Film Studies and Italian

Film studies and Italian is a combination with a compelling internal logic. Italy has one of the richest and most celebrated traditions in world cinema, from the neorealism of Rossellini and De Sica through Fellini and Antonioni to contemporary Italian filmmakers who continue to produce work of international significance. Studying Italian language, literature, and culture gives you direct access to this tradition and to the social and artistic contexts in which it developed.

Film studies, with its critical, theoretical, and historical methods, equips you to engage with global cinema as a serious cultural and artistic form.

At St Andrews you will develop a comprehensive understanding of global film cultures alongside high-level Italian language proficiency and engagement with Italian literature, history, and contemporary culture. Film studies trains you to analyse moving image through critical and theoretical frameworks drawn from aesthetics, cultural theory, film history, and genre studies. Italian study gives you the linguistic and cultural depth to understand Italian cinema and cultural production from the inside rather than through translation alone.

The four-year MA (Hons) programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to spend time in Italy, deepening your language skills and engaging directly with the culture you are studying.

Graduates go on to careers in film and television production, criticism and journalism, cultural programming, academia, the arts, heritage, and cultural relations work. The combination of critical analytical skills and Italian linguistic and cultural knowledge opens doors in European arts organisations, film festivals, broadcasting, publishing, and diplomacy. Many students continue to postgraduate study in film studies, Italian studies, or screen studies.