Meet Shelby Cooke author of Screen Britain and Film East at Bethany Beach Books on Thursday, July 31st at 6:30pm!
About Shelby:
Shelby Cooke is a film critic and curator, specializing in celebrity culture and identity on screen. She has edited and contributed to four film criticism anthologies — SCREEN DREAMS (2021), Eating the Screen (2022), Queer Projections (2023) and Screen Britain (2024). She has written for various online and print publications and has regularly appeared as a guest film critic on BBC Radio Norfolk. In addition to her writing, Shelby has worked with public art institutions and universities, such as the British Film Institute, Rehoboth Art League, the Independent Cinema Office and more to lecture on and educate about film and media.
Shelby is the current Head Curator and Editor-in-Chief of Film East, a multi-award-winning global film organisation that aims to educate and inspire the next generation of film enthusiasts by offering unique opportunities to connect through thought-provoking cinema. Her work for the group has been recognized around the world and has been nominated for six British Film Society Awards, winning Best Marketing and Publicity at the 2022 ceremony. Film East also won the ‘Together’ Award at the 2023 BBC Make A Difference Awards.
Shelby has an MA in Film Studies from the University of East Anglia, where she completed her thesis on David Bowie’s representation of Englishness through his acting performances. The complete dissertation is archived in the BFI’s Reuben Library, with the first two chapters published by the Celebrity Studies Journal. She is also a member of the Film Criticism Association UK. Her complete portfolio of writing can be found at shelbycooke.com.
Screen Britain
Combining the diverse voices of fifteen critics, filmmakers and creatives, Screen Britain journeys through historical and contemporary British visual media to explore national identity through the cinematic lens. This book’s twenty original articles — written in a relaxed style to entertain all types of film fans — analyse over thirty-five UK-made films and television programmes, including classics like Doctor Who and James Bond, as well as modern masterpieces like The Souvenir and Aftersun.
Essays range from objectifying the working-class in social realist films and the development of the genre’s new wave to the depiction of the British Empire and the portrayal of London immigrant neighbourhoods.
Also included in this anthology is a curated collection of sixteen films and TV shows that take readers on a road trip around the UK, focusing on works shot or set in regions throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that are less represented on screen.
Contributors include:
Joshua Barrett
Zoe Blacklock
Libby Briggs
Niamh Brook
Shelby Cooke
Lillian Crawford
Upasana Dandona
Peter Gugenheim
Ishnoor
Adam Martell
Ash Eloise O'Brien
Laura Patterson
William Schofield
Arthur Viegas
Mark Young