Curriculum Vitae
October 2026
Theodore (Ted) Nannicelli
The School of Communication and Arts
The University of Queensland
St Lucia 4072, QLD
Australia
+61 (0) 7 3365 4748
t.nannicelli@uq.edu.au
CURRENT POSITION
2024 - Associate Professor and Deputy Head, The School of Communication and Arts
The University of Queensland, Australia
EDUCATION
2011 Ph.D., Film Studies
University of Kent, U.K.
Thesis: “Towards a Philosophy of the Screenplay”
Supervisor: Murray Smith. Examiners: David Bordwell and Hans Maes
2008 M.F.A., Film and Media Arts
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A
Thesis Committee: Jeff Rush (chair), Michelle Parkerson, and Eran Preis
2002 B.A., English and Film Studies, 2002
Emory University, Atlanta, GA, U.S.A
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2023 - Reader/Associate Professor, The School of Communication and Arts
The University of Queensland, Australia
2019-2022 Senior Lecturer, The School of Communication and Arts
The University of Queensland, Australia
2014-2018 Lecturer, The School of Communication and Arts
The University of Queensland, Australia
2011-2014 Lecturer, Screen and Media Studies, The School of Arts
The University of Waikato, Aotearoa/New Zealand
PUBLICATIONS
Single-Authored Books
Contracted Philosophy of Humor: The Basics. Routledge
2020 Artistic Creation and Ethical Criticism (Thinking Art Series). Oxford University Press
2017 Appreciating the Art of Television: A Philosophical Perspective. Routledge
2013 A Philosophy of the Screenplay. Routledge
Edited Collections
Contracted Advanced Film Aesthetics: Form, Style, and Function. Co-edited with Todd Berliner. University of Texas Press.
2022 A Companion to Motion Pictures and Public Value. Co-edited with Mette Hjort. Wiley
2022 Cognition, Emotion, and Aesthetics in Contemporary Serial Television. Co-edited with Héctor J. Pérez. Routledge
2021 Truth in Visual Media: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Politics. Co-edited with Marguerite La Caze. Edinburgh University Press
2014 Cognitive Media Theory (AFI Film Readers Series). Co-edited with Paul Taberham. Routledge
Journal Articles
(invited articles denoted with a *)
2026 “Doxastic Attitudes and the Appreciation of Art across Cultures.” The British Journal of Aesthetics, online first: https://doi.org/10.1093/aesthj/ayag028
2026 “Artificial Intelligence, the Hedonic View of Appreciation, and the Threat of Appreciative Deskilling.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 84 (2): 204-217
2025 “Mass AI-Art: A Moderately Skeptical Perspective.” (Editor’s Choice) The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 83 (4): 343-357.
2024 “Aesthetic Education: A Perceptual-Cognitive Model.” European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 20 (2): 283-305.
2024 “Art, Ethics, and the Relativism of Distance.” (Co-authored with Andrea Bubenik) The British Journal of Aesthetics 64 (3): 297-316.
2022* “Virtue Aesthetics: A Critical Survey.” Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy 34: 26-58.
2022* “How to Do (Im)moral Things with Artworks. Commentary on James Harold’s Dangerous Art.” The British Journal of Aesthetics 62 (4): 549-558.
2022* “In Defence of the Production-Oriented Approach to the Ethical Criticism of Art: Reply to James Harold.” The British Journal of Aesthetics 62 (4): 567-576.
2021 “Otro tipo de recompensa narrativa: el concepto de ‘prolongación temporal’ como superación de la serialidad televisa.” (Co-authored with Alberto N. García.) Área Abierta 21 (3): 349-365.
2019 “Aesthetics and the Limits of the Extended Mind.” The British Journal of Aesthetics 59 (1): 81-94
2018 “The Interaction of Ethics and Aesthetics in Environmental Art.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76 (4): 497-506
2018 “Animals, Ethics, and the Art World.” October 164: 125-144
2018* “Denial: David Irving and the Complexities of Representing a Holocaust Denier.” (Co-authored with Kirril Shields and Henry Theriault.” Genocide Studies and Prevention 12 (3): 40-51.
