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.
- From page to screen: Sherlock Holmes and Philip MarloweCourse start date: Sat 7 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Ellen CheshireThis 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 - ‘Making Connections: Reviewing Film Remakes’Course start date: Tue 10 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Paul SuttonFilm 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 - '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 - 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 SuttonThis 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 - History on film and TV: the TudorsCourse start date: Fri 3 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Gillian McIverHistorical 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 - The vampire in 21st century film and televisionCourse start date: Sat 4 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Stacey AbbottAre 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 - Early cinema and the spectatorCourse start date: Sat 25 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyExplore 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 - Film studies taster Course start date: Sat 2 Dec 2023 (and 5 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Paul SuttonLearn 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).Full fee £10.00 - Christmas at the cinema: holiday favourites
Course start date: Sat 9 Dec 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: John WischmeyerA 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. - Contemporary cinema: the best films of the yearCourse start date: Mon 8 Jan 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John WischmeyerThis 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 - Exploring film noirCourse start date: Tue 9 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyThe 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 - Introduction to experimental filmCourse start date: Tue 9 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Gillian McIverExperimental 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 - Reading images: exploring film studiesCourse start date: Wed 10 Jan 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Cristina MassaccesiThis comprehensive introductory course provides an overview of the main historical, technical and theoretical aspects of filmmaking and film analysis.Full fee £99.00 - Sherlock Junior at 100Course start date: Sat 27 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Graham RinaldiBuster 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 - Aliens, mutants and paranoia: American sci-fi cinema of the 1950sCourse start date: Sun 28 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyScience 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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