Spectral is a film journal co-edited by filmmakers and frequent collaborators Jaclyn Bethany and Irene Gómez-Emilsson. Our journal centres female and LGBTQI filmmakers and actors, bringing thought-provoking writing from a diversity of voices, with each issue built around a single theme. Our first issue considers desire – in contemporary cinema, in mid-century American cinema, and in French auteur Mia Hansen-Løve's body of work.
Our sponsor for Spectral’s debut issue is EMMYLAND - an independent woman owned camera rental equipment house based in South East London.
Our contributors include Lucy Cade, Chris Cassingham, Adriana Comi Pretelin, Diego Courchay, Claire Whitehurst Downes, Sophie Dushko, Ashlyn Frank, Jamie Garwood, Zain Hashmat, Christie Johnson, Yessica Klein, Cathy Lomax, Anna Vlachou and Amanda Woolrich.
Jaclyn Bethany is a New Orleans based EMMY® winning filmmaker, theatremaker, writer, actor, and producer. She graduated from the American Film Institute with an M.F.A. in Directing and holds an M.A. in Screenwriting from the London Film School. Her film work has been screened in competition at the world’s most prestigious film festivals and distributed worldwide. Her most recent feature In Transit played in competition at Edinburgh, Deauville, New Fest (Audience Award), and numerous additional festivals. It will be released in 2026. As an actor, writer, producer and director she has numerous film, television, commercial, regional and Off-Broadway credits. In addition to her film work, Jaclyn is a rising Tennessee Williams scholar and runs Irene Collective Theater Company. Jaclyn's work and scholarship focuses on complex femininity and her Southern upbringing.
Irene Gómez-Emilsson is a Mexican-Icelandic cinematographer and film academic based in London, working internationally across practice and research. As a cinematographer, she has shot award-winning independent features, shorts, and digital series, with work screened at festivals including Santa Barbara International Film Festival, HollyShorts, and Short Shorts Tokyo. As a researcher, she holds a PhD in Film by Practice (Exeter/LFS) for which she received a full scholarship. Her thesis, The Question of Landscape, considers the relationship between cinematography and landscape in Iceland through Maurice Merleau-Ponty's ontology. Her scholarship continues to extend beyond cinematography into broader areas of film theory. She approaches both filmmaking and research as ways of portraying thought and emotion, drawn to the medium's immense and fascinating malleability.