Subject

Film studies

Making and analysing film is about seeing the world through your own unique lens.

Film studies

You're inquisitive. A creator. A natural storyteller.

Your world revolves around film, media and pop culture. You follow all the film critics and the Oscars is the most important date in your diary. Cannes Film Festival is on your bucket list. You have endurance. You’ll stay as long as it takes. After all, film is an art form and the lens is your calling.


Our courses

We offer BA Film Studies as a single honours.

If joint honours are more your thing check out:

BA Film and Creative Writing

BA Film and Drama

BA Film Studies and Literature

BA Film Studies and Art History

BA History with Film Studies

BA American Studies with Film

Why study here?
  • Access HD cameras, extensive editing facilities, a film library and a dedicated cinema for showcasing your work.
  • Our close links with film, TV and media companies give you excellent career prospects and opportunities for work experience.
  • Flexibility across the Department to incorporate you interests into your degree. 
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Essex graduate is now a Videographer and Editor

BA Film and Creative Writing (2018) graduate Egle tells us what she loved about studying Film and Creative Writing at Essex and how she landed her dream job in the industry.

Putting theory into practice

Whether your focus is critical or creative, you’re starting out in the field or looking for a career refresher, our courses are your ideal next step. We have the expertise and the facilities to make the most of your love of film in the UK’s fast-growing creative industries sector.

We offer MA Film Studies and MA Film and Literature, both of which are based in our Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies.


Why study here?
  • You will work with award-winning professionals and our close industry links enable you to attend master classes and apply for paid internships and work placements.
  • You have access to HD cameras, extensive editing facilities, a film library and a dedicated cinema.
  • We are ranked 3rd for Cinematics in the Complete University Guide 2022.
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Facilities for success

As a student in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies, you will have access to our incredible facilities such as the Media Centre and the Lakeside Theatre, including access to state-of-the-art equipment.

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A unique interdisciplinary environment

We combine expertise in film history with theory and practice, but you'll have access to academics from throughout our Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies. We're experts in cinema from the Americas, Europe, and Asia, documentary and experimental films and filmmaking, feminist, psychoanalytic and Marxist theory and postcolonial studies. 

Supervision

Read our biographies to find out more about us, or use our research finder to find a topic.

Why study here?
  • Be part of an active and collaborative research community.
  • We run weekly research seminars with speakers invited from the UK and abroad.
  • Our research students organise and present at our annual PhD conference.
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Our research

The Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies has internationally recognised expertise in the literatures of the British Isles, the Americas, and Europe, combined with strengths in world cinema, film theory and practice, contemporary theatre and poetry, as well as adaptation and translation studies. 

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