Tobias Haupts held a position as research assistant at the Seminar for Film Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. He also worked as a lecturer for film history at the Institute for Theater, Film and Television Studies at the University of Cologne. His research interests include media and film history (with a focus on Germany), aesthetics and history of genre, film and theology, as well as media and cultural studies of the 1980s and 1990s.

Until 2020, he was a board member of the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung. In 2021, Haupts co-published the anthology "Space Agency – Medien und Poetiken des Weltraums" (with Christian Pischel). Extending on his dissertation on the history and media practice of video libraries (published in 2014), Haupts' current project deals with the history of West German film of the 1980s. Grounded in a methodological approach relating to historical poetics, Haupts examines the dynamics of production and distribution as a complex ensemble.

Three Quick Questions:

In a few words, can you tell us about your current research interest?

At the moment I am working on an essay about the US fantasy films of the years 1977 to 1987. During my time at Cinepoectics I will work on a monograph about the films of the 1980s in the Federal Republic of Germany. A subject that has occupied me for a long time and is now finally to become writing.

How do you relate the term poiesis to your work?

I am highly convinced of the concept of the historical poetics of film as outlined by Hermann Kappelhoff and Matthias Grotkopp, based on their work in the context of Cinepoetics. I will try to make this approach fruitful for my own work.

Which film or other audiovisual format has resonated with you lately and why?
Two of the films I saw in theaters in recent weeks, the German trash comedy SKY SHARKS and the new James Bond film NO TIME TO DIE, reminded me vividly of the research work of my dear colleague Eileen Rositzka. Beside everything I miss her work and impulses immensely.