Cinema Today

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 4
• Convenor: to be confirmed
• Assessment: a 1000-word research report (25%) and 3000-word essay (75%)

In this module we explore contemporary cinema as a cultural practice as well as an artistic activity and a technological phenomenon. There are two main questions underpinning the module:

• What are the key changes that cinema has undergone in recent years?
• How have these affected our experience as spectators and students of film?

The module is structured around six key themes: movie-going, digital culture, world cinema, film festivals, film criticism and film history, which are the way to address these questions.

This module will help you to enhance your skills of film analysis and introduce you to essential theoretical texts in film studies. We will directly raise questions around practices of contemporary cinema culture by offering you opportunities to meet film professionals working in the exhibition sector, and by exposing you directly to contemporary cinema culture by visits to the BFI library and film archives.

Indicative syllabus

• Movie-going
• The digital
• World cinema
• Film criticism
• History of cinema
• Film festivals
• Revision, essay workshop, surprise film

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• more deeply appreciate contemporary cinema as a cultural practice
• appreciate the various forms of contemporary films in a global and digital era
• identify and discuss various cultural practices of cinema today
• theorise digital cinema
• assemble and analyse a press review
• identify and discuss the role of film festivals.