Online Film Studies Courses

Explore one of cinema's most imaginative and influential movements through films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Nosferatu, Metropolis, M and many others. We will consider the production context of German cinema in the period 1919 to 1933 and expressionism as its defining style, key filmmakers associated with the movement and critical accounts of both the films and the movement as a whole.

This taster of forthcoming film courses at City Lit in 2026 offers you the chance to think about which ones to take while also providing an opportunity to explore some of the key areas in film studies more generally.
Learn how to evaluate and discuss films while enjoying a working example of a City Lit film studies class.
We will view clips from a wide variety of films, exploring themes and technique in British, European and modern American cinema. There will be a chance to review term two film courses at City Lit (May - July 2026).

American crime cinema has been a major area of production, enthralling audiences and critics alike. Explore its history and development in the period 1930 to 1990 through films such as Scarface (1932), Double Indemnity (1944), The Godfather (1972) and many others, while also considering key critical accounts of the genre, the films and their representation of American social and political life.

“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.” This online course will explore and immerse in the world of the 20th century’s funniest and influential comedy troupe - Groucho, Harpo, Chico and sometimes Zeppo – The Marx Brothers. Expect silent clowning, musical interludes and an abundance of fast and furious Marxian wisecracks.

Establishing itself in the immediate post-war period, initially in Europe and later in world cinemas, art cinema is characterised by distinctive film styles and narrative structures that set it apart from popular forms of cinematic practice and representation. This course will consider its origins and development, its key films and filmmakers, and critical accounts of the concept art of cinema.

Drawing on social, political and technological concerns of the period, British and American science fiction cinema of the 1950s and 1960s comprises a rich body of genre cinema with an enduring appeal. Looking at a range of films, this course explores their function as genre cinema through their style and thematic concerns, their production contexts, and a range of critical responses to the films.

This course will discuss the development of women’s cinematic modes of representation and expression, and the place of women in the film industry within the current social, political and cultural climate. It will begin by considering the question of gender representation and will develop towards an examination of the contemporary notion of the ‘female gaze’. The course will refer to key pioneers as well as to contemporary female filmmakers while paying attention to cultural creative diversity.

“I find movies rely upon dialogue too much sometimes, and you lose the power of what really the most basic cinematic language is, which is the visual language.” Explore and immerse in the signature style and adventurous cinema of Todd Haynes from his emergence in the early 90s in the New Queer Cinema movement through pop culture history to highly stylised melodramas.

This course explores a key work of science fiction cinema of the 1950s: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), scene by scene. It will consider the film's production, critical reception, reputation, and its relationship to other science fiction 'invasion' films of the 1950s, while also considering its legacy through a series of remakes which re-imagine the central themes of the original film.

Realism dominates our screens – from soaps (East Enders) to prestige television (The Wire) to the movies.  But what is realism, exactly? Is it a genre, a stylistic choice, or an intrinsic way of looking at the world, humanistic and moral? And if realism is the dominant form in cinema, who are its masters? 

Already a director of note, the critical reception of The Lodger and Blackmail saw Hitchcock recognised as a major filmmaker, one whose style was best demonstrated in the suspense film, the cinematic form with which he would subsequently always be associated. Explore two key early works from the 'master of suspense', their striking use of montage and, in one, a bold to approach to sound.  

Focusing on environmental realism and ordinary lives, British crime cinema offers a quite distinctive cinematic experience. Explore British crime cinema from 'quota quickies' such as They Drive By Night (1939) and noir informed gothic thrillers such as They Made Me a Fugitive (1947), to low budget 'B' movies of the 1950s and 1960s, and, later, tough, 'gritty' films, such as Get Carter (1970).