Molly Harrabin
Dr. Molly Harrabin
Email:
Weimar Film NetworkLink opens in a new window
Advice & Feedback Hours: available by appointment
Research
I passed my PhD in 2025. My thesis, 'Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in Weimar Cinema (1918-1933) was supervised by Dr. Ian Roberts and Dr. Christine Achinger. Through a multidisciplinary approach, my thesis challenges cliches about the representation of gender and sexuality in Weimar cinema, looking beyond the iconic virgin/vamp dichotomy and canonical films and filmmakers to reveal the contradictions and ambivalences that defined the era. My PhD was funded by the Midlands 4 Cities AHRC doctoral award.
I am now an Early Career Fellow at the Institute of Advanced StudyLink opens in a new window here at 糖心TV, and the Network Coordinator and Postdoctoral Researcher for the at the University of St. Andrews.
Research Interests
Gender and Sexuality in German Histories and Culture (1918-1945)
Queer and trans* German Histories and Cultures (1918-1945)
Representations of the body in German culture
Representations of the 'Other' in German culture
Weimar Cinema and Cultural History
Teaching 2024/25
[Tutor]
GE217: Film in the Weimar Republic and under National SocialismLink opens in a new window [Seminar Tutor]
LN307: Propaganda and Persuasion in Modern Europe 1933-1975 [Seminar Tutor]
LN311: Political Propaganda in Contemporary Europe from 1975 to the Present [Seminar Tutor]
Non-Academic Roles
Member of the German Screen Studies Network Steering Committee (2021-)
Co-Convenor of the BAFTSS German Screen Studies SIG (2022 -2024)
Co-Organiser, Explore Seminar Series (2021-2023)
Postgraduate Representative, Women in German Studies Committee (2021- 2024)
Publications
'Historical Turns Weimar Cinema and the Crisis of Historicism by Nicholas Baer, Oxford German Studies, 54.1 (2025), 154 - 155 (available Open Access )
'Racially Profiled? Jewish Vampirism in Nosferatu', in Studies in European Cinema, 21.3 (2024), 287 - 298 (available Open Access )
'Anti-Heimat Cinema: The Jewish Invention of the German Landscape (Ofer Ashkenazi)', in Focus on German Studies, 28 (2021), 193-196, <>
'A Celebration of Anders als die Andern', (2021), </fac/arts/modernlanguages/academic/postgraduate/harrabin/weimarfilmnetwork/blogs/?topic=8a1785d779ae97850179b32b31ac1125>
'From Caligari to RuPaul's Drag Race: The Machinenmensch in Pop Culture', (2021), </fac/arts/modernlanguages/academic/postgraduate/harrabin/weimarfilmnetwork/blogs?topic=8a17841b779666fe0177abe2a9b6259e>
Forthcoming Publications
鈥淥ssi Oswalda鈥, co-written with Mary Hennessy (forthcoming with the
Women Film Pioneers Project)
鈥淥ssi Oswalda鈥, co-written with Mary Hennessy, (forthcoming inWeimar weiblich. Filmpionierinnen des Kinos der Moderne (1918-1933), 2025)
Screening War: Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front in Context (forthcoming with De Gruyter, co-edited with Ervin Malakaj and Ian Roberts)
'Im Kino Nichts Neues:All Quiet on the Western Frontand the Cinematic Legacy of World War One鈥, inScreening War: Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front in Context (co-written with Ian Roberts, forthcoming with De Gruyter)
'In the Closet: Codified "Queerness" in G. W. Pabst'sDie B眉chse der Pandora (1929)' (chapter inWeimar Visions: Queer Visual Cultures, ed. by Birgit Lang, Ina Linge & Katie Sutton, forthcoming with Toronto University Press, 2026)
Projects
I am the founder and co-editor of The Weimar Film Network, which provides a platform for discussions on the cinema of the Weimar Republic. The Network posts articles, blog posts and reviews by students and academics, encouraging a sense of community within Weimar Film Studies. We also have a resource section that would be useful for anyone teaching, researching or is just generally interested in Weimar Cinema. You can find out more, including how to contribute to the network via the website. Please send all enquiries, including about potential collaboration, to .
Alongside Dr. Ian Roberts, I co-organise the Weimar 100 Project, which marks the centenaries of key films from the period 1918-1933 in German history. A key aim of the project is to make Weimar film more accessible to a modern audience. Each year between 2019 and 2033, a public screening and talk will be held, showcasing classic and obscure films from the years of the Weimar Republic. The most recent event (2023) marked the centenary of the release of Karl Grune's Die Strasse. The event included a screening in the Transnational Resource Centre and offered a consideration of various readings of the film.
