Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry

Cinema Studies Program

Cinema Studies at La Trobe University is a full-service (first-year through to PhD) program. As an academic discipline, Cinema Studies has been central to the development of cutting edge concepts for the study of popular culture, identity, aesthetics, and spectatorship. The aim and emphasis is to combine relevant theoretical studies with selected case studies as well as critical and historical analysis of cinema as a public art, as a creative industry, and as a social phenomenon.

Teaching
Units are on offer in four general areas: theory, criticism, history, national cinemas and practice. The first-year units examine several approaches to questions about narrative - how films are organised, the mechanisms through which we understand them, the ways both films and viewers construct meanings about them, plus analysing the history of film and film as history. The Cinema Studies program also provides a nexus between practice and theory. We also offer practical units in areas such as film criticism, screenwriting, the study of script editing and creative video production. These units form part of a practical strand with the overall emphasis on theoretical, analytical, and historical approaches to the cinema.

The Cinema Studies Program offers a wide range of specialist courses, from fourth-year through to PhD research, to suit the differing skills training, academic preparation, and qualification needs of a variety of student goals. Some of these are coursework only, some a mix of coursework and thesis, and some research/thesis only (thesis research and preparation will involve working closely with an academic supervisor). All courses are available either full-time or part-time. Courses currently available are Graduate Diploma in Humanities and Social Sciences; Honours, Postgraduate Diploma in Cinema Studies & Media Studies; MA Preliminary; MA by Coursework in Cinema Studies & Media Studies; MA Research; and PhD. The Cinema Studies Program is based at the Bundoora Campus.

International students please refer to our International Students page or refer to the International Office homepage.

Research
The La Trobe University library has the biggest collection of books and audio visual material in the area of Cinema Studies and the number keeps increasing day by day.

Staff in the Cinema Studies Program have been actively involved in the development and production of an international electronic journal of visual media and history, Screening the Past.

Graduate Destinations

Back to Top