Film Studies Courses
Study online & in London

Come and join us for a taste of what happens at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club. For one day only, and during a compressed hour and a half, we will watch and discuss a short film replicating the structure of the upcoming Cine-Club course, where we watch and discuss full-length feature films. The Cultureplex Ciné-Club course takes its cue from the famous Parisian Ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, however, this incarnation of the film club will offer an opportunity not only to have a taste of what the full Cine-Club course (running throughout next year) has to offer, but it will also allow for the viewing of a short film, followed by detailed discussion and debate. The film will be introduced, placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context as well as being situated within the director’s body of work. 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.

Come and join us for a taste of what happens at the French Film Ciné-Club. For one day only, and during a compressed hour and a half, we will watch and discuss a short film replicating the structure of the upcoming French Film Ciné-Club course, where we watch and discuss full-length feature films. The French Film Ciné-Club course takes its cue from the famous Parisian Ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, however, this incarnation of the film club will offer an opportunity not only to have a taste of what the full French Film Ciné-Club course (running throughout next year) has to offer, but it will also allow for the viewing of a short film, followed by detailed discussion and debate. The film will be introduced, placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context as well as being situated within the director’s body of work. 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.

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.

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.

This course examines the transformative period of Japanese cinema during its so-called Golden Age (from late 1940s to early 1960s), a time when Japan’s traditional film studio system was at its peak, and several iconic directors, including Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, and Kenji Mizoguchi, were making their most iconic films. We will discuss, analyse, and contextualise several of these directors’ films, as well as look at films by other directors of that period, such as Mikio Naruse and Masaki Kobayashi, and more. We will consider the socio-political and film industry contexts which shaped the films, including the cultural meanings behind the samurai genre, the post-war Occupation of Japan by Allied Forces, and the international impact of Japanese cinema on global filmmaking.

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.

For anyone growing up in or living through the 1970s there were plenty of series on TV to watch, despite the limited numbers of channels available at the time. Enduring classics such as Doctor Who, which began in the 1960s and continues to this day, to crime dramas such as The Sweeney and its follow-up Minder, not to mention The Professionals and The New Avengers, to comedies like Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Goodies, The Good Life, To the Manor Born and Fawlty Towers, as well as science fiction dramas such as Blake’s 7 and Space 1999, the 70s was a rich decade in terms of television production. So, if you want to forget the oil crisis, power cuts, the 3-day week and the ‘winter of discontent’, but remember Punk, Ska and a whole host of what are now seen as ‘cult’ TV programmes, then put on your donkey jacket and your beige flares, mount your Raleigh chopper bicycle (sadly I was only allowed a ‘Jeep’) and join me for four weeks of 70s nostalgia.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Come and join us at the French Film Ciné-Club, where once a week, for 10 weeks, we will watch and discuss French 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.