ADDRESS: The Congress will take place at Poiana Brașov, Hotel Acasă la Dracula.

Children of the Night International Dracula Congress

Transylvania Time Zone

Friday, October 25, 2024

Online sessions

11.45 Organisers’ Opening Remarks

CHAIR: Magdalena Grabias

12.00-13.00 KEYNOTE: Hans de Roos (Independent Researcher, Philippines), 125 years of Makt Myrkranna – Hans de Roos Presents Three Giveaways.

CHAIR: Marius-Mircea Crișan

13.00-13.30 Christopher Ballengee (John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin, Poland), The Churile in Caribbean Folklore: From South Asian Spirit to Symbolic Metaphor.

13.30-14.00 Angelia Subin (The West University of Timisoara, Romania), Laurence Roussillon (Constanty, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, France) and Marius-Mircea Crișan (The West University of Timisoara, Romania), In Search of Dracula - Retracing the Journey in Elisabeth Kostova’s The Historian.

14.00-14.30 Gabriela-Marinela Hlușcu (The West University of Timisoara, Romania), Marius-Mircea Crișan (The West University of Timisoara, Romania), From Radcliffe to Stoker: Soundscapes of Terror and Seduction.

Coffee Break 14.30-14.45

CHAIR: Magdalena Grabias

14.45-15.45 KEYNOTE: Duncan Light (Bournemouth University, UK), The Enduring Influence of Dracula on the Image of Romania.

CHAIR: Yuri Garcia

15.45 – 16.15 Patricia Hradec (Independent Researcher, Brazil), Three vampires in one: the vampire Lestat from the book, the film and the series.

16.15 - 16.45 Luciana Costa Alves de Almeida (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Bento Carneiro: The Brazilian Vampire.

16.45 – 17.15 Dax Stoke (North Central Texas College, USA), Dracula as a Guest: A Look at the Presence of Christian Elements When Dracula Appears as a Guest Character.

Coffee Break 17.15 – 17.30

CHAIR: Yuri Garcia

17.30-18.30 KEYNOTE: Gilles Menegaldo (University of Poitiers, France), Martin (1977) and the Deconstruction of the Vampire Myth: Tradition and Modernity.

CHAIR: Julia Barroso

18.30-19.00 David MacDowell Blue (Fierce Backbone Theatre Company, USA), Re-inventing Elizabeth Bathory.

19.00-19.30 Max Jones (Graduate Student at Concordia University, Canada), The Sound of Dracula: The Impact of Audiobook Performance on Narrative Interpretation.

19.30-20.00 Michael A. Torregrossa (Bristol Community College, USA), Discovering Dracula: Suggestions for Widening the Scope of Research on Representations of Dracula in Comics.

Saturday, October 26^th, 2024

Online sessions

CHAIR: Magdalena Grabias

12.00-13.00 KEYNOTE: Philippe Met (University of Pennsylvania, USA), Filmic Avatars of the Vourdalak

CHAIR: Gustavo Mangia

13.00-13.30 Kyria Van Gasse (BA student at University of Ghent, Belgium),‘I want to hold you close’: an auto-ethnographical discussion of sexual harassment in and around Vampire: The Masquerade LARP.  

13.30-14.00 Gustavo Mangia (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), From Enemy to Hero: the Evolution of the Vampire Figure in Dungeons & Dragons and Castlevania.

Coffee Break 14.00-14.15

CHAIR: Julia Barroso

14.15-14.45 Chloe Greene (Fiction Writer, Wales), Extracts from Darkly Dazzling.

14.45-15.15 Robert Mclaughlin (Arden University, UK), The representations of the 'Universal' family within Genndy Tartakovsky’s quartet of Hotel Transylvania films (2012-2022).

15.15-15.45 Bernardo Brum (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Man Made Monsters: The Real Life Vampires as Fabricated Abominations.

Coffee Break 15.45-16.00

CHAIR: Yuri Garcia

16.00-17.00 KEYNOTE: Enrique A Palafox (The Dracula Fan Club, Mexico), Restoring Dracula: A Transmedia Visual Thesis Faithful to Stoker’s Original Narrative.