2017 “Ethical Criticism and the Interpretation of Art.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (special 75th anniversary issue) 75 (4): 401-413
2017 “Instances of Cinema.” Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind 11 (1): 1-15
2016 “Against ‘Post-Cinema.’’’ (co-authored with Malcolm Turvey) Cinéma & Cie: International Film Studies Journal 26/27: 33-44
2016 “In Defence of the Objectivity of Evaluative Television Criticism.” Screen 57 (2): 124-143
2014 “The Naturalist Theatrical Aesthetic of Bottle Episodes.” Critical Studies in Television 9 (3): 54-64
2014 “Moderate Comic Immoralism and the Genetic Approach to the Ethical Criticism of Art.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 72 (2): 169-179
2013 “The Ontology and Literary Status of the Screenplay: The Case of ‘Scriptfic.’” Journal of Literary Theory 13 (1-2): 135-153
2012 “Ontology, Intentionality, and Television Aesthetics.” Screen 53 (2): 164-179
2011 “Why Can’t Screenplays Be Artworks?” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 69 (4): 405-414.
Translated to Portuguese as “Seria o rotiero uma obra de arte?” Esferas 21 (2021)
2011 “Instructions and Artworks: Musical Scores, Theatrical Scripts, Architectural Plans, and Screenplays.” The British Journal of Aesthetics 51 (4): 399-414
2010 “The Early Screenwriting Practice of Ernest Lehman.” Journal of Screenwriting 1 (2): 237-253
2007 “Luis Buñuel’s Land Without Bread: The Critics and the Contexts.” Studies in Documentary Film 1 (2): 137-150
2006 “From Representation to Evocation: Tracing a Progression in Jean Rouch’s Les magiciens de Wanzerbe, Les maîtres fous, and Jaguar.” Visual Anthropology 19 (2): 123-143
Book Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)
2026 “Historical Poetics and TikTok.” (Co-authored with Meg Thomas) In Reading Media: How to Do Textual Analysis, ed. Jonathan Gray and Daphne Gershon, 96-109. NYU Press
2026 “Environmental Art.” In The Routledge Handbook of Nature and Environmental Aesthetics, ed. Glenn Parsons, Ned Hettinger, and Sandra Shapshay, 324-334. Routledge
2025 “Cognitivism.” In The Craft of Criticism: Critical Media Studies in Practice, 2nd ed., ed Mary Celeste Kearney and Michael Kackman, 154-166. New York: Routledge
2024 “Ferrara’s Polarizing Critical Reception: Clarity, Coherence, and Incongruity.” (Co-authored with Matthew Cipa and Joel Fantini). In Re-Focus: The Films of Abel Ferrara, ed. Florian Zappe 32-47. Edinburgh University Press
2023 “Clarifying Moral Understanding.” In Screen Stories and Moral Understanding, ed. Carl Plantinga, 19-35. Oxford University Press
2023 “Relativism and the Ethical Criticism of Art.” In The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Art, ed. James Harold, 205-221. Oxford University Press
2022 “Film Production and Ethical Criticism.” In A Companion to Motion Pictures and Public Value, ed. Mette Hjort and Ted Nannicelli, 171-189. Wiley
2022 “Television’s Temporality: Seriality and Temporal Prolongation.” (Co-authored with Alberto N. García.) In Cognition, Emotion, and Aesthetics in Contemporary Serial Television, ed. Ted Nannicelli and Héctor J. Pérez, 27-46. Routledge
2021 “Interactivity, Narrative Skepticism, and the Values of Documentary.” In Truth in Visual Media: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Politics, ed. Marguerite La Caze and Ted Nannicelli, 167-188. Edinburgh University Press
2019 “Seeing and Hearing Screen Characters: Stars, Twofoldness, and the Imagination.” In Screening Characters: Theories of Character in Film, Television, and Interactive Media (AFI Film Readers Series), ed. Johannes Riis and Aaron Taylor, 19-36. Routledge
2019 “The Television Medium.” In The Palgrave Handbook for the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures, ed. Noël Carroll, Laura T. Di Summa, and Shawn Loht, 949-970. Palgrave Macmillan
2019 “What Is a Screenplay?” In The Palgrave Handbook for the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures. Ed. Noël Carroll, Laura T. Di Summa, and Shawn Loht, 215-234. Palgrave Macmillan
2018 “Cognitivism.” In The Craft of Criticism: Critical Media Studies in Practice, ed. Mary Celeste Kearney and Michael Kackman, 157-168. Routledge
2016 “Screenplays.” In The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Literature. Ed. Noël Carroll and John Gibson, 127-136. Routledge
2009 “It’s All Connected: Televisual Narrative Complexity.” In The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television, ed. Tiffany Potter and C.W. Marshall, 190-202. Continuum, 2009
Encyclopedia Entries (Peer-Reviewed)
