Film and Television Studies encourages students to explore diverse aspects of our intensely mediated society. It means asking questions about the history, political significance and formal qualities of sound and image. Whether our priority is to preserve moving images, engage in the creative activity of making them, or learn more about their role in shaping or reproducing social values, Film and Television Studies in our School offers a stimulating environment within which to explore the development and character of these important audio-visual cultures.
Staff in the School of Film and Television Studies have an international reputation for high quality research and scholarship. Publishing extensively, we are at the forefront of the field, making the School an ideal environment in which to learn about film and television. Teaching in the school draws on our strengths in research, giving students the opportunity to work with leading scholars.
Postgraduate Study
We offer a range of well-respected and long-established postgraduate degrees.
The MA in Film Studies admits approximately 20 students each year, with a further 10 taking the MA in Film Studies with Archiving. Our programmes at both BA and MA emphasize the history and theory of film and television.
The PhD programme in Film and Television Studies admits students with excellent research proposals to work with members of the lecturing staff who are widely published and very active in their respective fields of research. We currently have approximately 30 part- and full-time PhD candidates, working on a wide variety of topics including areas such as: film and television history, national cinemas, gender and post-feminism, audiences and reception studies and film and television genres. We accept applications from these and other related fields of inquiry.
The School is renowned for its high quality research, gaining the maximum grade of 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. There is a rich and dynamic research culture in the School. Current and recent projects based in the School include the Anglia TV project and the British Cinema History Research Project. We support a programme of weekly research seminars involving staff and visiting speakers, and have hosted a number of successful conferences and symposia including: Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture (2004), Historical Epics (2005) and Gender and Nation (2006).
