Staff profile

After completing my undergraduate studies at the University of Santiago de Compostela and an MA and PhD at Newcastle University, I joined Durham University in 1999 to teach European cinema.  I currently teach and supervise dissertations and postgraduate work in the areas of Iberian Studies (in Modern Languages and Cultures) and Film Studies (Visual Arts and Film). I specialise in Spanish cinema, with a particular focus on the films of Bigas Luna and on representations of masculinities in contemporary film and popular culture.

The films of Bigas Luna

My forthcoming book, The Films of Bigas Luna (Manchester University Press, 2025, 472 pp.), is the culmination of a long project including the edited collections El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna (Tirant lo Blanch, 2020, 373 pp.), Spanish Erotic Cinema (EUP, 2017, 264 pp), and a special issue of Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas (13.1, 2016, 113 pp.), as well as a series of public engagements events and a podcast. Since 2015, I have co-organised The Bigas Luna Tribute with the filmmaker’s daughter, Betty Bigas, presenting screenings and exhibitions in more than 30 cities worldwide. Most recently, Toulouse, San Francisco (2025); Genoa, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília (2024); Los Angeles, London (2023); New York, Copenhagen, Cleveland, Edinburgh (2022); and Madrid (2021). Our retrospective at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles attracted over 1,000 attendees. The tenth anniversary editions of the Tribute received support from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Since 2020, I have co-produced, edited, and hosted a Bigas Luna podcast, with guests including casting director Consol Tura; screenwriters Cuca Canals and Carmen Chaves; editors Teresa Font, Jaume Martí and Anastasi Rinos; filmmakers Santiago Garrido, Javier Guitiérrez, and  Carles Porta; sound designers Albert Manera and Ricard Casals; set designers Antxón Gómez and Chu Uroz; flamenco artist Miguel Poveda; actors Biel Durán, Anna Galiena, Jorge Perugorría, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, and many others.

My work on Bigas Luna has been featured in international media, including, in Spain, El País (2017 and 2022) and national television RTVE2  (Historia de nuestro cine, May 2021); in Australia, The Age - and across Fairfax network (2018), in Costa Rica, La nación (2018); or, in Brasil, Correio de Manhã (2024), among others. I have also talked about this project in podcasts, including FRED, The Festival Insider (2018) and New Books Network (2021). I have introduced Bigas Luna films at festivals in Australia, France, Mexico, the UK and Spain, including the SEMINCI in Valladolid in 2022; the National Academia de Cine in 2024 (full recording) and the 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival, SSIFF, also in 2024.  

In 2025, my research features in the Blu-ray box set Bigas Luna: Pulsions, Obsessions, Transgressions (Artus Films, France), for which I contributed a written interview for the companion book and video introductions for each of the three films included.

Masculinities and the body

Beyond Bigas Luna, I am the author of Cuerpos de cine (2013) and co-author of Live Flesh: The Male Body in Contemporary Spanish Cinema (2007). My current book project, provisionallly entitled Second Skins (with Alfredo Martínez Expósito, University of Melbourne), explores representations of male bodies in Spanish cinema from 2008 to the present, against the backdrop of the financial crisis, 15M, the resurgence of the far right, and the Covid-19 pandemic. This project is supported by The CASS Foundation (Walter Mangold Fellowships, 2022–23). More info.

Other Current Research and Projects

Ventura Pons: Guest editor of a forthcoming special issue of Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas (vol. 21, no. 3) on the late Catalan filmmaker.

Music and Nostalgia: Preparing an article on 1980s nostalgia and tribute acts of the pop group Mecano.

Editorial Roles: Editorial board, Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas; advisory board, International Journal of Iberian Studies.

Pleibéricos: Co-host with Dr Esther Gimeno Ugalde (UPF) of Pleibéricos, an interview series on new Iberian Studies publications, in partnership with New Books Network en Español. In 2022, we received a Hispanex grant to host a hybrid panel at Instituto Cervantes (Madrid) and to create a database of publications funded by a Hispanex grant from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports. 

Instituto Cervantes: I regularly collaborate with the Instituto Cervantes, especially in Manchester (also in Brasilia, Rio, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Vienna), with a series of events showcasing the work of (and in conversation with) prominent Spanish filmmakers and collaborating on an online course on Spanish cinema.

Visiting Positions & Fellowships

Walter Mangold Visiting Fellowship, University of Melbourne (2022–23)

Honorary Fellow, Madrid Institute for Advanced Study (MIAS, François Chevalier fellow, 2021)

Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley (2015), Pittsburgh (2015), Harvard (2012), CUNY Graduate Center (2010), and Queensland (2001-02 and 2005).