CHAIR: Gustavo Mangia

17.00-17.30 Yuri Garcia (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Nietzsche’s Dracula: Reinterpreting Our Famous Vampire Through the Antagonist’s View.

17.30-18.00 Bogdan Alin Imbri (The West University of Timisoara, Romania) and Marius-Mircea Crișan (The West University of Timisoara, Romania), The Demonic and The Unconscious in Batman.

Coffee Break 18.00-18.15

CHAIR: Magdalena Grabias

18.15-19.15 KEYNOTE: Jeffrey Weinstock (Central Michigan University, USA), The Dracula Megatext.

CHAIR: Yuri Garcia

19.15-19.45 Brian Forrest (Independent Researcher, Toothpickings, USA), The Dark Arts: William Crain and the Dawn of Black Horror.

19.45-20.15 Sean Rourke (Independent Researcher, The Vampire Castle, USA), A Brief History of the War Between Vampires and Werewolves.

20.15-20-45 Lokke Heiss (Medical Doctor, MFA in Film Studies, USA), A Nosferatu For The Next Century? The Uncanny and Formal Challenges Faced in Updating F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu

20.45 Closing Remarks

Children of the Night International Dracula Congress

Brașov sessions

Thursday, October 31st – Poiana Brașov, Hotel Acasă la Dracula

9.15 Opening Remarks: Florin Nechita, Magdalena Grabias

CHAIR: Magdalena Grabias

9.30-10.30 KEYNOTE: Marius-Mircea Crișan (West University of Timișoara, Romania), Dracula and Its Translations: An Endless Series of Surprises.

10.30-11.00 Patrycja Pichnicka-Trivedi (PhD Candidate, University of Warsaw, Poland), Super-Woman and Super-Man Vampires in 21st Century Fiction.

11.00-11.30 Olimpia Wasyk-Jastalska (PhD Candidate, University of Warsaw, Poland), Dark Allure: The Vampire in Polish Literary Modernism.

Coffee Break 11.30 – 11.45

CHAIR: Nina Trzaska

11.45-12.45 KEYNOTE: Fernando Soto (Independent Researcher, Canada), Digging for Treasure and ‘Unearthing the Vampire’: Exposing Stoker’s Use of the Mandrake in the Construction of Parts of His Book and Monster.

12.45-13.15 Magdalena Grabias (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Poland), Dracula Myth Valorisation in Whitby: A Cultural and Economic Perspective.

Lunch Break 13.15 – 14.15

Costume Contest

CHAIR: Florin Nechita

14.15-16.00 Robert Gabriel Elekes (Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania), Imaginary on Dracula’s Castle – Creative Writing Workshop.

16.00-16.30 Cristian Pralea (Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania), Escaping Mythologies.

16.30-17.00 Alexandra Năstase & Florin Nechita (Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania), Stake or Spotlight? How Târgoviște Counts on Vlad’s Legacy for Destination Branding

Dracula Film Festival Opening

Friday, November 1st – Poiana Brașov (Hotel Acasă la Dracula) and Brașov

CHAIR: Fernando Soto

9.30-10.30 KEYNOTE: Nina Trzaska (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland), Unearthing the Vrykolakas, or How to Study Folk Vampiric Beliefs.

10.30-11.00 Sorin Ciutacu (West University of Timișoara, Romania), Political Dracula: A Possible Bram Stoker’s Veiled Stance concerning the Ottoman Empire.

11.00-11.30 Anca Simina Martin (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania), Ion Gorun’s Interwar Romanian Dracula: A Story of Rediscovery with Ongoing Scholarly Implications.

Coffee Break 11.30 – 11.45

CHAIR: Magdalena Grabias

11.45-12.15 Bernhard Moestl (Branding Expert, Austria), From Fangs to Freshness: Tapping into Dracula’s Legacy for Organic Juice Branding in Brașov

12.15-12.45 Fernando Soto (Independent Researcher, Canada), Tracing the Roots of the Vampire alongside the Mandrake to their Ultimate Ancient Sources, the Greek, Hebrew, and Egyptian Traditions.

12.45-13.00 Closing Remarks

Walking tour of Brașov.

Dracula Film Festival

Saturday, November 2^nd

A day trip to Bran Castle.

Dracula Film Festival