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.
- The occult on screenCourse start date: Tue 30 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Gillian McIverSurprisingly, not every film that features the occult is a horror film. Certainly, many of them are; we will consider classics such as Haxan from 1922, Rosemary’s Baby, The Craft, Angel Heart, The Witch and Hereditary. Other films, such as Kenneth Anger's Lucifer Rising and A Dark Song, attempt to treat the occult seriously as secret or hidden knowledge. We'll examine the cultural backdrop of occult films and questions of representation, gender relations, and spirituality.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - An introduction to filmCourse start date: Fri 3 May 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyDevelop your critical understanding of cinema through a range of concepts and critical approaches in film studies, including narrative, genre, spectatorship, authorship and directors, popular cinema, art cinema, national cinema and early film, along with technological developments including the transition to sound, while we view and discuss a range of key films from cinema's history as examples.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - O Lucky Lindsay Anderson!Course start date: Tue 7 May 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John WischmeyerLindsay Anderson is widely recognised as one of the few authentic geniuses of British cinema, a visionary film director unafraid to challenge convention, who left an indelible mark on British cinema (e.g. on Ken Loach and Mike Leigh). He was a true maverick in every sense of the word. His uncompromising artistic vision challenged storytelling to provoke thought and change. He tackled social issues and explored the human condition through his unique directorial style. His key feature films are This Sporting Life (1963), If…(1968), O Lucky Man! (1973) and his final film in 1993, Is That All There Is?
This course is running as part of City Lit's regular collaborations with the British Film Institute (BFI), who are screening a programme of films by Lindsay Anderson during May 2024. Please note that this course is taking place in the Cultureplex at City Lit, Keeley Street.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £64.00 - How to read a film: a beginners' guide to cinemaCourse start date: Mon 13 May 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
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. - Hammer Horror: classic horror cinema from Hammer StudiosCourse start date: Sat 18 May 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyHammer's vivid, full-bloodied horror films were met with popular acclaim and critical disapproval but are now recognised as constituting a major area in British popular cinema. Explore the films, their popular and critical reception, Hammer's distinctive approach to style, and the way in which the films offer an alternative to other, more restrained and respectable modes of British 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 - Reading images: exploring film studiesCourse start date: Wed 29 May 2024
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. In its exploration of aspects of film theory as it relates to film aesthetics and film history, the course develops certain ideas with rigour and depth.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00 - Introduction to film spectatorshipCourse start date: Sat 8 Jun 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Paul SuttonThis course will provide a brief introduction to the history of film spectatorship, tracing its origins in the silent era up to the present day. The course will explore a number of films in detail, includingThe Truman Show (Peter Weir 1998 US), Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore 1998 Italy), The Matrix (Wachowskis 1999 US) and others.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - The New Wave, realism and genre: British Cinema in the 1960sCourse start date: Sun 16 Jun 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyDuring the 1960s British cinema re-established itself as a leading producer of films, including realist, contemporary dramas such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), and action and adventure fantasies with the popular James Bond films. This course explores these developments through a number of lines of approach and the way in which they contributed to a revitalised British 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 - The alternative greatest films ever: The Sight & Sound and student pollCourse start date: Mon 22 Apr 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John WischmeyerThis is a stand-alone companion course to the Autumn ’23 course on the Sight and Sound Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. The first reactions to the Sight and Sound Poll 2022 were divisive, as completely expected, when certain 21st-century films made the list and other venerated classics were dropped (see topics below for the list). As interesting as the top 100 was to discuss, we wanted to look a bit deeper to see how the reception of certain films shifted over the last decade, with a rundown of the films that were added and those removed. Be assured, they are as enjoyable as the Top 100—perhaps even more so. In addition to viewing the films that were added or dropped, students will conduct their own poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. Enjoy either or both of these complementary courses.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00
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