External examiner for Hispanic Studies (most recently Cambridge, Kent)

Chair, QA Review for Spanish programmes, University of the West Indies (2014)

Initiator and co-founder of the Durham University–British Film Institute partnership (2020)

Public Role

Honorary Vice-Consul of Spain in the North East and Cumbria

For consular queries (passports, NIEs, official documents), please contact ch.newcastle@maec.es. Responses within 48 hours. Please do not send personal data or paperwork to my Durham University email.

• Contemporary European Cinema (Spanish and British)
• Contemporary Spain
• Bigas Luna
• Ventura Pons
• Erotic cinema
• Queer cinema
• Auteur cinema
• Gender, sexuality and the body
• Popular music
• Haptic visuality

Authored book

• The Films of Bigas Luna
  
  Fouz-Hernandez, S. (in press). The Films of Bigas Luna. Manchester University Press.
• Cuerpos de cine: masculinidades carnales en el cine y la cultura popular.
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2013). Cuerpos de cine: masculinidades carnales en el cine y la cultura popular. Edicions Bellaterra.
• Live Flesh: The Male Body in Contemporary Spanish Cinema
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S., & Martínez-Expósito, A. (2007). Live Flesh: The Male Body in Contemporary Spanish Cinema. I.B. Tauris.

Book review

• BOOK REVIEW Aguado, Txetxu. Sexualidades disidentes: un acercamiento fílmico desde la prostitución y la pornografía. Madrid: Dykinson, 2019. 320pp. ISBN 978-84-1324-162-3
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (2022). BOOK REVIEW Aguado, Txetxu. Sexualidades disidentes: un acercamiento fílmico desde la prostitución y la pornografía. Madrid: Dykinson, 2019. 320pp. ISBN 978-84-1324-162-3. Revista de AlcesXXI Journal of Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film, 4, 419-424.
• BOOK REVIEW Hartson, Mary T (2017) Casting Masculinity in Spanish Film. Negotiating Identity in a Consumer Age (Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books), ISBN 9781498537117 (Hardback, $95), 978-1-4985-3712-4 (eBook, $90).
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (2022). BOOK REVIEW Hartson, Mary T (2017) Casting Masculinity in Spanish Film. Negotiating Identity in a Consumer Age (Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books), ISBN 9781498537117 (Hardback, $95), 978-1-4985-3712-4 (eBook, $90). Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas, 19(1), 117-121. https://doi.org/10.1386/slac_00072_5
• Book Review: Spanish Lessons: Cinema and Television in Contemporary Spain by Paul Julian Smith.New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books. 2017. vi + 176 pp.; 9 illustrations
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2020). Book Review: Spanish Lessons: Cinema and Television in Contemporary Spain by Paul Julian Smith.New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books. 2017. vi + 176 pp.; 9 illustrations. Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/24741604.2020.1706975

Chapter in book

• Spanish Queer Cinema
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2022). Spanish Queer Cinema. In I. West (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Queer Studies and Communication. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.1365
• ‘Tablas, memoria, deseo: la vejez en el cine de Ventura Pons’
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (2021). ‘Tablas, memoria, deseo: la vejez en el cine de Ventura Pons’. In B. Zecchi, R. Medina, C. Moreiras Menor, & M. P. Rodríguez (Eds.), Envejecimientos y cines ibéricos (pp. 141-168). Tirant lo Blanch.
• Transnational and Migrant Queer Affects in Two Basque Films
  
  Fouz Hernández, S., & Martinez Expósito, A. (2020). Transnational and Migrant Queer Affects in Two Basque Films. In J. Williams (Ed.), Queering the Migrant in Contemporary European Cinema (pp. 59-71). Routledge.
• Bambola (1996)
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2020). Bambola (1996). In S. Fouz-Hernández (Ed.), El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna (pp. 177-201). Tirant lo Blanch.
• Segon origen (2015) y Bigas x Bigas (2016)
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2020). Segon origen (2015) y Bigas x Bigas (2016). In S. Fouz-Hernández (Ed.), El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna (pp. 315-338). Tirant lo Blanch.
• Introducción
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2020). Introducción. In S. Fouz-Hernández (Ed.), El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna (pp. 17-31). Tirant lo Blanch.

