Introductory & general

Film studies

Enjoy a fresh look at big screen classics, ground-breaking titles and cult favourites featuring a cast of iconic names, former stars and the men and women who called the shots.

Check out our blog post on our new Cultureplex Ciné-Club, where once a week, for 12 weeks (and throughout the academic year in terms 2 and 3), we will watch and discuss film.

Study in-person, or online from the comfort of home, with classes that allow you to participate in discussions with fellow adult students and share your passion for Film as part of a learning community. We offer daytime, evening and weekend courses, both short and long. Our tutors are experts in their fields and experienced educators. Tutors share their knowledge and passion for Film through presentations, screenings, interactive discussion, analysis, and other activities.

Many students return to take more courses, telling us they enjoy being part of our City Lit literary community. Our popular courses often sell out quickly, so we invite you to browse and book your place now.

Courses available both in-person and online

Join us in the heart of London for in-person classes. Our modern campus in Covent Garden is easy to reach and buzzing with creativity. With modern purpose-built facilities and state-of-the-art equipment, it’s the perfect space to support your learning journey. Explore our facilities >

Prefer learning online? Our live online courses bring expert teaching to you, wherever you are.

Whether you choose to study in-person or online, all our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. Wherever and however you want to learn, we’re here for you.

Courses available both in-person and online

We offer a range of long and short courses allowing you to choose between in-person and online learning.

Learn in the centre of London with our in-person courses. Our purpose-built facilities in Covent Garden mean we are ideally located and easy to get to. 

See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.

All our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. No matter how you prefer to learn, we've got the class for you.

Items 1-15 of 27

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  1. The British Horror film beyond Hammer
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 17 May 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Night of the Demon (1957), The Wicker Man (1973) and Frightmare (1974) form part of a less familiar, though equally striking, horror tradition than that of Hammer, and often in very different terms. Explore chillers from the 1930s and 40s, the proliferation of horror in 1950s, 60s and 70s along with more recent examples, while assessing a range of critical accounts of British horror beyond Hammer.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  2. "Truth 24 Frames a Second”: Documentary in the 21st Century
    Course start date:  Wed 21 May 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Paul Kerr
    Godard’s definition of cinema is particularly apt for documentary. But today, documentary is at a crossroads, with first person, self-shot, iPhone filmmaking at one end of the spectrum and mega budget, celebrity-fronted or focused storytelling at the other. Is documentary up to the challenges of an era where facts themselves are in doubt – or is it the last hope of an otherwise overly massaged media, accused of ‘fake news’? When is factual filmmaking no longer factual? Reality television and co-called ‘constructed reality’ increasingly call into question the veracity of documentary protagonists increasingly cast – and paid – to be entertaining. Through the lens of current and recent releases, we look at animated documentary, activist documentary, archival documentary, and autobiographical documentary among other recent developments - and ask if the form has a future.







    Dr Paul Kerr began his career working at the BFI, working in the National Film Archive, and as a freelance film and TV critic and lecturer. He then spent over 20 years as a producer and director, making arts and history programmes, including dozens of documentaries, for the BBC and Channel 4, as well as international broadcasters. More recently he was a Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at Middlesex University until 2024. His books include Hollywood Independent: How the Mirisch Company Changed Cinema (2023); The Hollywood Film Industry; and MTM: Quality Television and two co-authored dossiers, Multiplatforming Public Service Broadcasting and Drama Documentary. He has published articles in journals including Screen, Transnational Cinemas, The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television and Critical Studies in Television as well as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Observer, Broadcast, NME and The New Statesman.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
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  3. Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00
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  4. Seminal films of the 1960s
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 3 Jun 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Mick McAloon
    The 1960s saw the emergence of multiple “new waves” of international filmmakers and cinema movements. It wasn’t only the French directors of the “nouvelle vague” – Godard, Truffaut et al - but filmmakers from Britain (Lindsay Anderson), Italy (Pasolini), Africa (Sembène), America (Cassavetes), Poland, India, and Japan, all of whom seized on cheaper, lighter equipment to make vital and vibrant films, and whose subjects were compelling as well as contemporary.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00
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  5. Literary Adaptations: From Page to Screen
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 5 Jun 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Zoe Crombie
    Since the inception of film, the medium has been borrowing from literature, transforming novels, plays and poems into audio-visual experiences with varying degrees of success. Through a range of classic films, we will examine the techniques and practices available to filmmakers in the adaptation process, as well as the challenges of translating a story or concept from one form to another.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
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  6. The blockbuster and indie Star (1980 - 2000)
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 14 Jun 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Ann-Marie Fleming
    After the release of Spielberg’s Jaws, Hollywood was transformed once again. In the age of



