Patti Gaal-Holmes was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to German and Hungarian immigrants. She lived/travelled in various countries before settling in the UK and studying for a BA (Hons) and AHRB-funded MA Painting at Winchester School of Art. In 2006 she took up an AHRC-funded research scholarship in film at the University of Portsmouth as part of the '1970s Cinema' project. She is Reviews Editor for the journal, Transnational Cinemas, and currently resides in Southsea, UK.