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Cultureplex ciné-club (Autumn)

Come and join us at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club, where once a week, for 10 weeks (and throughout the academic year), we will watch and discuss film. Taking its cue from the famous Parisian ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, ‘the single thinker most responsible for bestowing on cinema the prestige both of an artform and of an object of knowledge’, and the man who foresaw the emergence of film studies as a legitimate discipline of academic study, our contemporary incarnation of the film club will offer a curated series of films for detailed study, discussion and debate. Each film will be introduced, placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context. In sharing our viewing in City Lit’s premier screening room, the Cultureplex, we will approximate the experience of watching film in the cinema, one that is intense and fully focussed in a way that other modes of viewing often are not. After the screening we will devote the rest of the class to a collective exploration of the film, led by the tutor, but involving everyone in a participatory discussion that will allow all to express their responses, their views, their thoughts on the film screened.
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Learning modes and locations may be different depending on the course start date. Please check the location of your chosen course and read our guide to learning modes and locations to help you choose the right course for you.

  • Start Date: 25 Sep 2025
    End Date: 04 Dec 2025
    Thu (Daytime): 14:00 - 17:00
    In Person
    Location: Keeley Street
    Duration: 10 sessions (over -11 weeks)
    Course Code: HF211
    Tutors:  Paul Sutton
    Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £207.00 Concession £168.00
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Any questions? humanities@citylit.ac.uk or call 020 4582 0414

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Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £207.00 Concession £168.00
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What is the course about?

André Bazin’s ciné-club was set up by him not simply as an opportunity for the screening and discussion of films, but as a tool for education. Bazin was as much a passionate advocate for the transformatory effects of community learning as he was for the significance of cinema and the ciné-club represented an opportunity for him to promote both. In following Bazin, the Cultureplex Ciné-Club shares these same goals. This is a film studies course that foregrounds the importance and the value of the collective film viewing experience, but which also is concerned to ensure that the films screened are curated, introduced and discussed with the rigour associated with the study of film at City Lit.

This will be the first of the three Cultureplex Ciné-Club courses this year (the others will run in Terms 2 and 3). Films screened will come from the list below and might include:

Körkarlen/The Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjöström 1921 Sweden, 93 mins)
Le jour se lève/Daybreak (Marcel Carné 1939 France, 93 mins)
Ossessione (Luchino Visconti 1943 Italy, 141 mins)
Roma città aperta/Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini 1945 Italy, 103 mins)
Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk 1954 US, 108 mins)
Peeping Tom (Michael Powell 1960 UK, 101 mins)
L’une chante l’autre pas/One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (Agnès Varda 1977 France, 120 mins)
Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow 1987 US, 94 mins)
Orlando (Sally Potter 1992 UK, 93 mins)
The Piano (Jane Campion 1992 Australia/France, 120 mins)
The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn 2012 UK/Indonesia, 117 mins)
The Substance (Coralie Fargeat 2024 France/US, 141 mins)

Please note that films screened are subject to availability and may change.

What will we cover?

• The history of film as expressed through individual, indicative films
• The historical development of film form
• The development of cinematic self-expression through the articulation of a distinct visual style
• Film spectatorship, understood in both personal, historical and theoretical terms.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

• Subject a film to detailed critical analysis
• Demonstrate familiarity with the key technical terms necessary for critical film analysis
• Have a broad awareness of important moments in film history as expressed through individual indicative films
• Be familiar with a range of theoretical perspectives in film studies
• Feel confident in discussing films in a group setting.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

The course is suitable for all levels and you do not require any particular skills - just an enthusiasm for film and discussing film. The course will provide an introduction to aspects of the film subject area, in part through the collective viewing of films, but it will also be useful for those wishing to build on existing film knowledge.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

An introduction by the tutor, the screening of entire films, and large group discussions after the films have been shown. It might also be a good idea to see what you can find out about a given film in advance of the class but this is not essential.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

You will require a pen and paper (or laptop/device) but the tutor will provide all other materials such as handouts.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

The Cultureplex Ciné-Club courses HF324 and HF328 follow on from this one in Terms 2 and 3, but look also for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.

Paul Sutton

Dr. Paul Sutton is an independent film scholar who has taught Film Studies in UK higher education for over 25 years. His research covers psychoanalytic and film theory as well as Italian and French cinema and critical theory. He has published articles in journals such as Screen, French Studies and the Journal for Cultural Research. He is currently writing a psychoanalytic book on film spectatorship, Afterwardsness in Film, and has recently published work on television as a form of palliative care, and an assessment of the films of the Italian experimental filmmaker Ugo Nespolo.

Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.