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  • World Cinema (MA)
  • 2013/2014 entry
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  • Assessment

    • Normally a 3000-word essay for the core module, a 7000-word compulsory research project, a 5000-word essay for each of two option modules and a 15,000-word dissertation.

      As an alternative to the dissertation, and in consultation with staff and external examiners, you may opt for a creative equivalent (such as a 30-minute film or documentary accompanied by a 5000-word critical documentation of its elaboration).

      Please note: Birkbeck does not provide technical equipment (such as cameras, editing tables etc) and you will have to use your own.

  • Attendance
      • One evening a week part-time; two evenings a week full-time.
      • October–June.
  • Duration
      • Two years part-time or one year full-time.
  • Entry requirements
      • Second class (2:1) BA honours degree in film studies, or in any other field in the humanities or social sciences, or its equivalent (both professional and/or academic).
      • If English is not your first language, an IELTS score of 7.0 or equivalent is required.

      Find out about our international entry requirements

  • Fees and funding
    • Fees (2013/14)
      • Part-time (home/EU students): £2975 pa
      • Part-time (overseas students): £6050 pa
      • Full-time (home/EU students): £5375 pa
      • Full-time (overseas students): £11,995 pa
  • Location
      • Central London.
  • Teaching
    • A mixture of lectures and classes, with seminars and workshops, the latter dedicated to analysing specific films. In the seminars and workshops, course leaders will normally provide short presentations to encourage the discussion of both critical concepts and films studied among the students. You will be asked to prepare for these by viewing particular films and reading secondary, critical texts. The core module provides research skills in its structure.

World Cinema (MA) - 2013/2014 entry


  • Overview

    • This programme offers you a unique combination of specialist knowledge in a variety of thematic and geo-political contexts with expertise in key technological developments in film history. It brings together specialists in film studies, focusing on many different geographical areas and historical contexts, as well as across many film genres and theoretical approaches.

      It is designed to promote a critical approach to the concept of world cinema, drawing on a wide range of associated topics: national, trans-/post-national and regional cinemas, third cinema, migration, exile, diaspora, post-colonialism, globalisation, etc.

  • Why study this course at Birkbeck?
      1. Ideal for students from a range of backgrounds and occupations as an opportunity to widen and deepen their knowledge of key developments in film history and to develop an understanding of the latest critical thought in the field of world cinema.
      2. Enables you to gain a wider perspective on the history and geography of cinema by studying it as a both a global and multi-centred phenomenon.
      3. Provides a strong empirically and research-led programme, enabling you to develop your oral, visual and writing skills.
      4. Encourages critical thought and independent research, and allows you to build your own idea of world cinema.
  • Course structure

    • The programme consists of the core module Cinema in the World, a choice of option modules, a research project and a dissertation.

      Cinema in the World articulates questions of film history and world cinema. Among the topics to be discussed within film history, you may expect sessions on: photography; the magic lantern; early sound; sound synchronicity; and cine-vérité/documentary.

      Key subjects for the understanding of world cinema include: art cinema and festivals; world cinema and world music; the case of India; third cinema and anti-colonialism; globalisation; and contemporary production. This programmes aims to familiarise you with the wide range of critical concepts that define world cinema as a specific area of academic research: national cinema; trans-/post-national cinema; regional cinema; popular cinema; third cinema; art house cinema; migration; exile; diaspora; post-colonialism; and globalisation.

      The option modules include:

      • African and Asian Film Narratives
      • Crisis in Portuguese Cinema
      • Film Festivals
      • Film, Melodrama and the Family
      • French Documentary Cinema
      • Histoires du Cinéma
      • History and Theory of Screenwriting
      • Ideology and Innovation in Post-War German Cinema
      • Landscape and Film
      • Latin American Cinemas
      • Memory and Film
      • Men and Masculinities in East Asia
      • Perspectives on Japanese Cinema
      • Post-War European Cinema at the Crossroads
      • Reinventing the Family in Contemporary French Cinema
      • Transgression in German Expressionist Film.
  • Study resources
  • Further study opportunities
  • Careers information
    • Graduates go on to careers in film and media companies, teaching, journalism, in international organisations and businesses, or to management roles in the arts.
  • Apply now