This module will introduce students to a range of issues and preoccupations in cinema of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. The module will examine the form and content of contemporary film in relation to post-modernist theories of representation. Within this framework, key issues will include genre, aesthetics, the representation of gender, ethnicity and class, cultural change and crisis. Initially, the module will provide students unfamiliar with film studies with an introduction to the techniques of contemporary film analysis. The module will also introduce students to current conceptualisations of post modernity and postmodernism in social and cultural terms. Then, through a series of brief lectures, guided film screenings and seminar/workshop discussions, the students will undertake a detailed study of four core films through which the thematic and theoretical concerns of the module will be explored in depth. Students will also be expected to produce seminar presentations based on topics covered in the module that will demonstrate their ability to analyse film in a rigorous fashion.