionals, productions, styles and promotional practices. The project focuses on actress Anna Magnani, one of the figures that participated most prominently in these transnational developments. The book examines the complex discourse of authenticity surrounding Magnani’s star trajectory between the 1940s and 1960s in order to consider questions around gendered labor in the Italian and Hollywood film industries.

Prior to his current appointment at the University of Groningen, he was Associate Professor in Cinema Studies and Italian at the University of Oregon, USA.