Subject overview

Programmes

• PhD in Film Studies
• MPhil in Film Studies

Faculty have expertise in the following areas: global cinemas, Hollywood cinema, European cinema, Latin American cinema, British cinema, popular culture, genre and authorship, feminism, queer cinema, representations of the body, gender and sexuality, film and new media, aesthetics, critical and cultural theory, cinema industries, film cultural curation, radio and television, film noir, comedy, stardom and performance, film and politics, children and cinema, animals and film, media audiences, and documentary.

Coursework

All new research students will be required to participate in a programme of research training modules and to take other modules that may be recommended by the supervisor of their research (exemption from research training modules can be granted to those who have already taken such modules at postgraduate level). The Department offers a range of support for research training, including research seminar presentation days, ‘away days’ support for new skills, and the Research in Progress seminar series.

Recent and current PhD thesis titles

No crinoline-covered lady: stardom, agency, and the career of Barbara Stanwyck

Silver screen: the ageing female body in women’s films

John Hughes and new Hollywood cinema

Screen dance: corporeal ties between dance, film, and audience

Towards a sensual understanding of national identity: food, film and the porous screen

The queer punk films of Bruce LaBruce

Transitory presences: representations of space, place and the body in direct cinema

Entry requirements

MPhil in Film Studies

UK entrance requirements

Normally a Masters degree in a subject relevant to your chosen area of research.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

PhD in Film Studies

UK entrance requirements

Normally a Masters degree in a subject relevant to your chosen area of research.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to Overseas qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

Visas and immigration

Find out more about Visas and immigration.

For more information about the admissions process at Sussex

For pre-application enquiries:

Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

For post-application enquiries:

Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk 

Related subjects

• Creative and critical writing
• Drama
• Gender studies
• Media, media practice and cultural studies
• Music

Fees and funding

Fees

MPhil in Film Studies

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £13,000³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

PhD in Film Studies

Home UK/EU students: £3,900¹
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,900²
Overseas students: £13,000³

¹ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
² The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
³ The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

Funding

The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.

Faculty interests

Our internationally respected research explores a range of approaches to film, film cultures and film studies. The three key areas that inform our teaching and research interests are:

Global cinemas

Our work includes popular and art cinemas of Asia, Europe, Britain, the US and Latin America. We explore debates about how cinema has been approached within national, regional and transnational production contexts and how such productions have been theorised in relation to shifting paradigms of film style, identity, intermediality and cultural representation.

Film, gender and sexuality

Sussex is world renowned for its research into questions of gender and sexuality, as part of a broader focus on the politics of representation. We explore such topics in our research, including consideration of feminist and queer interventions within cinema and film theory as well as questions raised by cinematic representations of the body.

Film, history and popular culture

Several of our faculty explore the intersections between film, history and popular culture, focusing on topics such as genre, authorship, questions of audience, stardom, performance, the politics of films and film form (within both fiction and documentary), intertextual and transmedial synergies, and broader issues of cultural representation.

There are also many crucial and productive intersections between these three areas and between the research of film studies faculty and those of other colleagues in the School of Media, Film and Music.

Individual research interests are briefly described below. For more detailed information, visit the School of Media, Film and Music.

Dr Thomas Austin Audiences for popular film, screen documentary, and Hollywood cinema.

Dr Rosalind Galt European film histories, world cinema since 1945, aesthetics, critical theory, gender and sexuality.

Dr Catherine Grant Film authorship, intertextuality and film cultural curation in relation to a range of world cinemas.

Dr Frank Krutnik Film noir, comedy, stardom and film, popular culture and politics.

Dr Michael Lawrence World cinemas, Indian cinema, screen performance, child and non-professional actors, animals in film.

Andy Medhurst Post-war British popular culture, media representations of masculinity and homosexuality.

Dr Niall Richardson Representations of gender, sexuality and the body in film and popular culture.

Dr Dolores Tierney US and Latin American film-making. Mexican exploitation and contemporary Spanish horror film.

Professor Sue Thornham Feminism, film and cultural theory.

Careers and perspectives

Our graduates have gone on to pursue careers in teaching, production research, broadcasting, and project and cultural management. Employers of our graduates include Scenestealer Interactive Video Solutions, Viasat Broadcasting, Autumn Publishing and Ofcom.

School and contacts