Introduction to the Film Studies MA

The Film Studies MA provides an exceptional grounding in cinema history, global cinema, and modern screen media. Taught at the UCL Centre for Multidisciplinary and Intercultural Inquiry (CMII), students benefit from the knowledge of a cross-disciplinary community of cinema scholars and access to exceptional multimedia resources.

About the Degree

The Film Studies MA is designed to provide students with advanced knowledge of both the history of cinema and media and its contemporary developments, and with the skills, concepts, methods, and theories required for the study of cinema and media at graduate level. During the academic year, students take compulsory modules which provide a postgraduate-level foundation in film studies and optional modules to develop their own research interests and knowledge of cinema cultures and interdisciplinary approaches to film analysis.

Who This Course is For

The course is suitable for students with a first degree in film, media, or cultural studies or other relevant discipline in the humanities or the social sciences who wish to develop an advanced understanding of the place of cinema in the world, either as a suitable foundation for further research or as a professional qualification in its own right.

What This Course Will Give You

The course is delivered by the Centre for Multidisciplinary and Intercultural Inquiry (CMII) within UCL's School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS). Supervision and teaching are available from world-leading researchers, with 83% of SELCS-CMII research activity being graded 4* 'world leading' and 3* 'internationally excellent' in the REF 2021. UCL has multimedia infrastructure for the study of film and related media, including a collection of print and visual materials and resources, facilities for teaching and for film and media screenings.

Career Prospects

Previous graduates from Film Studies MA have pursued various careers, including academic research, teaching, and other educational activities, and careers within media. Graduates go on to work in varied roles across the public, private, and charitable sectors, with careers in industry sectors such as PR, advertising, marketing, health and social care, or policy and government. Others have gone on to further postgraduate-level study.

Employability

Our graduates are highly valued by employers for their interdisciplinary skills and linguistic and cultural knowledge. Transferable skills include intercultural understanding, translation, communication skills, and analytical rigour. Students graduating from this course will have demonstrated intellectual flexibility in engaging successfully with a diverse range of subject areas and disciplinary approaches to Film studies.

Networking

Each year, we welcome students from all over the world to our Film Studies MA. Students spend a year amongst a thriving, cross-disciplinary community of cinema scholars and research students. The multidisciplinary research culture at UCL ensures that there is a wide range of seminars, lecture series, and other opportunities to exchange ideas. UCL Careers also offers a range of services, providing access to skills development, recruitment, and networking events.

Teaching and Learning

The course is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, private study, film and video screenings. Term 3 is devoted to revision sessions and the dissertation project. Students are assessed by a variety of methods, which may include coursework, presentations, written essays, and the research dissertation. Teaching sessions are interactive, with a limited amount of lecturer presentation and emphasis on student participation and critical discussion.

Modules

• Full-time students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
• Part-time students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits over two years.
  • Compulsory modules:
    • MA Film Studies Core Course
    • Dissertation
  • Optional modules:
    • The Idea of Documentary
    • Global Cinemas
    • Short Films
    • Women Filmmakers
    • Environment, Ecology and Contemporary Culture
    • Animation
    • Cinema from Pencil to Pixel
    • Digital Media
    • East and South Asian Cinemas
    • Capital Screens
    • Medicine on Screen: Representations of Doctors, Health Care and Medicine in Film from the 1920s to the Present
    • The Child in Film
    • Media Conglomerates and Television Networks
    • Going Global: Distribution, Internationalisation and Accessibility of Films
    • Global Film Colour
    • Hollywood/Bollywood: Industries and Histories
    • The Cinema of Resistance: Second World War Film and/as Philosophy
    • Nordic Cinema: Contextualising Dreyer, Bergman and Dogme
    • Cinema and the Global City
    • Film Materiality
    • Transnational Crime Cinema
    • Jump Scares. A History of Horror on Screen
    • Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema: From 1997 to the Present
    • Hong Kong Cinema History: From the 1950s to 1997
    • Fans and Film Cults
    • Feminism on Film
    • Japanese cinema after the studio system

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences, and mental health conditions. Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Fees and Funding

• UK students:
  • Full-time: ｣16,800
  • Part-time: ｣8,400
• International students:
  • Full-time: ｣35,400
  • Part-time: ｣17,700 The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session.

Additional Costs

For full-time and part-time offer holders, a fee deposit will be charged at 2.5% of the first year fee for UK students and 10% for international students. Additional costs may include expenses such as books, stationery, printing, or photocopying. The department strives to keep additional costs low. Books and journal articles are usually available via the UCL library as hard copies or via e-journal subscriptions. UCL's main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is ｣119.90.

Funding Your Studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website. Scholarships relevant to this department are displayed on the website.

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Services

Student services