Jie Zhou is an M.A. student in Cinema and Media Studies at UCLA. Her research focuses on the material and environmental dimensions of moving images, feminist and queer film theory, and East Asian and Sinophone cinema and media. She is particularly interested in how material and elemental dimensions of cinema, including color, light, weather, and atmosphere, shape spectatorship, spatial experience, and embodiment.
Her current research projects include: 1) the heat distortion and blurred image in queer cinema, 2) neon aesthetics and spatial perception in contemporary Chinese neo-noir, 3) experimental media shaped by radioactive exposure, and 4) space and infrastructure in Tibetan cinema.
Research and Creative Interests
Cinematic materiality, elemental and environmental approaches to film and media, space and infrastructure, feminist and queer theory, East Asian and Chinese-language cinema.
Selected Work and Awards
Zhou, Jie. “When the Outline Falters: Fire, Blur, and Environmental Affect in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019).” Society for the Study of Affect (SSA), Vancouver, October 2026.
Zhou, Jie. “Luminous Deviance: Neon Aesthetics and Spatiality in Chinese Neo-Noir.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Chicago, March 2026.
Gilbert Cates Scholarship/Fellowship (2026)
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Executive Board Scholarship (2025)
Georgia Frontiere Scholarship in Memory of the Humanitarian Efforts of Aaron Curtis Taylor (2025)
Education
MA, Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA (in progress)
BA, Cinema and Television, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University