Film season

Learn about the differences between experimental film and conventional narrative. Begin to create digital films that challenge rather than cater to conventional expectations. Explore how to create original material in both form and content.

The film making potential of smart phones and tablets have developed greatly over the last few years. Enjoy learning techniques for using them effectively to create short professional looking films for publishing online or for film festival submissions.

What is anime? What are the artistic and narrative features that make these films so instantly recognizable? This one-day film course will provide an overview of the history of Japanese animation cinema, its inextricable links with manga and its multi-faceted and varied productions that range from children’s films to genres such as cyberpunk and yaoi. During the course, we will watch and discuss clips from a variety of production companies and directors, such as Haya Miyazaki, the Studio Ghibli and Katsuhiro Otomo.

Learn 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 2025).

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.

Learn to produce your own short fiction film, from storyboards and pre-production to shooting and editing. Explore how to construct an exciting narrative, experiment with different shots and camera movements, and get to grips with recording and editing technology, producing your own professional-looking short movie.

Paolo Sorrentino has been described as ‘the most promising Italian director of his generation’. This one-day course will explore the cinema of this Neapolitan filmmaker renowned for his ‘commitment to style’. We will look at a number of his films as well as his television work, and examine some of the themes that he has returned to throughout his career, for example, power, nostalgia and solitude. We will also consider his Sorrentino’s relationship with figures such as the cinematographer Luca Bigazzi and the actor Toni Servillo, both of whom have collaborated frequently with the director. So, join us in City Lit’s Cultureplex screening space for day-long immersion into the beautifully stylish cinematic world of Paolo Sorrentino.

Would you like to write a script for a short film? This short course offers an insight into the fundamentals of screenwriting through tutor input, writing exercises, group work and discussion.



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

Explore a selection of European films that draw on cinematic traditions of fantasy, horror and surrealism, but which have also acquired significant critical reputations, with their striking visual styles, dreamlike narratives and dark themes lending them an enduring place in both film and popular culture in general. Strange tales and dark dreams to fascinate, horrify and astound you.



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

You've worked hard on a screenplay but how do you sell it? This short intensive course identifies tools you can select to create a compelling Pitch Treatment.



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