Johannes Riis is an Associate Professor in Film Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His theoretical focus has long been on film acting and the power of performances for affecting our experience of moving image narratives. He is the author of “Spillets kunst” (2003), a work on emotions and nonverbal meaning, and has contributed to encyclopedias, anthologies, and journals.

Currently, he is working on a book-length study of film acting styles between 1920 and 1980, addressing American, European, and Asian actor-director collaborations. He has a particular interest in cognitive film theory.

Besides teaching courses on film theory and analysis, since 2005, Riis has been a member of the board at the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image, and since 2017, he has been on the board for Carl Th. Dreyers Mindefond.

Riis earned his Ph.D. at the University of Copenhagen in 2004 with a thesis titled “The Nature of Film Acting: A Realist Approach”. In 1997, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the University of Copenhagen for his thesis on nonverbal communication, film acting, and emotions, titled “Den ikke-verbale kommunikation i Film – karakterens tænkning og følelser”. He received his cand. phil., filmvidenskab (MA in Film Studies) in 1996.

Select List of Publications:

• Communicative Functions of Performer Expressiveness and Their Artistic and Aesthetic Aspects: Analysis of a Scene from Smiles of a Summer Night, Riis, Johannes, 10 Oct 2017, In: Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind. 11, 2, p. 49-66 18 p.
• Acting, Riis, Johannes, 2009, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film. Livingston, P. & Plantinga, C. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 3-11 8 p. (Routledge Philosophy Companions).
• Introduction: Screening Characters, Riis, Johannes & Taylor, A., 28 Mar 2019, Screening Characters: Theories of Character in Film, Television, and Interactive Media. Riis, J. & Taylor, A. (eds.). New York: Routledge, p. 1-15 15 p. (Afi Film Readers).
• Review of Theorizing Film Acting, edited by Aaron Taylor, Riis, Johannes, 27 Jun 2018, In: Projections – The journal for movies and mind. 12, 1, p. 118-22 5 p.
• Actor/Character Dualism: The Case of Luis Buñuel’s Paradoxical Characters, Riis, Johannes, Aug 2012, Acting and Performance in Moving Image Culture: Bodies, Screens, and Renderings. Sternagel, J., Levitt, D. & Mersch, D. (eds.). Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, p. 131-43 13 p. (Metabasis, Vol. 7).
• Implications of Paradoxical Film Characters for Our Models and Conceptualizations, Riis, Johannes, 2010, Characters in Fictional Worlds: Understanding Imaginary Beings in Literature, Film, and Other Media: Revisionen. Grundbegriffe der Literaturtheorie. Eder, J., Jannidis, F. & Schneider, R. (eds.). New York: De Gruyter, p. 259-75 7 p. (Revisionen, Vol. 3).
• Can involuntary contributions be authored? A note on the Actor’s art, Riis, Johannes, 2005, Visual Authorship: Creativity and intentionality in the Media. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, p. 87-101 15 p.
• Naturalist and classical styles in early sound film acting, Riis, Johannes, 2004, In: Cinema Journal. 3, p. 3-17 15 p.

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