2017 “Contingent Universals.” In “The Literary Universals Project,” ed. Patrick Colm Hogan, Vito Evola, and Nigel Fabb.” Online at http://literary-universals.uconn.edu/
2014 "Cognitive Film Theory." In Oxford Bibliographies in Cinema and Media Studies, ed. Krin Gabbard. Oxford University Press
2014 "Formalist Theories of Film." In The Routledge Encyclopedia of Film Theory, ed. Edward Branigan and Warren Buckland, 214-219. Routledge
Book Reviews
2020 Aesthetic Evaluation and Film by Andrew Klevan. British Journal of Aesthetics 60 (3): 362-364
2014 Psychocinematics: Exploring Cognition at the Movies, ed. Arthur Shimamura. Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind 8 (2): 126-134
2013 Getting Inside Your Head: What Cognitive Science Can Tell Us About Popular Culture by Lisa Zunshine. Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind 7 (2): 132-137
2012 The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film, ed. Paisley Livingston and Carl Plantinga. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 20 (5): 363-366
2012 New Takes in Film-Philosophy, ed. Havi Carel and Greg Tuck. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 70 (3): 326-328
2012 The Adventure of the Real by Paul Henley. Studies in Documentary Film 6 (1): 112-114
2012 Hollywood Incoherent by Todd Berliner. British Journal of Aesthetics 52 (3): 317-320
Public Scholarship
2023 “The shadows of ‘Succession’: Tracing the influences behind and the cultural achievement of a television masterpiece.” ABC Religion and Ethics. June 19, 2023. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/tragedy-tragicomedy-and-uncertain-future-hbo-succession/102497826
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
(* denotes role as chief investigator; † denotes role as partner investigator)
2027-30† Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (€62, 820)
Project Title: “Representation, Fiction, and Culture Wars” (CI: Alberto García)
2026* British Society of Aesthetics, Small Grant, 2026 (£4000)
Project Title: “Mind, Art, Knowledge”
2026† French-Australian Science and Innovation Collaboration Grant (€5,231)
Project Title: “AI, Television, Creation, and Ethics” (CI: Sandra Laugier)
2022* The University of Queensland, HASS Enabler Grant ($14, 976 AUD)
Project Title: “Art, Appreciation and Ethics in the Era of AI”
2019-21† Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (€34,000)
Project Title: “Cognition and Aesthetic Experience in Television Series”
(CI: Héctor Pérez López)
2019* Australian Academy of Humanities Publication Subsidy ($3000 AUD)
Project Title: “Artistic Creation and Ethical Criticism”
2018-19* The University of Queensland, Early Career Research Grant ($9000 AUD)
Project Title: “Artistic Creation and Ethical Criticism”
2015-18† Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (€46,200)
Project Title: “Strategies of Theoretical Innovation in the Analysis of Audiovisual Narration.” (CI: Héctor Pérez López)
2016-17† The University of Queensland, HASS Strategic Research Funding ($10,000 AUD)
Project Title: “Ethics and Aesthetics of the New Visuality” (CI: Roland Bleiker)
2016* The University of Queensland, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities Fellowship ($17,580 AU)
Project Title: “Appreciating the Art of Television: A Philosophical Perspective”
2014* The University of Queensland, New Staff Start-Up Grant ($5700 AUD)
Project Title: “The Role of the Medium in the Appreciation of the Art of TV”
2013* The University of Waikato, Faculty Contestable Research Grant ($6000 NZD)
Project Title: “Cognitive Media Theory”
2012* The University of Waikato, Faculty Small Research Grant ($1500 NZD)
Project Title: “A Philosophy of the Screenplay”
2009* The University of Texas-Austin, Harry Ransom Center Dissertation Fellowship
Project Title: “The Screenwriter as Artist: The Case of Ernest Lehman”
2008-10* Higher Education Funding Council for England, Overseas Research Student Award
2008-10* The University of Kent, University Scholarship for Postgraduate Research
KEYNOTE AND INVITED PRESENTATIONS
2024 “Aesthetic Perception, Aesthetic Appreciation, and Doxastic Attitudes.” Invited talk for “Art, Ethics, and Contexts of Creation: Workshop with Ted Nannicelli.” Department of Analytic Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences and the Czech Academy of Fine Arts.
2024 “Mass AI-Art: A Moderately Skeptical Perspective.” Invited talk for the Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University and the Kraków Division of the Polish Philosophical Society.