    the blockbuster, stars again found a new type of fame and arguably became one of the key



    points of interest for the movie-going audience. However, as blockbusters grew, so did



    independent American cinema. The indie stars represented a very different version of



    stardom, and in particular, drew attention to the appreciation of an actor’s performance.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  7. Strange tales and dark dreams: Fantasy, Horror and Surrealism in European cinema
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 14 Jun 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Explore a selection of European films that draw on cinematic traditions of fantasy, horror and surrealism, but which have also acquired significant critical reputations, with their striking visual styles, dreamlike narratives and dark themes lending them an enduring place in both film and popular culture in general. Strange tales and dark dreams to fascinate, horrify and astound you.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  8. Film studies taster
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 13 Sep 2025 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Paul Sutton
    Learn how to evaluate and discuss films while enjoying a working example of a City Lit Film Studies class. In this class we will view and explore clips from a number of films, including popular remakes, enabling us to consider and compare themes and techniques from differing filmmaking countries. There will be a chance to review – in brief – film courses at City Lit (September - December 2025).
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00
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  9. A Taste of Film Studies
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 15 Sep 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  John Wischmeyer
    What does film studies involve? Learn how to enjoy, discuss and criticise films while being part of a real-time working example of a City Lit film studies class. We will view clips from a wide variety of films, exploring themes and technique in current City Lit courses 25/26.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00
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  10. Tolkien on Screen
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 15 Sep 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    In his literary essay On Fairy Stories, J.R.R. Tolkien famously wrote that “in human art, fantasy is a thing best left to words”. Despite this claim, The Lord of the Rings is arguably one of the most profitable media franchises of the 21st century. It has inspired academy-award winning films and record-breaking TV series, and continues to generate material that resonates with new generations of fans to explore. This course will explore the history of adapting Tolkien to the cinema, considering not only what was altered or left behind in attempts to turn Tolkien’s vast mythology into the stuff of popular cinema, but what might also have been enhanced as a result.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00
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  11. Art history and cinema
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 16 Sep 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Gillian McIver
    Since cinema's earliest days, literature has provided movies with stories. But there is another way of looking at film: through its relationship with painting, the oldest of the art forms.



    We’ll look at paintings by Friedrich, Titian, Hopper, Bacon, Delaroche and many more. We’ll view Red Desert, Pan’s Labyrinth, Easy Rider – looking at realism, surrealism and more.



    As you can see, all of these are quite different! Let’s see how movies connect us to art history.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00
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  12. How to read a film: a beginners' guide to cinema
    Course start date:  Tue 16 Sep 2025 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Paul Sutton
    This course will develop your critical appreciation of the cinema by teaching you how to read and understand film texts. We will look at the elements that underpin film form – narrative, mise en scène, cinematography, editing and sound – alongside its historical development. We will consider film style by exploring classical, post-classical and art cinema and we will examine influential critical modes of analysis, such as genre, authorship and spectatorship.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
    Rating:
    89% of 100
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  13. Exploring British cinema
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Sep 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Defining itself around themes such as realism, class and national identity, and differentiating itself from Hollywood and other national cinemas, British cinema has found critical and popular acclaim both domestically and internationally. This course explores key themes and developments in British cinema, past and present, through a range of films, filmmakers and critical concepts and responses.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00
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  14. Hitchcock's Horror Thrillers 1: Psycho, scene by scene
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 20 Sep 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Hitchcock's most successful film, and, arguably, the horror thriller, Psycho (1960) has enthralled audiences and critics ever since its release sixty-five years ago. Through an in-depth, scene by scene analysis of the film, we will explore its structure, one designed to challenge both audiences and the conventions of narrative filmmaking, its critical and cultural impact, and its enduring appeal.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  15. British Cinema: The Whole Story
    Course start date:  Mon 22 Sep 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  John Wischmeyer
    This course will take you on a journey through the development of British Cinema from its earliest films through to some of its most recent. We will explore some of the most significant periods of British filmmaking creativity and commercial enterprise and consider some of the famous names associated with it. Join me in City Lit’s Cultureplex as I tell – through image and sound – the whole story of British Cinema.
    Full fee £309.00 Senior fee £247.00 Concession £201.00
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