Mariana Liz is Assistant Professor in Film Studies at the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Lisbon in Portugal (FLUL). She received a PhD in Film Studies from King’s College London in 2012. Mariana was a Lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London and the University of Leeds in the UK. She was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa). She was an adviser to the Secretary of State for Film, Audiovisual and Media, working closely with the film literacy initiative Plano Nacional de Cinema (PNC). She was a guest speaker in several teaching training activities organised by PNC. She coordinated the courses “O 25 de Abril Através do Cinema” and “Mulheres no Cinema Português”.
Her main research interests are the idea of Europe in contemporary fiction and the transnational history of Portuguese film. Mariana has published articles in academic journals including Aniki, Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, Northern Lights, Studies in European Cinema, Journal of Romance Studies and New Cinemas. She is the author of Euro-Visions (2016), editor of Portugal's Global Cinema (2018), and co-editor of Women's Cinema in Contemporary Portugal (with Hilary Owen, 2020), which was published in Portuguese as Realizadoras Portuguesas: Cinema no Feminino na Era Contemporânea (2023).
In 2025, Mariana received an Honourable Mention, Prémios Científicos ULisboa/Caixa Geral de Depósitos, in the scientific area of Literatures and Cultures.
Areas of research
Film Studies
European Cinema
Contemporary Portuguese Film
Film Literacy
Gender and the Moving Image
Selected publications
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Liz, M. & O. Kourelou (2026) ‘A Broadminded Vision of European Cinema’, French Cinema: Stars and Histories – Essays in Celebration of Ginette Vincendeau, eds. S. Bell, M. Harrod & A. Philipps, London: Legenda, pp. 101-113.
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Liz, M. (2026) ‘Feminism in Post-Dictatorship Iberian Cinemas: Monique Rutler and Cecilia Bartolomé’, Studies in European Cinema, 23:1, pp. 22-36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17411548.2024.2441551
* Best Article Award, The Janovics Center Award for Outstanding Humanities Research in Transnational Film and Theatre Studies (2024)
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Liz, M. (2024), ‘Netflix’s transnational identities: From Europeanness to cosmopolitanism in Sex Education’, Journal of Popular Television, 12:3, pp. 303–15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jptv_00131_1
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Liz, M. (2024) ‘New Directive, Old Principles: EU Film Policy, Small Nation Cinemas and the Portuguese Case’, European Cinema in the Streaming Era: Policy, Platforms and Production, eds. C. Meir & R. Smits, Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer, pp. 23-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42182-2_2.
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Liz, M. (2023) ‘Espectros do Feminismo no Cinema Português’, Faces de Eva 50, pp. 135-156. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34619/wif7-zlwa
See also: https://www.cienciavitae.pt/en/7415-05F8-BC5E
