Kevin Rockett, Ph.D. is an Irish film historian, writer and scholar, considered authoritative on the emergence and growth of scolarship on the history of Irish cinema. He is currently Associate Professor in Film Studies and head of the School of Drama, Film and Music, at Trinity College, Dublin, and is author, co-author, or editor of numerous books, including Cinema and Ireland (1987), The Irish Filmography (1996), Neil Jordan: Exploring Boundaries (2003) and Irish Film Censorship (2004).
Rockett became a member of the Irish Film Institute in 1979, and was its chairman from 1984 through 1991. He received his doctorate from the University of Ulster in 1989. He taught film studies at University College Dublin before joining the faculty at Trinity College in 2000. He was made a Fellow of the College in 2004, receiving his Master in Arts , and currently serves as head of Trinity College's school of drama, film and music.
In 1995 Rockett wrote the screenplay for the film Irish Cinema: Ourselves Alone?, directed by Donald Taylor Black.
Partial bibliography
1987, Cinema and Ireland By Kevin Rockett, Luke Gibbons, John Hill ISBN 0709942168
1995, Still Irish: A Century of the Irish in Film By Kevin Rockett, Eugene Finn ISBN 1900361000
1996, The companion to British and Irish cinema By John Caughie, Kevin Rockett ISBN 0304341584
1996, Cinema companions pack By John Caughie, Kevin Rockett ISBN 0304700398
1996, Fiction Films 1896-1996 By Kevin Rockett ISBN 0913616354
1999, Still Irish: A Century of the Irish in Film ISBN 0788161458
2002, Neil Jordan By Kevin Rockett ISBN 1860762182
2003, Ten years after: the Irish film board 1993-2003 By Kevin Rockett, Bord Scannán na hÉireann ISBN 0954515706
2003, Neil Jordan: exploring boundaries By Emer Rockett, Kevin Rockett ISBN 190414828X
2004, Irish film censorship: a cultural journey from silent cinema to internet pornography By Kevin Rockett, Emer Rockett ISBN 1851828443
2004, National cinema and beyond By Kevin Rockett, John Hill ISBN 1851828737
2005, Film history and national cinema By W. John Hill, Kevin Rockett ISBN 1851829245
2007, Irish films, global cinema By Martin McLoone, Kevin Rockett ISBN 1846820812
2008, National cinemas and world cinema By Kevin Rockett, W. John Hill ISBN 1846820197
The Irish Times wrote in 1996 of Rockett's earliy work Cinema and Ireland (1987), offering that it "remains the Bible of Irish film studies."Filmmaker Bob Quinn wrote of Irish Filmography: Fiction Films 1896 - 1996 (1996), stating [the book is] "an extraordinary opus ... Rockett is an excellent and painstaking scholar. Never before has anybody attempted to document in one volume every film ever made in or about Ireland. ... The amount of detail he has unearthed is no less than stupendous. ... The nearest literary analogy I can think of is Dineen's Irish Dictionary", Jeff Brownrigg of Australia's National Film and Sound Archive wrote that the book is "an indispensable tool for the researcher." and that it "provides a valuable source of information about a large group of international narrative feature films gathered together under the head of their general association with Ireland." He comments on the book's nearly two thousand entries and makes note of its comprehensive nature, concluding that it "is clearly an essential reference for libraries and will be sought by film buffs."
Lir Mac Cárthaigh of Film Ireland wrote that Neil Jordan: exploring boundaries (2003) "provides a convenient starting-point for anyone intending to write about Jordan's work, the history of Irish film, or cinematic representations."
John Kelleher, former Director of Film Classification, referred to Rockett's book Irish Film Censorship (2004) as the key text on the subject. It was described as "magisterial," (Hugh Linehan, Irish Times) "monumental," (RTE Radio 1) "meticulous," (Luke Gibbons, Irish Times) and "fascinating" (Kim Bielenberg, Irish Independent).
In 2001 Rockett received the Irish Film Institute Award for Contribution to Irish Film.
