Film Studies and International Relations

Film studies and international relations is an unusual but intellectually compelling combination, bringing together the analysis of cinema and moving image culture with the systematic study of global politics, diplomacy, and international order. Film studies asks how films are made, how they create meaning, and what they tell us about the societies that produce and consume them. International relations examines how states, international organisations, and other actors interact across borders, and what drives conflict, cooperation, and governance at the global scale.

Read alongside each other, the two disciplines illuminate questions about representation, propaganda, soft power, cultural exchange, and the role of storytelling in shaping political realities.

At the School of Oriental and African Studies, this three-year, full-time degree carries a foundation year option for those who benefit from additional preparation before entering degree-level study. SOAS brings a distinctive emphasis on the cultures and politics of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, meaning your engagement with both film and international relations will be shaped by a broader and more global range of perspectives than is common in these disciplines elsewhere. You will develop skills in textual and visual analysis, political theory and research, and cross-cultural understanding, and you will read film as both aesthetic object and political document.

A typical entry tariff of 136 points reflects the programme's accessibility alongside its intellectual ambition.

Graduates of this combination go on to work in a wide range of fields, including international development, diplomacy, journalism, cultural policy, broadcasting, documentary production, research, and the arts. The capacity to analyse both moving image culture and political structures is genuinely distinctive and valued in organisations that operate at the intersection of communication, culture, and global affairs. Postgraduate study in film, media, international relations, or area studies is a common further step.