Prof. Dr. Peter Scheinpflug

Professors

Portraitfoto Peter Scheinpflug
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Prof. Dr. Peter Scheinpflug

Professor Media Studies
Professors

Scholar in media studies. Research associate at the Department of German Studies at the University of Mannheim. Founder of the conference series »Studien des deutschen Genrefilm«

Phone
0049 221.920188-0
E-Mail
Email

Vita

Because the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich rejected his application, Peter Scheinpflug studied theater, film, and television studies, German language and literature, and sociology in Cologne. Alongside his studies, he worked as a tutor, curated film series, and contributed to student short film productions at the Institute for Theater, Film, and Television Studies. However, he earned his master’s degree in 2010 from the renowned Washington University in St. Louis (USA). In 2013, he earned his Ph.D. in Theater, Film, and Television Studies at the University of Cologne with his dissertation Formelkino. Medienwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die Genre-Theorie und den Giallo (2014). He completed his habilitation in Media Studies in 2025 with his habilitation thesis Medien begreifen. Eine medienanthropologische Theorie der Taktilität.

For 10 years, Peter Scheinpflug conducted research and taught at the Institute for Media Culture and Theater at the University of Cologne, focusing on topics such as digital culture, film history, media theory, genres, gender studies, and much more. In 2023, Peter Scheinpflug moved to Mannheim to join the Department of German Studies, where he is intensifying his current research on German film, with a particular focus on the New German Genre Film. Since April 2026, Peter Scheinpflug has been the professor for Media Studies at the ifs.

Peter Scheinpflug is currently focusing his research on contemporary German genre film, on which he is writing the first comprehensive study, and in 2025 he founded the conference series Studien zum deutschen Genrefilm. In addition, he has published on topics including the history of German film and television, genre theory, practices and interdiscourses of digital culture, touchscreens, Christoph Schlingensief, Christmas films, comics, and film classics by directors such as Fritz Lang, Ingmar Bergman, Miloš Forman, Lina Wertmüller, and Wong Kar-wai.

Publications (Selection)

Books

Schlingensief-Handbuch. Leben – Werk – Wirkung. J.B. Metzler. Berlin 2025. (hg. zus. m. Teresa Kovacs und Thomas Wortmann)

Genre-Theorie. Eine Einführung (= Red Guides). LIT Verlag. Berlin 2014.

Book Chapters

Der DDR-Film als deutsches Staatsgenre: Wie 2018 im Kino um die Deutungshoheit über die DDR gekämpft wurde mit BALLON (D/F/USA 2018, R: Michael Herbig) und GUNDERMANN (D 2018, R: Andreas Dresen). In: Irina Gradinari und Michael Niehaus (Hg.): Staatsgenres. Zur politischen Dimension von Filmgenres. transcript. Bielefeld 2025. S 289-312.

Home is where the horse is, oder: Valeska Grisebachs respektvolle Demontage des Westernhelden in WESTERN (2017). In: Corina Erk, Matteo Galli und Jörn Glasenapp (Hg.): Lola, Toni, Yella und die anderen: Der deutsche Film nach 1990. Ein Kanon. Brill Fink. Paderborn 2023. S. 417-434.

Augmented reading. Lesen als multimediale Praktik im Digitalzeitalter. In: Sebastian Böck et al. (Hg.): Lesen X.0. Rezeptionsprozesse in der digitalen Gegenwart. V&R unipress. Göttingen 2017. S. 69-88.

Cyborgs Don't Cry. Tränen und die Grenzen der Menschlichkeit. In: Renate Möhrmann (Hg.): "So muß ich weinen bitterlich". Zur Kulturgeschichte der Tränen. Alfred Kröner Verlag. Stuttgart 2015. S. 381-405.

Blinde Machos. Lina Wertmüllers Filme und der male gaze. In: Renate Möhrmann (Hg.): Frauenphantasien. Zum imaginierten Mann von Film- und Buchautorinnen. Kröner. Stuttgart 2014. S. 418-439.

„Touch Windows Now!" Mediale Praktiken und kulturelle Phantasmen des Touchscreens. In: Clemens Stepina (Hg.): Dunkelzonen und Lichtspiele. (= Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Lutz Ellrich). Edition Art Science. St. Wolfgang 2013. S. 201-229.

Conference Publications

Vom Multikulti-Witz zur Genre-Politik: Noir und Fremdheit im Neuen Deutschen Genrefilm. In: Irina Gradinari und Ivo Ritzer (Hg.): Genre und Race. Springer VS. Wiesbaden 2021. S. 207-241.

eiPott, Oliven-Apps und Candy Crush: der kulinarische Interdiskurs rezenter Medientechniken. In: Jianhua Zhu, Jin Zhao und Michael Szurawitzki (Hg.): Akten des XIII. internationalen Germanistenkongresses Shanghai 2015: Germanistik zwischen Tradition und Innovation, Band 7. Peter Lang. Frankfurt a.M. 2017. S. 101-105.

Further Publications

Complete list of publications: ORCID

A complete list of publications, conferences, workshops, and courses can be viewed here: https://www.phil.uni-mannheim.de/neuere-deutsche-literaturwissenschaft-ii/ 

AI, TikTok, big data, second screen, fake news, streaming, digital detox, verticals—anyone who wants to create films that people love must understand the role films play in our media culture, how people use different media, the effects media has on us as individuals and as a community, and, last but not least, what matters to people in digital culture. Media studies teaches all of this, thereby helping filmmakers to more consciously find their place as artists in a media culture that is rapidly changing due to digitalisation.

Peter Scheinpflug

Professor Media Studies

Research at ifs Studying at ifs