Film and English

Film and English is a combination that brings together two disciplines with complementary analytical traditions and overlapping interests in narrative, representation, and the power of storytelling. Film studies examines how cinema and television create meaning, how they reflect and shape social life, and how the global circulation of screen culture connects audiences across very different cultural contexts. English literature develops close reading, critical interpretation, and engagement with texts across periods and traditions, developing sensitivity to how language constructs worlds and represents human experience.

At the University of Bristol, this three-year full-time programme allows you to explore the history of film and television, guided by leading scholars and practitioners, while also engaging deeply with literary texts across the English canon. You will consider theoretical perspectives from both disciplines, appreciate how films are made, and engage in creative filmmaking projects alongside the analytical and essay work of literary study. The combination develops a genuinely integrated critical sensibility that is alert to both visual and linguistic form, and to the ways in which the two intersect and diverge.

The programme includes a foundation year, which provides a structured and well-supported entry before the main degree.

Graduates from film and English programmes go on to careers in broadcasting, publishing, journalism, arts criticism, education, cultural organisations, screenwriting, and the creative industries more broadly. The combination of critical analytical skills and cultural breadth the degree develops is valued across many professional fields. Further study at postgraduate level in film studies, English literature, media, or creative writing is available for those who wish to develop specialist expertise or pursue research careers.