Dr Matt Hilborn
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matthewhilborn.bsky.social
Dr Matt Hilborn
@matthewhilborn.bsky.social
Film Comedy Researcher, University College Dublin

Film Comedy and Spain: Humour, Genre, and the Nation 1970-2020 (Legenda, 2025) - order now!

Writing on 21st-century rom com (film/TV) in Spain
📢 My chapter is out in Feminismos e Humor! I analyse Javier Fesser's "Ayoub's birthday", from his Unfortunate Stories (2020) as a romcom gone wrong, inverting national myths to critique historical amnesia RE Spain's "de-Africanization".

Full ebook: €5!
tinyurl.com/56bhesuf
#SpanishFilm #FilmStudies
October 31, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The paperback of Ophelia Through Time: Reimaginings in Art and Film (by Prof Carolina Sanabria, translated & edited by me, with a co-written Intro) is out now via Cambridge Scholars! 📖

£32.99 - or ask me nicely for a cheeky further discount 😉

Buy here: cambridgescholars.com/product/978-...
October 22, 2025 at 3:24 PM
After a year online, our Convergence article is out in print!
We analysed how British film & TV circulate (and sometimes hide) on Europe’s VoD platforms.
Huge thanks to my co-authors @jeanettesteemers.bsky.social and Cathrin Bengesser! doi.org/10.1177/1354...
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October 17, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Yesterday UCD's Newman Building was transformed by 'Metamorphosis' - a giant inflatable sculpture by Olga Diego. Students & staff drew and performed on this reusable plastic canvas, turning art into a living act of sustainability. Kudos colleagues Ana Vera & Eva Bru-Domínguez! @ucdslcl.bsky.social
October 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM
📣 Thrilled that my article "Tough Love: Violence and Revenge in Contemporary Spanish Comedy" is out in Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies! I analyse a wave of cynical anti-romcoms - like new film The Roses (2025) - reflecting cynicism and waning couple confidence #filmstudies doi.org/10.1080/2474...
Tough Love: Violence and Revenge in Contemporary Spanish Romantic Comedy*
This article analyses the trend of violent romantic comedies in Spain that, following the nation’s economic crisis (loosely 2018–2017), swap adoration for marital discord and divorce. Unlike screwb...
doi.org
September 29, 2025 at 8:10 AM
A pulsating panel on self-representing streaming services at ECREA 2025! I spoke about how Netflix Spain comedies about sex & intimacy incorporate Netflix itself into their own diegesis! #loveirishresearch
September 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
What an amazing panel on gender and the body in Spanish cinema at @acis46.bsky.social! Thanks to the organisers for such a stimulating conference 😍
September 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Terrific first day of @acis46.bsky.social, sharing conversation and good food with Hispanists from right across the globe! And all in one of my favourite Spanish cities: Santiago de Compostela :)
September 3, 2025 at 5:52 PM
NEW Palomitas episode on Fe de etarras (Bomb Scared) (2017)!

We dissect Borja Cobeaga's satire of 4 inept militants trapped in a flat during Spain's 2010 World Cup win ⚽️

With expert Alison Posey

Listen: tinyurl.com/4jt682cw

#PalomitasPodcast #CineEspañol #ETA #Spanishfilm
6. Fe de etarras (Borja Cobeaga, 2017) (with Alison Posey)
Palomitas · Episode
tinyurl.com
August 20, 2025 at 1:59 PM
📢 Delighted to announce that my book, "Film Comedy and Spain: Humour, Genre, and the Nation 1970-2020", is out!

Get your copy - or ask your library for one - here: www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Film-Comedy-Spain

Thanks to everyone who supported me through this process!

#NewBook #FilmStudies
July 29, 2025 at 11:38 AM
New Pod!🎙️

Remember the Jenni Hermoso/Luis Rubiales "kiss"?

