In response to COVID-19, the University of Sydney has reviewed the availability of courses to be delivered remotely for students commencing their studies in Semester 1, 2021.

This course component will be available to study remotely for students commencing in Semester 1, 2021. Please note that some units of study that are not essential to completing the course component may not be available to be studied remotely.

Note: The University intends to offer as many units of study as possible in a remote as well as face-to-face learning method of delivery in Semester 1, 2021 and subject to ongoing border closures and public health orders impacting attendance on campus, in Semester 2, 2021. However, some units of study and courses require students to study in-person at the relevant University of Sydney campus/es and host locations for placements and will not be available remotely.

About this major

Studying film draws on both our intellect and our imagination. As an accessible and even ubiquitous transnational cultural form, film opens us to other worlds, other lives, and other ways of seeing.

People have been making, watching and writing about movies for just over a century. In a culture that increasingly relies on visual information, an understanding of the moving image is essential to understanding society. The Film Studies major is a vibrant program that develops this critical visual literacy. It equips you with a range of skills for understanding and analysing cinema as a vital and yet everyday part of modern life. Through close familiarity with a range of case studies, you will come to understand the social, cultural, aesthetic and political dimensions of cinema in different contexts and at different times.

In Film Studies you will learn scholarly terms that will enable you to describe what you see on screen in relation to, for instance, camera movements and editing techniques or traditions of screen performance. You will develop rich understandings of concepts such as national cinema, genre and spectatorship through a diverse range of case studies. You will also study the historical development of film as a cultural and technological form and analyse its transformations across the 20th century to the present day.

For more information on the program structure and content including unit of study information, please refer to the Arts and Social Sciences Handbook. 

This major is offered by the Department of Art History.