Children of the Night International Dracula Congress
November 7th to 9th, 2025
UK time zone
Friday, November 7th (UK time zone)
11.45 Opening Remarks
Chair: Yuri Garcia
12.00-12.30 Magdalena Grabias (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland), Myth, Place, and the Gothic Imagination: Reconstructing Dracula’s Whitby. The Aftermath of Whitby Goth Weekend (30 October-2 November, 2025).
12.30-13.00 Kyria Van Gasse (University of Ghent, Belgium), Holding up the Masquerade: How the (Re)telling of In-Game Stories Strengthens the Community of Vampire: The Masquerade LARP.
13.00-13.30 Diganta Roy (Falakata College, West Bengal), Uncanny Resemblances: Studying Dracula’s Likeness across Literary and Film Adaptations.
Chair: Magdalena
Grabias
13.30-14.30 KEYNOTE: Hans de Roos (Independent Researcher, Philippines), On the Road in Transylvania and Moldavia.
Break
Chair: Gustavo Mangia
15.00 – 15.30 Iris Ichishita (Entertainment Producer, USA), The Powers of Darkness Podcast - An Entertaining Aggregation of a Modern Day Dracula Mystery.
15.30-16.00 Anca Simona Martin (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania), From Gothic Specter to National Symbol: The Transformation of the Vampire from Dumas to Baronzi.
Chair: Yuri Garcia
16.00-17.00 KEYNOTE: Lokke Heiss (Writer, Physician, Film Historian and Dracula Scholar, USA), Magnificent Obsession: Challenges in Adapting F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu.
Break
Chair: Florin Nechita
17.30- 18.30 KEYNOTE: Sorin Psatta (University of Bucharest, Romania), Dracula, Dracula, where are you? Looking for Dracula in the Worldwide Advertising.
18.30-19.00 Alexandru Ghiza (Journalist, Brașov, Romania), No Dracula feature film was shot in Bran Castle! A Case Study in Film-Induced Tourism.
19.00-19.30 Florin Nechita and Guests (Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania), From Transylvania to Pennsylvania: Looking for Dracula at Penn State University.
Saturday, November 8th (UK time zone)
Chair: Magdalena Grabias
12.30 – 13.30 KEYNOTE: Xavier Aldana Reyes (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK), Dracula’s Grand Tour: The Industrial and Cultural Coordinates of Vampire Cinema in Continental Europe, 1959-1983.
Chair: Julia Barroso
13.30-14.00 Hande Tekdemir (University of Bucharest, Romania), The Ambivalent Use of 19th Century Technologies in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
14.00-14.30 Peadar O’Dea (Maynooth University, Ireland), To Tell or Not to Tell: The Advantages and Difficulties to Developing a Screenplay Based Around Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde.
14.30-15.00 Nina Anna Trzaska (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland), From Vrikolakas to Vampire: Feedback Loops Between Modern Greek Folklore and Popular Culture.
15.00-15.30 Nancy Schumann (Independent Researcher), True Love Never Dies, But It Might Just Kill You - Why Audiences Love the Toxicity of Twilight Romances.
Break
Chair: Yuri Garcia
16.00-17.00 KEYNOTE: J. Gordon Melton (Baylor University in Waco, Texas, USA), The Global Dissemination of Dracula: Stoker's Novel in Translation.
Chair: Emanualli Monsores
17.00-17.30 Luccas Pinheiro Lopes and Ellen Alves Lima (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Black Femininity in Horror: A Study of how Sinners (2025) Portrays Black Women.
17.30-18.00 Bernardo Demaria Ignácio Brum and Luccas Pinheiro Lopes (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Finding My Music or Dancing to One Song: The Symbolic Battle Between Vampirism and Blackness in Movies.
18.00-18.30 Cássia Andrade and Julia Silveira (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), “We Gonna Kill Every Last One of Ya”: Race, Assimilation, and Vampirism in Sinners (2025).
18.30-19.00 COSTUME CONTEST: live online entries and photo entries are welcome!
Chair: Gustavo Mangia
19.00-19.30 David MacDowell Blue (Fierce Backbone Theatre Company, USA), Why are vampires sexy?
19.30-20.00 Paulina Odeth Flores Banuelos (Independent Researcher, Mexico), "Never did Tombs Look so Ghastly”: Outsourcing Death in Dracula by Bram Stoker.
20.00-20.30 Rebecca Inlow (The Rowland Theatre, Philipsburg, USA), The Rowland Theatre: Beauty from Ashes.
20.30-21.00 Enrique Palafox (Dracula Legacy and The Book of Dracula, Mexico), Dracula Transmedia: From Page to Experience. Expanding the 1897 Epistolary Novel through Faithful Transmedia Strategies.
Sunday, November 9th (UK time zone)
Chair: Magdalena Grabias
11.00-12.00 KEYNOTE: Marius-Mircea Crișan (West University of Timișoara, Romania), "Children of the Night" Looking for "the Place of Dracula" in Transylvania: Results and Reflections after 10 Years.
Chair: Marius-Mircea Crișan
12.00-12.30 Maria David and Marius-Mircea Crișan (West University of Timișoara, Romania), Immortality’s Curse: The Portrayal of Dracula as a Sympathetic Figure in Luc Besson’s movie Dracula: A Love Tale (2025).
12.30-13.00 Maria-Elena Sorca and Marius-Mircea Crișan (West University of Timișoara, Romania), Representations of Temporality in Fantastic Fiction: Bram Stoker and Michael Ende.
13.00-13.30 Bogdan Imbri (West University of Timișoara, Romania), Ra's al Ghul: The Revenant in Batman.
Break
Chair: Bernardo Brum
14.00-14.30 Yuri Garcia (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Vampetaço Fights Evil: the Heroic Brazilian Vampiric Devil Football Player Against Donald Trump.
14.30-15.00 Patricia Hradec (Independent Researcher), Vampires, Youth and Liberty – the Creatures from the 1987's Film The Lost Boys.
15.00-15.30 Gustavo Mangia (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), The becoming in Netflix’s Castlevania: The Vampire and Human Affections in the Characters of Dracula and Alucard.
15.30-16.00 Emanuelli Silva Monsores (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), “We are monsters, we are proud”: Monster High, Drag Art and the Subversion of Performative Girlhood.
Break
Chair: Emanuelli Monsores
16.30-17.00 Ioan Big (Director of Dracula Film Festival in Brașov, Romania), Dracula Film Festival Director Reflections on Dracula Film Festival 2025.
17.00-17.30 Luiz Felipe Salviano (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), The Vampire in the Classroom: Adolescent Alienation and the post-Dracula Myth in Shuzo Oshimi's Happiness.
17.30-18.00 Julia Farias (Universidade Estácio de Sá, Brazil), From Carmilla to Dracula: The Displacement of the Female Vampire in Horror Culture.
18.00-18.30 Sean Rourke (Independent Researcher, The Vampire Castle, USA), Powers of Darkness - A New Conspiracy Theory About the Swedish Dracula.
18.30-19.00 Brian Forrest (Independent Researcher, Toothpickings, USA), All The President’s Vampires.
Chair: Enrique A. Palafox
19.00-20.00 Keynote: Edward G. Pettit (The Rosenbach Museum and Library, USA), “How These Papers have been Placed in Sequence:” Bram Stoker’s Creative Method in his Research Notes.
20.00 Closing Remarks