
Dr Estrella Sendra Fernandez
Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries Education (Festivals and Events)
- GTA Deputy Lead (Term 1); GTA Lead (Term 2)
Contact details
Biography
Estrella joined CMCI at King's in 2022, having previously worked at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton and SOAS, University of London, where she was awarded the SOAS Director’s Teaching Prize for Inspirational Teaching (2020).
Since 2011, when she directed Témoignages de l’autre côté, an awarded documentary about migration, she has been developing a regional expertise in Senegal.
Estrella has a MA in Critical Media and Cultural Studies and completed her doctoral thesis from SOAS in 2018, entitled ‘Two-tier festivals in Senegal between the local and the international: A Case Study of the Festival International de Folklore et de Percussion in Louga (Senegal).’
Estrella has published on festivals, film, creative industries in Africa and video essays. She is the co-principal investigator of the ‘Decolonizing Film Festival Research in a Post-Pandemic World’, New Frontiers in Research Fund. She is Associate Editor in Screenworks, co-author of the ‘Introductory Guide to Video Essays’ and author of ‘Video Essays: Curating and Transforming Film Education through Artistic Research’ (2020). She is an Editorial Board Member in the Journal of African Media Studies, an Advisory Board member of Screen the ERC-funded research project ‘Screen Worlds: Decolonising Film and Screen Studies’, and Film Africa in London.
Research interests
- Festivals
- Film, media and creative Industries in Africa
- Education Innovation
- Video essays and practice research
Estrella's research focuses on cultural festivals, with particular interest in African film festivals in Africa and outside of Africa, cultural festivals in Senegal and the Global South more broadly. As a filmmaker, journalist and festival worker, she is particularly interested in practice research, namely the video essay.
Estrella welcomes PhD students interested in education innovation.
Selected publications
- Sendra, Estrella and Keyti (2022). ‘Use of Senegalese Music to Raise Coronavirus Awareness on Social Media’. In Journal of African Media Studies, Special Double Issue ‘Media and the Corona Pandemic in Africa’, 14(1): 81-94.
- Sendra, Estrella (2021). ‘Saint-Louis Blues: From Oral Storytelling to Aural Filmmaking.’ In Shearer, Martha, & Lobalzo Wright, Julie (eds.) (2021). Musicals at the Margins: Genre, Boundaries, Canons. London: Bloomsbury: 55-70.
- Feal, Laura and Sendra, Estrella (2021). ‘Nearby the Festival International du Film Documentaire de Saint-Louis: Rethinking Proximity in Times of COVID-19.’ In NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies, Spring 2021.
- Sendra, Estrella (2021). ‘Banlieue Films Festival (BFF): Growing Cinephilia and Filmmaking in Senegal.’ In aniki: Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image, 8(1), Special Issue: Film festivals and their socio-cultural contexts: 245-272.
- Sendra, Estrella (2020). ‘Video Essays: Curating and Transforming Film Education through Artistic Research’. In Damásio, M. J. & Mistry, J. (eds.) (2020) International Journal of Film and Media Arts GEECT, Special Issue Mapping Artistic Research in Film, 5(2): 65-81.
Teaching
Estrella teaches across modules on the BA and MA programmes in CMCI on topics related to festivals, creative industries and cultural ecosystems.
2020 - SOAS Director’s Teaching Prize for Inspirational Teaching
2019 - Awarded a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA)
2018 - Associate an Associate Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA)
Expertise and public engagement
Estrella has spoken at conferences, festivals and media platforms and events across the globe, particularly collaborating with African film festivals in Senegal, the UK and Spain.
Among her recent public engagement, there is:
- 27/03/22 Fad’Jal: Other Modernisms, Other Futures. Barbican, London
- UK26/03/22 Sarah Maldoror: Between Tigritude and Surrealism. Tate Modern, London
- UK2/03/22 Co-hosting of ‘La Voix de Réalisatrices Sénégalaises [Decolonising Film with Senegalese Women Filmmakers] during the Festival Films Femmes Afrique in Dakar (Senegal), in collaboration with Screen Worlds.
- 20/01/22 Touki Bouki. BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking. Available online.
For detailed information about this, please visit her personal website.
Research

Decolonizing Film Festival Research in a Post-Pandemic World
This project proposes a first step in decolonizing film festival research by bringing together an international team of African film festival researchers.
Project status: Ongoing
Events

Exploring the value of creative (higher) education
A one-day conference hosted by the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries (CMCI), King’s College London.
Please note: this event has passed.

Visual Methods: Day Two (24th March)
The workshop 'Copyright considerations, fair and creative (re)use' will explore how existing materials such as films and photographs can be reused creatively...
Please note: this event has passed.

Visual Methods: Day One (23rd March)
This presentation will offer an overview of diverse ways in which photography can serve as a creative and inclusive research tool, based on projects that are...
Please note: this event has passed.

Francophone West African Cinema
CMCI partners up with The Garden Cinema and Screen Worlds for the Francophone West African Cinema Season from 2 March to 8 May 2023
Please note: this event has passed.

Round-table: ‘Decolonising Film Festivals and Curating African Cinemas’
This is an event organised by Estrella Sendra and funded through the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Small Project Scheme.
Please note: this event has passed.

Short Film Programme: a co-curatorial experience by Film Africa in London, Leeds International Film Festival, Festival Films Femmes Afrique, and Mostra de Cinemas Africanos de Brazil
This is an event organised by Estrella Sendra and funded through the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Small Project Scheme.
Please note: this event has passed.

Presentation of the New Frontiers in Research Fund Project ‘Decolonising Film Festival Research in a Post-Pandemic World’
This is an event organised by Estrella Sendra and funded through the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Small Project Scheme.
Please note: this event has passed.
Research

Decolonizing Film Festival Research in a Post-Pandemic World
This project proposes a first step in decolonizing film festival research by bringing together an international team of African film festival researchers.
Project status: Ongoing
Events

Exploring the value of creative (higher) education
A one-day conference hosted by the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries (CMCI), King’s College London.
Please note: this event has passed.

Visual Methods: Day Two (24th March)
The workshop 'Copyright considerations, fair and creative (re)use' will explore how existing materials such as films and photographs can be reused creatively...
Please note: this event has passed.

Visual Methods: Day One (23rd March)
This presentation will offer an overview of diverse ways in which photography can serve as a creative and inclusive research tool, based on projects that are...
Please note: this event has passed.

Francophone West African Cinema
CMCI partners up with The Garden Cinema and Screen Worlds for the Francophone West African Cinema Season from 2 March to 8 May 2023
Please note: this event has passed.

Round-table: ‘Decolonising Film Festivals and Curating African Cinemas’
This is an event organised by Estrella Sendra and funded through the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Small Project Scheme.
Please note: this event has passed.

Short Film Programme: a co-curatorial experience by Film Africa in London, Leeds International Film Festival, Festival Films Femmes Afrique, and Mostra de Cinemas Africanos de Brazil
This is an event organised by Estrella Sendra and funded through the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Small Project Scheme.
Please note: this event has passed.

Presentation of the New Frontiers in Research Fund Project ‘Decolonising Film Festival Research in a Post-Pandemic World’
This is an event organised by Estrella Sendra and funded through the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Small Project Scheme.
Please note: this event has passed.