Courses - Online & in London

Philosophical life coaching helps you lead a more satisfying and meaningful life by using insights and methods from the great thinkers. This introductory workshop will show you some of the most interesting ways it can be of help. No previous experience required.

With films such as Metropolis (1927) and Sunrise (1927) many critics felt that silent cinema had attained a level of sophistication that could not be surpassed by the 'talkies', but the imaginative use of sound and dialogue, in, for example, Blackmail (1929) and M (1931), could not be denied. Explore this exciting, transitional moment in cinema through these and other key films of the period.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Flash fiction is the art of telling small stories that make a big impact. Learn how to harness the power of economy in this practical short course. Suitable for those with some experience of creative writing.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Go behind the Gold Mask and get to know the real Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Where was he born and raised, and who were his parents? Did he have a coronation and how long did he rule? What happened during his reign? Did he have children, and how and when did he die? We discover whether the famous tomb and its contents helps to answer any of these questions. The final session will be a visit to the Petrie Museum to examine artefacts which reveal Tutankhamun and his times.

Come and experience the customs of Japan, and gain an insight into Japanese society. Open to all levels.

Learn how to write haikus that resonate, move and entertain on this fun day workshop.

Emerging in the 1980s, and promoted as a prestige cinema, the British heritage film is typified by high production values, period settings and, often, a canonical literary source. We will view films such as A Room with a View (1985) and The Remains of the Day (1993) and discuss their appeal for both domestic and international audiences, while exploring the critical debates around heritage cinema.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

John Grierson has a lot to answer for. Not only did he popularise that most dreary and off-putting term ‘documentary’ in the 1930s, he only approved those that were utilitarian, pedagogic or impersonal. But in the 1950s a new generation of filmmakers rejected these restrictive forms and a Free Cinema was born: an interest in the poetry of the everyday and a talent for finding art hiding in plain sight in unsung and unprepossessing neighbourhoods. Documentary to provoke change. No film can be too personal. An urgent cultural revolution was suddenly exploding everywhere. New York’s ‘off Broadway’ film movement, influenced by Italian neorealism, shot Little Fugitive (1953 Morris Engel/Ruth Orkin) on location on Coney Island. It was nominated for an Oscar. This landmark film led to John Cassavetes’ independent style and was an acknowledged influence on the French New Wave, Direct Cinema (U.S.) and Cinema Verite (France). As if on cue, Agnes Varda filmed La Pointe Courte (1955) on location in Sete, inventing and kick-starting the New Wave of Godard and Truffaut and her own Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962). However, the biggest stirring of a new kind of documentary impulse was the Free Cinema in Britain, where Lindsay Anderson scorned the Griersonian style as didactic and dull and led the way to the British New Wave’s ‘kitchen sink’ films that were about our lives.

Once cinema began to develop, Hollywood began to promote stardom. Starting with Florence Lawrence, the industry began to capitalise on star personalities and encourage fandom. This course will examine how the Hollywood star system began and evolved. The course will begin by examining the ‘picture personality’ in 1912 through to the collapse of the traditional star system in the 1960s.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Study the dominant design aesthetic of the twentieth century, considering its development, successes and failures. Movements will include Russian Constructivism, the Bauhaus and Purism. Design practices will include graphics, furniture and architecture.