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

We offer a range of long and short courses allowing you to choose between online and in-person learning. 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. See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.

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  1. From page to screen: Sherlock Holmes and Philip Marlowe
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 7 Oct 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Ellen Cheshire
    This course explores film adaptations of two great detectives of fiction: Sherlock Holmes and Philip Marlowe. By focusing on one of their most famous novels we will compare the literary and various cinematic versions, analysing themes and characters and discuss how the films adapt the novels to fit the medium of cinema.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
  2. ‘Making Connections: Reviewing Film Remakes’
    Course start date:  Tue 10 Oct 2023

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Paul Sutton
    Film remakes often get a bad press, but there is frequently more to them than meets the eye. Whether a remake of an older classic, as in the case of Gus van Sant’s reworking of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, for example, or the Hollywood remake of a cherished European film, these types of film reveal a set of complex cultural, national, industrial and perhaps even psychological connections. Join us to explore what makes a remake and to critically analyse some filmic examples.



    This session is part of the 2023 Mental Wealth Festival hosted by City Lit and partners.
    Full fee £5.00 Senior fee £5.00 Concession £5.00
  3. 'The wonderful worlds of Powell and Pressburger'
    Course start date:  Wed 18 Oct 2023 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  John Wischmeyer
    “Written, produced, and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger” was a guarantee that you were about to see something amazing, something so different to the British cinema of that time. They were joint creators of Britain's most vivid and imaginative cinema. Their partnership from 1939 to 1956 was one of the most inspired in British cinema. They produced a body of 24 films as startling as they were innovative—unlike anything else produced anywhere. They changed the visual language of British cinema.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
  4. How to read a film: a beginners' guide to cinema
    Course start date:  Tue 31 Oct 2023 (and 3 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    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.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00
    Rating:
    87% of 100
  5. History on film and TV: the Tudors
    Course start date:  Fri 3 Nov 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Gillian McIver
    Historical drama is one of the most popular movie genres. But how accurate is it, and is that important? We will look at a sample of films and TV shows set in the Tudor era of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, to explore how the depiction of the past is presented on screen. Who are the heroes and villains, and do these depictions affect our understanding of real-life history? We’ll examine Elizabeth, The Other Boleyn Girl, Anonymous, Mary, Queen of Scots, A Man for All Seasons, and more.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00
  6. The vampire in 21st century film and television
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 4 Nov 2023

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Stacey Abbott
    Are you a fan of Dracula? Buffy? Blade? Carmilla? Do you like your vampires to be monstrous or romantic? This day event will look at how 21st century film and television has fostered a global fascination with the undead, reinventing the genre for new audiences and in response to changing understandings of life, death, gender, sex, and disease. This day course will unpack these issues and explore the allure of the vampire while also reflecting on its more monstrous qualities.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
  7. Early cinema and the spectator
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 25 Nov 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Explore cinema before sound, from its beginnings to the late 1920s and its relationship with the spectator. We will view and discuss early, short films, such as A Trip to the Moon (1902) and Rescued by Rover (1905), and later feature films, including The General (1926) and Sunrise (1927), while considering the impact of narrative and the development of cinema during the period more generally.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
  8. Film studies taster
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 2 Dec 2023 (and 5 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    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 (January - March 2024).
  9. Christmas at the cinema: holiday favourites
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 9 Dec 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  John Wischmeyer
    A Christmas cracker filled with seasonal films, from It’s a Wonderful Life to Die Hard, a carefully-curated cornucopia celebrating the genre of the Christmas film with classic clips and hidden gems: Scrooge as a film noir, Covent Garden market in the fifties, and a grown man dressed as an Elf. Full of delights, discussions and a quiz or two.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £23.00 Concession £19.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  10. Contemporary cinema: the best films of the year
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 8 Jan 2024 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  John Wischmeyer
    This course on contemporary/current cinema crucially coincides with the wide variety of films released during Bafta/Oscars awards season. It provides a weekly ‘what’s on’ of new releases. The first session is a wide-ranging discussion and debate about favourite films of the past year, from which emerges a definitive student list of best films, modified as we view and review current films week-by-week. This course is now more timely than ever as we continue to support cinema-going. The course meets in City Lit’s own Cultureplex cinema at Keeley Street.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £129.00
    Rating:
    96% of 100
  11. Exploring film noir
    Course start date:  Tue 9 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    The term film noir has been used to describe visual style, themes and narratives in a range of American genres, particularly crime films of the 1940s and 1950s, but it has also been used to describe areas of British, French, and, as part of the giallo tradition, Italian cinema. Explore film noir through a range of critical concepts and historical periods, while assessing its enduring appeal.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00
  12. Introduction to experimental film
    Course start date:  Tue 9 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Gillian McIver
    Experimental film is often non-narrative and avant-garde. It is made to explore the boundaries of film and push the limits of what is considered 'normal' filmmaking. Experimental films often use unconventional techniques such as animation, found footage and non-linear narrative structures to create unique visual experiences. The class will look at early experimental films by Georges Méliès, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Maya Deren, alongside recent digital works.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
  13. Reading images: exploring film studies
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 10 Jan 2024 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Cristina Massaccesi
    This comprehensive introductory course provides an overview of the main historical, technical and theoretical aspects of filmmaking and film analysis.
  14. Sherlock Junior at 100
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 27 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Graham Rinaldi
    Buster Keaton’s virtuoso silent comedy Sherlock Jr celebrates 100 years. In this heroic masterpiece, Keaton displays his film-making skills with gags, stunts, ground-breaking special effects and importantly his love affair with the magic of the moving image.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
  15. Aliens, mutants and paranoia: American sci-fi cinema of the 1950s
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sun 28 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Science fiction (SF) cinema of the 1950s drew on the social, political and technological concerns of the period, producing a rich body of films that reflect these themes. Looking at a range of American SF films of the period, this course considers the ways in which these films accommodate such issues, their function as popular, genre cinema, their production contexts, and the way that critics have understood them.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
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