Estrella Sendra joined KCL in 2022 as Lecturer in CMCI Education (Festivals and Events). Prior to that she had worked as Lecturer in Global Media Industries at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, and Lecturer in Film and Screen Industries at SOAS, University of London, where she completed her doctoral thesis ‘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)’ in 2018.

She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, nominated to the King’s Education Awards (2023 and 2024) and recipient of the SOAS Director’s Teaching Prize for Inspirational Teaching (2020).

She was the CO-PI of the research project ‘Decolonizing Film Festival Research in a Post-Pandemic World’ (2022-24), funded by the New Frontiers in Research Fund, Government of Canada [NFRFR-2021-00161].

She is Associate Editor in Screenworks, an Advisory Board member of the ERC-funded research project ‘Screen Worlds: Decolonising Film and Screen Studies’, led by Prof Lindiwe Dovey at SOAS, University of London; and Advisory Board member of Film Africa, London.

Research interests

• African cinema and screen worlds
• Cultural and Film Festivals
• Film, screen media and creative industries in Senegal
• Decolonising creative industries and education
• Critical pedagogy, artistic research, video essays
• Gender and Creative Industries

Her main research interests are festivals, film, screen media and creative industries in Africa, critical pedagogy and artistic research, namely, video essays. Since 2011, when she directed Témoignages de l’autre côté, an awarded documentary about migration, she has been developing a regional expertise in Senegal. She welcomes PhD applications on any of the research interests listed above.

Teaching

Estrella Sendra teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules on festivals, events and cultural management, both from a practice and research-led perspective, as well as on global film industries. She is an advocator of critical pedagogies involving joy, often applying creative assessment methods such as video essays and festival projects.

Expertise and Public Engagement

Estrella Sendra has work experience as a journalist, filmmaker and festival organiser. As such, she is a frequent collaborator with film festivals and cinemas, promoting the curation of African cinemas, for which she was awarded the King’s Research Impact Awards (International Collaboration) in 2024.

She has been involved in several African film festivals in the UK, Spain, Senegal and South Africa, as advisory board member of Film Africa, London (UK, present role), director and co-curator of the Cambridge African Film Festival (UK, 2014-16), jury member of the Festival StLouis’ DOCS, Saint-Louis (Senegal, 2023), jury member of the Jozi Film Festival, Johannesburg (South Africa, 2017-19), and international media offer of the African Film Festival of Cordoba-FCAT, Cordoba (Spain, 2012-13), among other. She was a programme consultant of the 2023 Francophone West African Season at The Garden Cinema in London, and is often invited to introduce and discuss films at various events and festivals, such as the London Migration Film Festival and the Cambridge Film Festival.

In 2024, she collaborated with the Festival Artístico Audiovisual Afrodescendencias de Costa Chica (Mexico), funded by Cultura Circular from the British Council, curating and facilitating the screenings of four Senegalese short films. She has further collaborated with a number of Senegalese festivals, including the Festival Films Femmes Afrique and the Festival StLouis’ DOCS.

In 2024, she organised a three-day programme featuring the work of award-winning Senegalese television series director, producer and entrepreneur, Kalista Sy, in collaboration with University of Oxford and The New Black Film Collective. She is also a passionate video essayist, often engaging in training and public events on their production and application to Higher Education and Research.

For more information, please see Dr Estrella Sendra's personal website.

Selected publications

• Ouzia, Julia, and Sendra, Estrella (2024). ‘Doing things differently through the lenses of Gestalt philosophy and practice-based learning: A hopeful outlook on the benefits of co-creating with students to support wellbeing for the Higher Education community.’ In Lemon, Narelle (ed.) Prioritising Wellbeing and Self-Care in Higher Education: How We Can Do Things Differently to Disrupt Silence. London and New York: Routledge: 106-118.
• Sendra, Estrella (2024). ‘Embracing Collaborations between Festivals and Higher Education: A Case Study of the ‘Decolonising Film Festivals and Curating African Cinemas’ Networking Event at King’s College London.’ In Journal of Industry and Higher Education 38(1): 97-103. Available open access. (09.02.24).
• Sendra, Estrella (2023). ‘Traveling to Audiences: The Decentralization of Festival Spaces at the Festival Films Femmes Afrique in Senegal.’ In Journal of Festive Studies, 5: 304-325.
• Dovey, Lindiwe and Sendra, Estrella (2023). ‘Toward Decolonized Film Festival Worlds’. In de Valck, Marijke and Damiens, Antoine (eds.) Rethinking Film Festivals in the Pandemic Era and After. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan: 269-290. Available open access (05.01.23).
• 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. Available online (23.1.2021).