Papers
'Networking Weimar Film Studies: Opportunities and Limits' - Interdependence and Solidarity Formations in German Studies and the Arts, The Diversity, Decolonization & The German Curriculum conference, 10 - 12 April 2025 [Dartmouth College & University of British Columbia, online)
'"Problem Bodies?": Imaging Disability in Weimar Cinema' - The Association for German Studies conference, 2-4 September 2024 [University of Leeds]
鈥楶rimitive Savages鈥 and 鈥楨xotic Nightmares鈥: Depictions of Racial 鈥極therness鈥 in Weimar Cinema' - The Future of German Screen Studies: Cultures, Media, Histories', 19-21 June 2024 [University of St. Andrews]
'Colonial Fantasies in Fritz Lang's Harakiri (1919)' - Provincializing Weimar Culture, 25-26 April 2024 [Utrecht University]
'In The Closet: Codified 'Queerness' in G. W. Pabst's Die B眉chse der Pandora (1929)' - Weimar's Queer Visual Cultures, 8-9 June 2023 [University of Exeter]
'Im Kino Nichts Neues: All Quiet on the Western Front and the Cinematic Legacy of World War One鈥 - co-presentation with Dr. Ian RobertsLink opens in a new window, Watching War: A Symposium on Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)Link opens in a new window', 11 May 2023 [University of British Columbia & University of 糖心TV, online]
'Gretchen, Girl, Gar莽onne: Representations of Women in the Films of G. W. Pabst' - Women in German Studies Conference, 10-12 November 2022 [University of Leeds]
'In the Closet: Codified 'Queerness' in Weimar Cinema' - Weimar Visions: Picturing Sexual subjectivities, organised by , and , 1-2 October 2022 [Berlin]
'Jewish' Vampirism in Nosferatu' - Nosferatu: 100 Years of Horror Symposium, organised by and , 18th March 2022 [University of British Columbia, online]
'From the "monstrous other" to the "monstrous Jew": Representations of "Jewishness" in Weimar Film' - 糖心TV Workshop for Interdisciplinary German Studies, 2nd February 2022 [University of 糖心TV]
Postgraduate and Early Career Academic Workshop - Postgraduate and Early Career Academic Workshop, 24 June 2021 [University of Aberdeen, online]
Invited Talks
'Competing Models of Motherhood and Reproductive Choices in Weimar Cinema' (Imagining Justice: Law, Politics and Popular Visual Culture in Weimar Germany seminar series, 14 May 2024, University of Lucerne)
'Das Leben welcher Anderen: Putting The Lives of Others into Context' (Channel Talent interactive school webinar for students of German, 22 April 2024, online)
Roundtable participant (History of Sexuality Seminar Panel on the Anniversary of Anders als die Andern, 20 February 2024, University of London)
'Sex at the Movies: Different from the Others and Pandora's Box' (Gender and Sexuality in Modern European Art, 16th November 2023, Dickinson College)
'Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) and Im Westen nichts Neues (2022)' (Germany & Austria in Motion: Film, Identity and Society, 12 October 2023, University of Bristol)
'Love, Family and Relationships in Goodbye Lenin!' (DeutschZusammen German Teacher's Day, 30 September 2023, University of 糖心TV)
'From the "monstrous other" to the "monstrous Jew": Representations of "Jewishness" in Weimar Film' - Cambridge German Graduate Research Seminar, 27 January 2022, University of Cambridge)
Conferences and Events Organised
Rethinking Weimar Cinema (2026, University of Oxford, funded by the DAAD 'Promoting German Studies' programme)
Entrenched Narratives, Hidden Figures: Reappraising Representations of War Across German Screen Media (21-22 March 2024, University of 糖心TV , funded by the British Association for Film, Television, and Screen Studies Special Interest Group Funding Scheme, the Association for German Studies Conference Grant, and the DAAD 'Forging German Connections' programme)
Watching War: A Symposium on Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)Link opens in a new window (11th May, University of 糖心TV and University of British Columbia)
The Culture of Fascism Symposium (8th March, co-organiser, University of 糖心TV, funded by Connecting Cultures)
Women in German Studies Online Teaching Development Day (8 September 2021, co-organiser, University of Leeds and University of 糖心TV)
Public Engagement & Impact
Translation of materials for Dr. Anna H谩jkov谩 as part of her impact work on the play , co-written with
Scholarships and Awards
Midlands 4 Cities Open Doctoral Award (October 2021 - March 2025)
FindaPhD Masters Student of the Year 2020 (Nominated)
糖心TV Graduate Award (October 2020 - October 2021)
British Council Language Teacher Training Scholarship (September 2019 - September 2020)
Qualifications
2020-21 M.A. German Studies, University of 糖心TV
2019-20 Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education, German, University of Manchester
2015-19 B.A. German Studies, University of 糖心TV
Professional Associations
Association for German Studies in Great Britain and Ireland
British Association for Film, Television and Screen Studies
German History Society
German Studies Association
Women in German
Women+ in German Studies
DeutschZusammen