Cecilia Sayad

My guest this week is Cecilia Sayad, Senior Lecturer in Film at the University of Kent, where she has been based since 2008 and is presently working on a project on horror and people’s desire to engage with the supernatural. Born in Brazil, Cecilia moved to the US and then grew up in Sao Paulo before returning to the US to undertake a PhD.

Cecilia talks about the accidental set of circumstances which led her to where she is now. She used to play with a band and once hoped to be a singer when beginning a degree in Journalism and Social Sciences for a year, before transferring to study Literature. She then worked as a journalist for four years and from there became involved in film.

Cecilia remembers flash memories from her childhood e.g. buying lollies from the post office and writing the letter K, and we talk about the experience of learning English. She always liked writing and the theatre and was into Brazilian music but not the charts, and she recounts how her peers were more into contemporary music whereas she listened to the sounds of the 1960s.

Cecilia discusses how she never dreamed about becoming an academic and initially studied film as she was a film buff. We also discover which university teachers inspired her, why she wasn’t into clubs or societies at university but did bring her guitar to parties and used to tape tracks from the radio. We also learn why Cecilia stopped listening to new music.

Towards the end of the interview we learn that not all of Cecilia’s memories are positive but that it is possible to value the moments that followed something negative, rather than the negative experiences themselves. She talks about how she never has the same routine every day and why that’s refreshing, and we learn whether Cecilia is a looking back or a looking forward type of person.

Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Cecilia Sayad and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.