2022 “The Ethical Criticism of Art and the Relativism of Distance.” Keynote for the 1st Art and Ethics Prague Conference, hosted by the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
2022 “Art, Agency, and Appreciation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence.” Keynote for “Art, Ethics, and Agency” conference hosted by the Department of Philosophy, University of Rijeka, and the Croatian Society for Analytic Philosophy.
2021 “The Ethical Criticism of Art and the Relativism of Distance.” Invited public lecture at the Flinders Aesthetics Forum/ Flinders University Museum of Art.
2021 “Clarifying Moral Understanding.” Invited paper for the Cognitive Impact of Serial Television online conference.
2021 “Clarifying Moral Understanding.” Invited paper for the Screen Stories and Moral Understanding online symposium.
2020 Invitation to deliver keynote presentation at Television Aesthetics: Now What? Aesthetics Research Centre, University of Kent, and The British Society of Aesthetics. (Cancelled due to COIVD-19)
2018 “Can We Separate the Art from the Artist? Moral Character, Artistic Creation, and Ethical Criticism.” Invited lecture, Hong Kong Baptist University.
2016 “Film Production and Ethical Criticism,” Cinematic Ethics Symposium, Macquarie University
2015 “Ethical Criticism and the Nature of Cinematic Interpretation,” Cinematic Ethics Symposium, Macquarie University
2015 “Making Do with Agency: Agency, Authorship, and the Appreciation of Television.” Aesthetics Research Centre, University of Kent
2014 “Authorship and Appreciation in Television.” Department of Philosophy, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
2013 “Television Studies and the Nature of Evaluative Television Criticism.” University of Auckland Aesthetics Conference
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
(last 10 years)
2026 “Film, Skepticism, AI.” Stanley Cavell at 100: An International Centennial Conference. Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne
2026 “On the Paradoxical Status of Aesthetics in Film Studies.” Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image Conference. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
2025 “Aesthetic Perception, Aesthetic Appreciation, and Doxastic Attitudes across Cultures.” Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Monash University
2024 “Aesthetic Perception, Doxastic Attitudes, and Cinematic Appreciation.” Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image Conference. ELTE University, Budapest
2022 “Art, Agency, and Appreciation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence.” Meeting of The Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology
2018 “Aesthetics and the Limits of the Extended Mind.” Evolving Minds: Integrating Philosophy, Science and the Arts. Charles Darwin University
2017 “Aesthetics and the Limits of the Extended Mind.” American Society for Aesthetics Annual Meeting. New Orleans
RESEARCH SUPERVISION
PhD Supervision
2024 - Ms. Keya Makar, “The Affective Impact of Metacinematic Storytelling” (principal supervisor)
2022 - Ms. Meg Thomas, “The Platformisation of Film and Television Aesthetics” (principal supervisor)
2022- Ms. Melanie Easton, “Devising Memory in Popular Hindi Cinema” (associate supervisor)
2020-25 Dr. Dr. Simon Hall, “Seasonal Anthology Television and the Implications of Disrupted Seriality for Aesthetic Evaluation” (associate supervisor)
2017-2021 Dr. Zhenzhu Peng, “The Cinema of Ang Lee: Empathy, Narrative, and Style,” (principal supervisor)
2016-2020 Dr. Matthew Cipa, “Metaphysical Film and Television: The Aesthetic Experience of Abstract Reality” (associate supervisor)
2012-2016 Dr. Jasper Van Vught "Player Experience of Violent Videogames" (associate supervisor)
MPhil Supervision
2023-25 Mr. Mark Eyers, “A Quieter Space: Revisiting Audio Commentaries by Filmmakers” (principal supervisor)
2023-24 Mr. Daniel Lammin, “Another Turn of the Screw: Re-adapting Classic Texts for Stage” (associate supervisor)
2016-2017 Mr. Benjamin Healey, “Ethical Perspectives on Reality Television” (associate supervisor)
Honours Supervision
2021 Ms. Meg Thomas (University medal winner)
2019 Mr. Josiah Ang
2018 Ms. Keya Makar (University medal winner)
2016 Ms. Ciaran Kerr
2015 Mr. Lachlan McDougall
UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING
(an asterisk denotes a course taught as an assistant lecturer or teaching assistant)
2014 – Present The University of Queensland
Adaptation
Critical Concepts in Film and Television Studies
Film and Television History
Introduction to Film and Television Studies
Recent Approaches to Film and Television
Television and Popular Culture
Honours Seminar: World-Making and Storytelling Across Media
