Rate My Professor Sylvie Magerstaedt

Dr. Sylvie Magerstaedt is a Senior Lecturer in Film and Media in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney campus. She studied Philosophy and Film and Media Studies at the University of Leipzig, Germany, and completed her PhD in Film Philosophy at the University of Westminster, UK, in 2011. Previously, she served as a lecturer and principal lecturer in media and film at the University of Hertfordshire and as a sessional lecturer at Imperial College London. Drawing on her experience in media industries, including TV production and PR, she teaches courses in Media Cultures and Film Studies. She supervises postgraduate research projects on topics such as film and philosophy, myth and fantasy cinema and television, fairy tales on screen, representations of the ancient world, and science fiction.

Dr. Magerstaedt's research specializations encompass myth and religion in contemporary film and television, virtues and character on screen, contemporary screen adaptations of Arthurian myth and Roman Britain, and mash-up Western myths. Her major publications include the monographs TV Antiquity: Sword, Sandals, Blood and Sand (Manchester University Press, 2019), Philosophy, Myth and Epic Cinema: Beyond Mere Illusions (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2015), and Body, Soul and Cyberspace in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema: Virtual Worlds and Ethical Problems (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). Key articles feature 'Humility and Greatness in Damien Chazelle’s First Man' (Film-Philosophy, 2022), 'Riding East – Western myths, nostalgia and the crossing of generic boundaries in Hidalgo (2004)' (Journal of Film and Video, 2022), and 'From Impulse to Action – Noah (2014) and Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) as secular bible epics' (Religions, 2021). She has curated events including the online workshop Screening Virtue, Screening Vice (University of Notre Dame Australia, 2021) and the International Game of Thrones Conference (University of Hertfordshire, 2017). Her contributions extend to public lectures, such as 'Images of Hope – Cinema and Religion' (2015), media appearances in The Conversation, and radio interviews. She holds memberships in the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), European Network of Cinema and Media Studies (NECS), and Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy (ASCP).