Conference Paper

• Second Skins. A New Look at Male Bodies in Spanish Cinema (2008-2022). Talk with Alfredo Martinez-Expósito at the University of Queensland, Spanish and Latin American Studies Seminar Series, 31 May 2023.
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S., & Martinez-Expósito, A. (2023, May 31). Second Skins. A New Look at Male Bodies in Spanish Cinema (2008-2022). Talk with Alfredo Martinez-Expósito at the University of Queensland, Spanish and Latin American Studies Seminar Series, 31 May 2023 [Conference paper]. Presented at Spanish and Latin American Studies Seminar Series, University of Queensland.
• Segundas Pieles. Masculinidades y cuerpos masculinos en el cine español reciente.
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S., & Martinez-Expósito, A. (2023, May 26). Segundas Pieles. Masculinidades y cuerpos masculinos en el cine español reciente [Conference paper]. Presented at Wally Thompson, Latin American and Iberian Studies Showcase, La Trobe University, La Trobe University, Melbourne.
• Spanish Cinema Research and Its Impact Beyond Academia. The Bigas Luna Tribute. Talk at the University of Texas at Austin. 27 March 2023.
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2023, March 27). Spanish Cinema Research and Its Impact Beyond Academia. The Bigas Luna Tribute. Talk at the University of Texas at Austin. 27 March 2023 [Conference paper].
• Bigas Luna’s Iberian Portraits Trilogy, Talk at San Diego State University, 14 March 2023
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2023, March 14). Bigas Luna’s Iberian Portraits Trilogy, Talk at San Diego State University, 14 March 2023 [Conference paper].
• Aging Gay Men in the Films of Ventura Pons
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2023, January 6). Aging Gay Men in the Films of Ventura Pons [Conference paper]. Presented at MLA Annual Convention, San Francisco, USA.
• La madurez gay masculina en el cine de Ventura Pons
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2022, October 7). La madurez gay masculina en el cine de Ventura Pons [Conference paper]. Presented at X Congreso Internacional de GECA: Cine Queer en el Mundo, Universidad Complutense Madrid.
• Curating Bigas Luna, Re-thinking Iberia
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2022, September 29). Curating Bigas Luna, Re-thinking Iberia [Conference paper]. Presented at 2022 Walter Mangold Public Lecture, University of Melbourne, Australia.
• Asking for the moon? Re-thinking Iberia through Bigas Luna’s La teta y la luna thirty years later
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2022, May 5). Asking for the moon? Re-thinking Iberia through Bigas Luna’s La teta y la luna thirty years later [Conference paper]. Presented at Conversations on Iberian Studies: Challenges and Opportunities, University of Copenhagen.
• Uso de herramientas online y redes sociales para diseminar investigación y estrategias de impacto social en las Artes y Humanidades: los casos de Pelibéricos y The Bigas Luna Tribute
  
  Fouz Hernández, S., & Gimeno Ugalde, E. (2021, January 31). Uso de herramientas online y redes sociales para diseminar investigación y estrategias de impacto social en las Artes y Humanidades: los casos de Pelibéricos y The Bigas Luna Tribute [Conference paper]. Presented at MIAS Seminar Series 2021, Casa de Velázquez, Madrid, Spain.
• Round table 'Descubriendo a Bigas Luna',
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S., Expósito, A. M., & Rua, S. G. (2020, August 13). Round table ’Descubriendo a Bigas Luna’, [Conference paper]. Presented at Descubriendo a Bigas Luna, Instituto Cervantes Sydney (online).
• ´Operación mariconez: queer-escuchando a Mecano 30 años después´, conference paper (Iberian 20th and 21st Century Peninsular panel “Popular Music and Society in Spain”), MLA Annual Conference Seattle, January 2020.
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (2020, January). ´Operación mariconez: queer-escuchando a Mecano 30 años después´, conference paper (Iberian 20th and 21st Century Peninsular panel “Popular Music and Society in Spain”), MLA Annual Conference Seattle, January 2020 [Conference paper].

Edited book

• El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna.
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (Ed.). (2020). El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna. Tirant lo Blanch.
• Spanish Erotic Cinema
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (Ed.). (2017). Spanish Erotic Cinema. Edinburgh University Press.
• Re-thinking ‘Identities’: Cultural Articulations of Alterity and Resistance in the New Millennium
  
  Cairns, L., & Fouz Hernández, S. (Eds.). (2014). Re-thinking ‘Identities’: Cultural Articulations of Alterity and Resistance in the New Millennium. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0353-0607-1
• Mysterious Skin: Male Bodies in Contemporary Cinema
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (Ed.). (2009). Mysterious Skin: Male Bodies in Contemporary Cinema. I. B. Tauris.
• Madonna's Drowned Worlds: New Approaches to Her Cultural Transformations 1983-2003.
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S., & Jarman-Ivens, F. (Eds.). (2004). Madonna’s Drowned Worlds: New Approaches to Her Cultural Transformations 1983-2003. Routledge-Ashgate.

