Art History and Film Studies

Art History and Film Studies is a combination that treats visual culture in its broadest sense, examining how human beings have made and responded to images across different media, periods and contexts. Art history develops your capacity for close visual analysis, situating paintings, sculpture, photography and architecture within their historical, institutional and ideological settings. Film studies extends that analytical toolkit to the moving image, examining how cinema and screen media construct meaning through editing, cinematography, narrative and sound.

Together they give you a set of critical skills that are increasingly relevant in a world saturated with visual information.

At the University of Sussex this degree includes a foundation year, giving you an additional year to develop your visual literacy, critical thinking and academic skills before entering the main three-year programme. The combination at Sussex emphasises both critical inquiry and creative practice, exploring how visual culture shapes thought, emotion and understanding. You will study a wide range of visual forms, from historical art objects and architecture to advertising, documentary film, digital art and environmental art.

The course includes a sandwich year, a year abroad and a work placement, giving you substantial opportunities to develop professional and international experience alongside your studies.

Graduates from Art History and Film Studies degrees go on to careers across the arts, culture and media sectors. Many find roles in film and arts criticism, curatorial work, gallery and museum education, archive and heritage management, documentary production, arts journalism and cultural programming. Others move into advertising, marketing, publishing and communications, where visual literacy is a genuine asset.

Postgraduate study in art history, film studies, curating, cultural studies or screen studies is a well-established route for those wishing to develop expertise in a particular area.