Professor Will Higbee

I am a Professor of Film Studies and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Business Engagement and Innovation in the faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

My research focuses primarily on Euopean and MENA cinema, with a particular emphasis on immigrant and post-colonial cinema in France and the cinemas of the Maghreb. I'm interested in studying these cinemas as they relate to broader issues of national, transnational and diasporic cinema. More recently, I've developed a research focus on industry studies, publishing on co-production, festival networks and film distribution. I've authored seven books (monographs and edited collections), two special editions of journals and over 45 articles and chapters for edited collections and peer-reviewed international journals. 

I have successfully supervised (as first supervisor) eleven PhD students to completion across a range of topics in film history, theory and practice. My experience supervising PhD film practice students led to a central role in Exeter’s partnership with the London Film School from the early 2010s. Working in partnership with the LFS I took a lead role in creating and delivering an innovative, industry-facing masters programme, the MA in International Film Business (MAIFB). Now in its twelth year, the MAIFB has seen over 400 students graduate from the programme from more than 20 countries, with our graduates working in a variety of roles across the film value chain all over the world. I continue as the Academic Link Manager for the Exeter/LFS partnership.

I have been invited to participate in conferences, film festivals and symposia in Europe, the USA, Hong Kong and North Africa. I've delivered keynotes at the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) conference in 2015 and British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) conference in 2019. In 2018 I had the honour of serving as Jury President for the Tetouan International Film School Film Festival (FIDEC).

Between 2015-2018 I directed an international research project on Transnational Moroccan Cinema funded by the AHRC. One of the outputs from this project was a monograph, Moroccan Cinema Uncut: Decentred Voices, Transnational Perspectives (EUP, 2020), co-authored with Prof Florence Martin and Dr Jamal Bahmad. In 2019, I secured following-on-funding for impact-related activities linked to the original research project. This led to the digitization and restoration of A Door to the Sky (1989) a key film in the history of Moroccan cinema by pioneering feminist director Farida Benlyazid. As a result of this project, the film is being discovered by new international audiences through film festivals and online screenings. It was also selected by the Moroccan Film Council as one of 20 key films from Moroccan cinema history to be streamed for free to audiences across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The success of the restoration and distribution model for A Door to the Sky led me to the award of an AHRC commercialisation of research grant in 2023. This seed-funding allowed me, working with my colleague at Exeter, Jezz Vernon, to set up eXe film - a distribution label operating within the university that aims to bring new and original films to diverse audiences, whilst providing our students with real world experience in film marketing and distribution.  

I currently sit on the board of members for Screen Devon, the Great South West's Higher Education Group for Creative Industries (Creative Alliance South West) and the Devon and Cornwall Create Growth Advisory Board (Creative UK).