🎧 Palomitas explores feminist struggles in Spanish docs:
📽️ No estás sola (fighting the "Wolf Pack")
#SeAcabó (women’s football revolution)
Special guest Dr. Abigail Loxham @abigail
🔗 tinyurl.com/mr3vaz5x

#WomensFootball #MeToo #SeAcabó
July 21, 2025 at 5:29 PM
So much of the discourse surrounding James Gunn's #Superman reminds me of his Spanish parody, #Superlópez (2018). Extracts from my new book, "Film Comedy and Spain: Humour, Genre, and the Nation 1970-2020"! #superheroes #filmstudies #newbook www.mhra.org.uk/publications...
July 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM
🚩Wrapping up #SpottingRedFlagsSymposium! Thanks to the brilliant presenters, keynote Mary Harrod, our sponsors @baftss.bsky.social, @officialbaas.bsky.social, @kingsfilmstudies.bsky.social & all attendees! Special thanks to my co-organizers @victoriapistivsek.bsky.social & @sarahlahmtv.bsky.social ❤️
June 9, 2025 at 10:14 PM
🚩Time for our keynote at the #SpottingRedFlagsSymposium! Mary Harrod @warwickfilmtv.bsky.social speaks on romance without ethics in the digital age
June 9, 2025 at 8:23 PM
🚩Panel 4 - HAPPILY NEVER EVER AFTERS - of #SpottingRedFlagsSymposium twists our happy endings! Queer Qs & Saltburn (Anamarija Horvat) @northumbriauni.bsky.social, Killer Hit Man (Vernon Shetley) @wellesley.edu, Interracial romance (Zélie Asava), reinventing Bergman Island (@cinemariasf.bsky.social)
June 9, 2025 at 4:34 PM
🚩Panel 3 of the #SpottingRedFlagsSymposium will give us a reality TV check! MAFS & hidden abuse? (Anna Dawson), Decoding lesbian toxicity? (@polinazelm.bsky.social & Ellie Smith) @warwickfilmtv.bsky.social @, Redeemable fboys? (@victoriapistivsek.bsky.social) @kingsfilmstudies.bsky.social
June 9, 2025 at 2:48 PM
🚩Panel 2 of #SpottingRedFlagsSymposium - GENDERED TOXICITIES: Godrèche rediscovered (Catherine Fowler) @universityofotago.bsky.social, toxic motherhood (Lingjun Wang) @leedsunimedia.bsky.social, Ghosting & gaslighting (Martin Hall) @yorkstjohn.bsky.social, Teens, TikTok, & desire (Lorenza Parisi)
June 9, 2025 at 12:10 PM
🚩Panel 1 of #SpottingRedFlagsSymposium - RED FLAG POLITICS - gets us right into the danger zone! Slaps vs slugs (Catherine Wheatley) @kingsfilmstudies.bsky.social, Gentrification in rom-com drag (Harriet Idle), Creep time (Louis Bayman), Tradwife Toxicity (Matthew Hilborn) @ucddublin.bsky.social
June 9, 2025 at 11:02 AM
June 9, 2025 at 9:07 AM
I was thrilled to launch my book "Film Comedy and Spain" - out next month! - at @humorsofias.bsky.social in Santiago!

The book interrogates Spanish film comedy as a contested site of national identity formation, tracing its evolution from late Francoism to the polarised present!
#FilmStudies
May 22, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Jilly Kay kick us off at the "Reactionary Politics, Women, and Feminist Critique" symposium at @lborouniversity.bsky.social!
May 21, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Come to our symposium on Red Flags! 🚩🚩🚩 June 9, 2025 - with keynote from Prof Mary Harrod!
May 16, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Flavita Banana, cartoonist for El País, kicks us off at @humorsofias.bsky.social 2025!
May 14, 2025 at 8:42 AM
🎙️ Following the conclave (and Conclave)? New #Palomitas digs into feminist farce "Mi querida cofradía" (Marta Díaz, 2018) - where a woman (shock horror!) is determined to win the election to lead her religious order... With expert Erin K Hogan!
#SpanishCinema
shorturl.at/DRkJZ
4. Mi querida cofradía (Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz, 2018) (with Erin K Hogan)
Palomitas · Episode
shorturl.at
May 12, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Late posting, but I had a terrific time at the "Psychobiddies, Harpies and Hags: Interrogating Ageing and Gender on Screen" Symposium at the Watershed, Bristol! Josephine Dolan, Hannah Hamad, Deborah Jermyn, and Estella Tincknell spoke about 'doing age', and the 'double jeopardy' of age + gender
May 9, 2025 at 11:36 AM