The Joint Honours BA Film Studies and History aims to develop your understanding and awareness of the rich possibilities of this creative medium and encourages you to approach the study of film from a range of historical and theoretical perspectives. At the heart of our Film Studies courses is a commitment to expanding your experience of film through taught units and screenings that focus on both classical and contemporary films, covering a wide range of film cultures from around the world. You will study mainstream and non-mainstream films in order to broaden your understanding of the history of film as well as the debates and issues that are informing and generated by current practice in film and shaping its future. As you enhance your skills of close analysis you will also develop an understanding of how film engages with socio-cultural and political concerns, placing the films you study in their historical context as well as thinking about current debates and future challenges for cinema as a medium. The course emphasises historical and theoretical approaches to studying film rather than practical production. You will be encouraged to develop as independent critical thinkers able to work in a diverse range of assessment scenarios, taking in solo written assignments, presentations and, on certain units, group work and creative projects that enable you to put theory into practice. All of our Joint Honours in Film Studies share the same core aims when it comes to the Film Studies elements of the course. You will gain a good knowledge of a range of contemporary and classical film cultures, taking in mainstream and experimental film as well as Anglophone and non-Anglophone cinema. You will also enhance your understanding of film history, theory and relevant interpretive methods. In doing so, you will be able to display a critical understanding of the place and importance of film in contemporary society, including the issues, debates and controversies which film has contributed and responded to. That understanding includes an awareness of the contribution film can make to communities at both a local and wider level. You will develop your critical skills, broaden your intellectual horizons, audio-visual literacy and imagination, deepening your enthusiasm for the subject. Along the way, the course aims to help you develop a range of transferable skills to meet career demands and begin to make a worthwhile contribution to relevant fields, including careers in film education, distribution, exhibition, curation and production, and provide a foundation for lifelong learning.