Mari Kishi is a queer film and media scholar from Japan. They received their BA in Law from Kyoto University and their MA in Film and Media Studies from New Sorbonne University (Paris 3), where they wrote their thesis on the star persona of Japanese golden-age actress Hara Setsuko. They are particularly interested in the ways in which national discourse and ideology are expressed through gendered images, and as a EALC PhD candidate, intend to examine how socioeconomic forces shaped representations of Japanese women in the popular media of the bubble era. Their other research interests include media ecologies, documentaries, AI, the sex industry and ethnic minorities in Japan. Outside of academia, they’ve been closely involved with Kansai Queer Film Festival since 2009, working—as both a translator and program coordinator—to make Western queer media more accessible to the Japanese public.