Film Studies

Film studies is the critical and scholarly examination of cinema as an art form, cultural institution and economic system. Since its emergence at the end of the nineteenth century, cinema has become one of the most powerful media for storytelling, social commentary, artistic expression and political influence ever developed. Today film exists in a more complicated media environment than ever, across streaming platforms, video games, virtual reality and social media, and the critical and historical tools of film studies are increasingly needed to understand not just traditional cinema but the full range of screen-based visual culture.

At King's College London you will study for three years full-time in a leading research environment in the heart of London. You will develop rigorous critical, historical and theoretical tools for understanding cinema and digital media, engaging with both mainstream and avant-garde traditions across a global range of national cinemas, genres and historical periods. You will learn to analyse films as texts and as cultural objects, to situate them within their social, political and economic contexts, and to understand the theoretical frameworks, from psychoanalytic and feminist theory to postcolonialism and digital media studies, that have shaped the discipline.

Film studies graduates work in film journalism and criticism, arts journalism, broadcasting, film programming and exhibition, arts administration, film production, film education, archiving and distribution, cultural policy and the creative industries. The critical and analytical skills the degree develops are valued across publishing, communications, public relations, education and the civil service. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in film studies, media studies, screen studies or a related creative arts discipline, developing more specialist expertise in the theoretical and historical dimensions of screen culture or in the practical contexts of film-making and production.