Below is a summary of the Film and Media short courses available through the University of Edinburgh during 2023-2024. Click on the individual course links for further details.
See the Film Media Short Courses homepage for a complete list of the courses available. For all general enquiries, contact the Film, Media and Contemporary Cultures Short Courses Centre for Open Learning by email COL@ed.ac.uk. For further enquiries about the content of the courses, contact Course Organiser, Dr Malgorzata (Gosia) Bugaj by email: cw.fmcc.col@ed.ac.uk
The Edinburgh Film Guild has supported the University of Edinburgh’s Film and Media short courses for many years, hosting a large number of short courses in our Guild Cinema prior to the closure of Filmhouse. We hope this course information proves useful.
SEPTEMBER 2023:
Gothic Cinema: from Caligari to the Present
Mondays from 25th September 2023 • (10 classes)
6:00pm – 8:50pm • Holyrood Campus • (Code FM167-102)
Tutor: David M. Wingrove AB (Magna) MA BFI Cert
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: Audiences and critics will often describe a film as ‘Gothic’ – but what does that term actually mean? What impact has it had on the development of cinema? This course explores the history of ‘Gothic’ cinema from its silent Expressionist roots through its Hollywood heyday to the Post-Modern pastiches of today.
Director Focus: Alfred Hitchcock
Tuesdays from 26th September 2023 (10 weeks) • (Code FM052-104)
1:30pm – 4:30pm Dominion Cinema, Newbattle Terrace, Edinburgh EH10 4RT
Tutor: James Dunnigan MA
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: An introduction to the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock from the early British work onwards. The films will be studied with particular reference to genre and the star system. The key focus will be an examination of Hitchcock’s work in light of the auteur theory.
How Do They Do That? Understanding Film Techniques
Tuesdays from 26th September 2023
6:30pm – 8:20pm • (10 classes) Holyrood Campus • (Code FM047-101)
Tutor: Rolland Man BA MA MSc
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: When and how did the camera start to move? Why are some films in lurid colour while others are more muted? How has the screen changed shape over the decades? How and why did special effects evolve? If you have ever asked any of these questions, this is the course for you. We will explore film as the supreme marriage of art and technology.
Talking Pictures
Wednesdays from 27th September 2023
6:30pm – 8:20pm • (10 classes) Holyrood Campus • (Code FM071-104)
Tutor: Anthony McKibbin BA
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: Each week we will focus on a particular contemporary film (post 2000s) and discuss it. The selection of films will usually be challenging works that demand ‘speculative probing’, are relatively little known, or well-known but where a new perspective can be found. Join us as we discuss some of the most interesting films of the last twenty years.
Women Directors in Focus
Thursdays from 28th September 2023
11:10am – 1:00pm • (10 classes) Holyrood Campus • (Code FM178-101)
Tutor: Malgorzata Bugaj MA MSc PhD
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: Learn more about remarkable and ground-breaking women behind the camera. Over 10 weeks we will examine the works of acclaimed female directors, discuss their careers, formal styles and thematic concerns.
JANUARY 2024:
Director Focus: Pedro Almodovar
Mondays from 15th January 2024
6:30pm – 8:20pm • (10 classes) Holyrood Campus • (Code FM094-201)
Tutor: David M. Wingrove AB (Magna) MA BFI Cert
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: Arguably the most famous Spanish artist since Picasso, director Pedro Almodovar has entranced audiences and critics around the world. A highly sophisticated blend of classic Hollywood, European art-house and popular Spanish cinema, his work demands a closer look. We will explore his films and their roots in film history and Spanish culture.
Cinemas and the Movies: An Exploration of the History of Film Exhibition
Tuesdays from 16th January 2024 • (Code FM153-202)
1:30pm – 4:30pm • (10 classes) • Dominion Cinema, Newbattle Terrace, Edinburgh EH10 4RT
Tutor: Derek Wilson MA BA
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: The Nickelodeon, the picture palace, the movie theatre, the pictures, the flicks; cinemas in their various forms have had a major influence on individuals, societies and cultures since their humble beginnings. Through extracts, shorts and feature films we explore the relationship between film exhibition and film audiences.
Classical Hollywood: Clichés and Innovation
Tuesdays from 16th January 2024
6:30pm – 8:20pm • (10 classes) Holyrood Campus • (Code FM085-202)
Tutor: Rolland Man BA MA MSc
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available.)
Course Summary: Clichés abound in our view of Hollywood, just as they do in the films that are produced there. This course will take a closer look at the way Hollywood films have recycled, reinvented and even revolutionised their own clichés – and how they reflected the dreams (and nightmares) of American society.
Auteurs of Polish Cinema (Online)
Thursdays from 18th January 2024
6:30pm – 8:30pm • (10 classes) Online • (Code FM196-201)
Tutor: Malgorzata Bugaj MA MSc PhD
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: The journey through the works of 10 iconic directors is an exciting entry point to one of Europe’s most influential and diverse national cinemas. The course is an introduction to Polish cinema looking at its canonical post-war filmmakers and established contemporary voices. As Polish films often require some guidance, our discussions will also examine the wider socio-cultural background of the works in focus.
APRIL 2024:
Hollywood: The Unsung Heroes
Tuesdays from 16th April 2024
6:00pm – 8:50pm • (10 classes) • Holyrood Campus • (Code FM105-301)
Tutor: Rolland Man BA MA MSc
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: This is a chance to rediscover and discuss the wonderful films of the unsung heroes of Hollywood, from pioneers such as Rex Ingram and Clarence Brown to independent spirits like Don Siegel. They created some classics of American cinema, but often we are not familiar with the work of the directors not included in the ‘official canon’.
Film Theory and Criticism (Online)
Wednesdays from 17th April 2024
6:30pm – 8:30pm • (10 classes) Online • (Code FM191-301)
Tutor: Anthony McKibbin BA
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: Would you like to know more about semiotics, structuralism, gender in film? This course explores key concepts in film theory and criticism, and applies them to relevant film excerpts of some of the greatest films in cinema history. Join us and find out how some theoretical approaches can reveal essential forms and functions of cinema.
Director Focus: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Thursdays from 18th April 2024 (Code FM176-302)
6:30pm – 8:20pm • (5 classes) • Holyrood Campus
Tutor: Malgorzata Bugaj MA MSc PhD
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available.)
Course Summary: Visually striking, emotionally gripping and sensually overwhelming, Krzysztof Kieslowski’s body of work is a benchmark of art-house cinema. The course overviews the career of this extraordinary auteur, from his 1960s Polish short documentaries to the acclaimed Three Colours trilogy produced in France. Careful attention is given to the political, cultural and personal backdrop of Kieslowski’s films. Join us for lively discussion of one of the most profound and rich on-screen explorations of what it means to be human. https://www.course-bookings.lifelong.ed.ac.uk/courses/FM/film-media-and-contemporary-cultures/FM176/director-focus-krzysztof-kieslowski/
MAY 2024:
Cinema and Modern Fiction
Mondays from 20th May 2024 (5 weeks)
6:30pm – 8:20pm • (5 classes) • Holyrood Campus • (Code FM201-301)
Tutor: David M. Wingrove AB (Magna) MA BFI Cert
Check website for fee (Concessions and discounts may be available)
Course Summary: As the defining art form of the 20th and 21st centuries, cinema has had a dramatic impact on modern fiction. Come and explore some recent and contemporary authors – Gore Vidal, Manuel Puig, Angela Carter and Paul Auster – through excerpts from the films that inspired them.