Journal Article

• No Strangers: Older Gay Men in the Films of Ventura Pons
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (2024). No Strangers: Older Gay Men in the Films of Ventura Pons. Romance Quarterly, 71(1), 95-109. https://doi.org/10.1080/08831157.2023.2294502
• Estudios ibéricos online. El futuro de las iniciativas virtuales.Informe del encuentro en la sede del Instituto Cervantes
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S., & Gimeno Ugalde, E. (2023). Estudios ibéricos online. El futuro de las iniciativas virtuales.Informe del encuentro en la sede del Instituto Cervantes. International Journal of Iberian Studies, 36(2), 165-176. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijis_00100_7

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Ventura Pons 1945-2024
  
  Fouz-Hernandez, S. (2024, February 3). Ventura Pons 1945-2024. Ventura Pons (1945-2024).
• The Whale: Brendan Fraser’s comeback offers rare representation of the fat queer male body on screen. Article in The Conversation Newspaper, 3 February 2023.
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2023, February 3). The Whale: Brendan Fraser’s comeback offers rare representation of the fat queer male body on screen. Article in The Conversation Newspaper, 3 February 2023. The Conversation.

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna PODCAST
  
  Fouz-Hernandez, S. (2020). El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna PODCAST. On El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna [Podcast].

Presentation

• Ventura Pons. Amic/Amat 25 años después.
  
  Fouz-Hernandez, S. (2024, December 12). Ventura Pons. Amic/Amat 25 años después. Presented at La mirada tabú. Film Festival, Filmoteca de Zaragoza, Spain.
• In Conversation with Filmmaker Patricia Font (Instituto Cervantes Manchester)
  
  Fouz-Hernandez, S. (2024, October 10). In Conversation with Filmmaker Patricia Font (Instituto Cervantes Manchester). Presented at Instituto Cervantes Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
• Tatuaje (1975). Presentation of the restored, digitised edition at the 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival
  
  Fouz-Hernandez, S. (2024, September 28). Tatuaje (1975). Presentation of the restored, digitised edition at the 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival. Presented at 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival, San Sebastián, Basque Country.
• La trilogía de Retratos Ibéricos
  
  Fouz-Hernandez, S. (2024, June 7). La trilogía de Retratos Ibéricos. Presented at Bigas Luna Symposium, Genoa International Poetry Festival.
• Colloquium Yo soy La Juani (dir. Bigas Luna, 2006), Academia de Cine Madrid.
  
  Fouz-Hernandez, S. (2024, May 17). Colloquium Yo soy La Juani (dir. Bigas Luna, 2006), Academia de Cine Madrid.
• Interview with Icíar Bollaín at the Instituto Cervantes Manchester. 15 September 2023.
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2023, September 15). Interview with Icíar Bollaín at the Instituto Cervantes Manchester. 15 September 2023.
• Second Skins. A New Look at Male Bodies in Spanish Cinema. Talk at the Instituto Cervantes Sydney, 1 June 2023.
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S., & Martinez-Expósito, A. (2023, June 1). Second Skins. A New Look at Male Bodies in Spanish Cinema. Talk at the Instituto Cervantes Sydney, 1 June 2023.
• Spanish Queer Cinema, talk at Ormond College, University of Melbourne. 10 May 2023
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2023, May 10). Spanish Queer Cinema, talk at Ormond College, University of Melbourne. 10 May 2023.
• Introduction Film Dressed in Blue at Roxie Theater, San Francisco. 10 January 2023
  
  Fouz-Hernández, S. (2023, January 10). Introduction Film Dressed in Blue at Roxie Theater, San Francisco. 10 January 2023.
• Introductory talk for exhibition opening ‘La libertad de los símbolos’ (20 January 2021) and book launch/talk El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna (21 January 2021), Ámbito Cultural El Corte Inglés, Valencia, Spain (part of ‘El año de Bigas Luna’).
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (2021, January 20). Introductory talk for exhibition opening ‘La libertad de los símbolos’ (20 January 2021) and book launch/talk El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna (21 January 2021), Ámbito Cultural El Corte Inglés, Valencia, Spain (part of ‘El año de Bigas Luna’). Presented at El año de Bigas Luna, Valencia, Spain.
• 'Homoerotic Desire in Contemporary Spanish Cinema: from Pedro Almodóvar to Ventura Pons'
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (2020, September 9). ’Homoerotic Desire in Contemporary Spanish Cinema: from Pedro Almodóvar to Ventura Pons’. Presented at Instituto Cervantes Manchester, (virtual event).
• Virtual Book Launch, El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna, Tirant lo Blanch publishers.
  
  Fouz Hernández, S. (2020, June 4). Virtual Book Launch, El legado cinematográfico de Bigas Luna, Tirant lo Blanch publishers.