Honours Seminar: Realism from Stage to Screen
2011-2014 The University of Waikato
Aesthetics of Contemporary American Television Drama
Honors Digital Cinema Production: Research-Led Practice
Writing for Screen Media
Video Production 1
Creative Technologies and Creative Practices
2008-2010 The University of Kent
World Cinema*
Hollywood Cinema*
Art and Film*
Aesthetics and the Visual Arts*
2007 Saint Joseph’s University
Introduction to Film
2004-2008 Temple University, 2004-2008
Media and Culture
Introduction to Film and Video Analysis
Writing for the Media I*
Writing for the Media II
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
2017 - Board Member, Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image
2025 - Editorial Board Member, Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind
2021 - Associate Editor, Film and Philosophy
2018 - Advisory Board Member, Revista Philia: Filosophia, Literatura, e Arte
2026 Conference Co-organizer, Mind, Art, Knowledge
2025 Evaluator, Czech Academy of Sciences
2018-2024 Editor, Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind
2022-23 Promotions Committee External Member, Bond University
2021 Conference Committee Chair, Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image
2020; 2022 Conference Committee Member, Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image
2011-2013 Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Professional Development Committee
Ongoing Referee for:
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media (2017)
Analysis (2024)
Australasian Journal of Philosophy (2018, 2020)
British Journal of Aesthetics (2011, 2012 x 2, 2020, 2021, 2022 x 2, 2023, 2025)
Cambridge University Press (2021, 2024, 2025)
Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image (2011)
Continuum/Bloomsbury (2011, 2012)
Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (2021)
Critical Arts (2017 x 2, 2018)
Critical Studies in Television (2015, 2021, 2024, 2025)
Croatian Journal of Philosophy (2020)
Debates in Aesthetics (2019, 2025)
Disputatio (2025)
Edinburgh University Press (2022, 2023, 2025 x 2)
Ergo (2021)
Erkenntnis (2016)
Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics (2013, 2017, 2018, 2025)
Film and Philosophy (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
Frontiers in Psychology (2021)
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2014-18, 2020-2023, 2025, 2026)
Journal of African Cinemas (2015)
Journal of Communication (2015)
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy (2024)
Journal of Narrative Theory (2020)
Journal of Screenwriting (2012, 2020)
Manchester University Press (2019)
Media International Australia (2020)
The MIT Press (2015)
NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies (2018)
New Review of Film and Television Studies (2018, 2020)
Oxford University Press (2017, 2022)
Palgrave Communications (2017)
Palgrave Macmillan (2016, 2017, 2024)
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences (2023, 2024)
Philosophia (2017, 2024, 2026)
Philosophical Psychology (2026)
The Philosophical Quarterly (2014, 2020, 2021, 2026)
Philosophical Studies (2023 x 2)
Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind (2013, 2014)
Rivista di Estetica (2022)
Routledge (2014, 2015 x 2, 2017, 2020, 2025 x 2)
Rutgers University Press
Screen (2018, 2019)
Screening the Past (2016)
Synthese (2024, 2025)
University of Texas Press (2023, 2025)
Theoria (2015)
Visual Anthropology Review (2018)
Media commentator for:
ABC News
ABC North Queensland
ABC Religion and Ethics
The Hollywood Reporter
The Minefield (ABC Radio National) x 3
UNIVERSITY AND DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE
University of Queensland
2024- Deputy Head of The School of Communication and Arts (SCA)
2025 Elected Member of Academic Board Standing Committee
2020-25 Elected Member of Academic Board
2023-24 Member of the Teaching and Learning Committee of the Academic Board
2021-24 Director of Teaching and Learning, SCA
2021 Member of the Research and Innovation Committee of the Academic Board
2019-21 Member of the Higher Degree Research Committee, SCA
2019 Member of the Research Committee, SCA
2015-18 Major Convenor for Film and Television Studies, SCA
2015-2018 Member of Teaching and Learning Committee, SCA
2015-2018 Member of the BA Board of Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
The University of Waikato
2011-2013 Undergraduate Advisor, Screen and Media Studies, 2011-2013
NON-ACADEMIC SERVICE
2016-2020 UQ Branch Committee Member, National Tertiary Education Union
2016-18 Board Member/ Director, Campus Kindergarten, St. Lucia, Queensland
2002-04 United States Peace Corps volunteer, Cabo Verde, 2002-2004
REFERENCES
Available upon request