Our research and teaching covers film and media from artistic, cultural, economic, industrial and political perpesctives. We explore cinema, television and new media from the earliest projected images to present day digital screens.
The University of Southampton Film Studies department has a world-class reputation for the quality of its research and teaching.
Ninety-five per cent of our research was judged ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021). We’re aso ranked 11th by subject in the UK for communication and media studies, and 2nd for research (Complete University Guide 2024).
Our researchers are experts on a range of topics, including:
film theory and history
film and media industries
gender and sexuality
global cinemas
digital media
These research specialisms actively inform course content across our undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes, where we engage with a range of topics involving popular genre films, art cinema, prime-time television, digital media, industry studies, world cinema, documentary, and animation.
Education
We offer a range of programmes at undergraduate, postgraduate taught and PhD levels, with teaching and supervision from experts in film, television, and digital media.
Our flexible and wide-ranging undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses trace the development of film from its 19th century origins to the digital age. They encompass a diverse array of topics, including:
history
gender and sexuality studies
television
music and sound
cultural studies
film and media industries
Most of our undergraduate courses include year abroad options, with destinations including South Korea, Sweden, Ireland and the Czech Republic.
Students benefit from access to our video editing suite, and can get involved with a student-run TV station, Surge.
Graduate outcomes
Our graduates follow a diverse range of career paths, including film editing, television production, journalism, arts management, social media and marketing, and teaching. The transferable skills developed across our degree programmes also make our students excellent candidates for competitive graduate schemes.
Graduate destinations have included:
BBC
Netflix
StudioCanal
British Film Institute
Universal Pictures
Sky
Graduates have also gone on to work at leading visual effects companies such as Moving Picture Company, Double Negative, and Framestore.
Research culture
At the core of our research culture is our seminar speakers series, where both external and internal researchers at the cutting edge of our field share their latest work with our community.
Postgraduate community
We hold an annual postgraduate research conference and masterclass, led by students, with an eminent film scholar as keynote speaker.
Our postgraduate students regularly collaborate with The Confucius Institute to run research events on film, television, and media in China.
Conferences and publications
We have hosted the Doing Women's Film and Television History Conference (2018) and the annual conference for the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (2021).
Our staff and research students are frequent contributors to leading journals and have won association awards for best article and edited collection.
Awards
Our research has won large Art and Humanities Research Council and European Research Council grants in the areas of gender equality in the film industry and the cultures of film studios in early 20th century Europe.
Public engagement and knowledge exchange
We regularly engage in public outreach activities in Southampton and beyond. We've organised screenings on filmmakers from Hong Kong, contributed to music and film events at Turner Sims concert hall, and had an impact on the UK film industry's equality, diversity and inclusion policies.
The space includes several areas for individual and group work. We also use these to host workshops, peer learning sessions, demonstrations, talks and drop-in surgeries.
We also offer a film library with more than 5,800 titles, and a lecture theatre with Blu-ray projection, surround-sound, cinema-size screen and 140 seats.
The main University library offers a wealth of audiovisual resources, including access to Box of Broadcasts, an archive of more than 1 million TV and radio recordings.
The Department of Film Studies is committed to fostering a positive and inclusive environment for all, ensuring staff and students from a diverse range of backgrounds can achieve their greatest potential with us.
In both teaching and research, we engage with screen media in all its sociocultural complexity, encouraging a global, interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to the analysis of film and media cultures.
We use a variety of teaching and assessment methods across our degree programmes. This allows students to develop transferable skills and demonstrate their strengths beyond the traditional essay format.
As a community of staff and researchers, we address and combat inequalities based on race, gender and sexuality across a range of media cultures and industries.
Our department is part of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities’ LGBTQ+ Positive Space Initiative, offering support and advice for students with questions about LGBTQ+ issues.
We also have a departmental EDI representative, ensuring our research and teaching cultures are in line with faculty standards and values of inclusivity.
It’s exciting to be in a department with a variety of approaches to screens, tackling the politics, histories, and industries of film, television and digital media.
What I value most about our department is teaching alongside experts, involving students in learning about the specific areas that inspire us and that we are helping to develop.
I truly value the intercultural exchanges in Film, not only among our teaching staff members, but also between Film’s staff and students at all levels.
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