TEHRAN – A specialized session in preparation for the upcoming 7th Tehran Short Film Studies Conference will be held virtually on Wednesday, featuring renowned American academic and film scholar Thomas M. Leitch. 

The event is organized by the Iranian Youth Cinema Society (IYCS), one of the most renowned schools of cinema and short film production in Iran and throughout the world. 

Professor Leitch, a distinguished scholar from the University of Delaware, the U.S., will be the keynote international speaker for this online session. 

The event will include an introductory presentation by Navid Pourmohammadreza, a film researcher and instructor from Iran, who is also a member of the conference’s scientific committee. Mehdi Chavoshvar, an expert and translator, will moderate the session.

Leitch’s talk, titled “The Persistent Marginalization of Adaptation in Short Films,” will explore how adaptation remains a sidelined subject within the short film genre. Following his presentation, participants will have the opportunity to pose questions.

The conference follows two earlier sessions organized in collaboration with the Iranian Book and Literature Home and Iranian Youth Cinema Society, featuring Mehrzad Danesh on “Adaptation from Non-Fiction and Religious Texts,” and Ramin Shahbazi on “New Theories of Adaptation,” held at the 36th Tehran International Book Fair’s Literature Pavilion last week.

Born in 1951, Thomas Leitch is a distinguished American academic and renowned film scholar known for his extensive contributions to film studies and cultural analysis. He earned his undergraduate degree magna cum laude in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University in 1972. He continued his education at Yale University, where he obtained his MA in 1973 and his PhD in 1976. 

Leitch’s academic career began at Yale as an assistant professor in the Department of English, a position he held until 1983. He then joined the University of Delaware, initially as an assistant professor, later becoming an associate professor in 1986 and a full professor of English in 1991, a position he still holds. His research spans American and British literature, cultural studies, film, new media, and public humanities. 

Leitch’s interest in film developed in the 1980s, leading him to teach both undergraduate courses in film and graduate courses in cultural and literary theory. 

He has authored numerous influential books, including “Film Adaptation and Its Discontents”, and “The Encyclopedia of Alfred Hitchcock”. His work continues to shape contemporary discourse on film, literature, and digital knowledge. His academic focus encompasses film studies, adaptation theory, and Hitchcock studies.

SAB/