Ilona Jurkonytė

Ilona Jurkonytė (she/her) is a film and media researcher at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University (Vilnius University Foundation Scholar) and lecturer in department of Art History and Theory at Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Previously, Ilona was a Vanier Scholar at Concordia University (2015-2019), where she defended her PhD in Film and Moving Image program. Prior to her academic work Ilona had active curatorial practice which continues to inform her research. She is particularly interested in the potentials of artists’ moving image and its participation in audiovisual cultures.

Ilona’s work critically examines tensions between notions of the national and transnational in moving image production and circulation, as well as their geo- and hydro- political implications. Ilona engages with environmental media approach to rethink coloniality in Global Easts.

Ilona is currently preparing a manuscript, based on her doctoral research, entitled “From Temperature of the War to Descending Clouds: US Bomb Archive and the Marshall Islands.” The project reconceptualizes the relationship between nuclear media archives, militarization, and the environment. Link.

Ilona was a Co-founder (2007), Managing Director (2007-2012) and Artistic Director (2007-2020) of the Kaunas International Film Festival (Lithuania), which was instrumental in rescuing Romuva, the oldest cinema theatre in Lithuania. 2012-2014, she worked as Film Program Curator at the Contemporary Art Centre Cinema (Vilnius, Lithuania).

Positions

Researcher at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University (Vilnius University Fund Scholar), Lithuania.

Lecturer Department of Art History and Theory at Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Reviewer Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis – a peer-reviewed quarterly published since 1993 and intended for the study of art history and visual culture with an emphasis on the arts and their contexts.

Public/Professional Engagement

2020/05 – 2021/01 Public Call – initiator and co-writer: Calling for Sexual Violence Preventive Policies in Film Industry Institutions. Link.

2012 Keynote speaker – Step-in Locarno (Geopolitics of Film Circulation), at Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland

2007-2012 successfully initiated and represented public interest in Romuva Cinema rescue case.