Postgraduate research in Film and Television

B-Film brings together a wide range of expertise in many areas of Film Studies from around the University of Birmingham. 

The members of B-Film have significant expertise and are world leading specialists in their fields. They also have a great deal of experience in supervising research degrees and have created an exciting, collaborative and supportive environment for postgraduate researchers at the University of Birmingham.  All postgraduate students working on film at the University of Birmingham will automatically become members of B-Film.

We offer the following research degrees:

MA by Research
The MA by Research programme requires you to prepare a dissertation of up to 40,000 words on a topic of your choice, for which an academic staff member will provide expert supervision.

MRes Film Studies
The programme is modular and offers a structured approach that includes taught core and optional modules such as Cold War Film, Death and the Moving Image, and Postcolonial Film. Alongside this you will undertake training in research skills, culminating in an independently researched 20,000-word thesis.

Film Studies PhD
Three years full time or six years part-time. The PhD – the most advanced research degree - leads to a dissertation of up to 80,000 words on a subject of your choice and under the expert supervision of an academic member of staff. You can study for a PhD on campus or by Distance Learning.

Film Studies Audio-Visual PhD
This particular programme gives you the opportunity to film and edit an hour-long documentary on your research, accompanied by a 30,000 word written defence.

Key areas of research supervision offered by the members of B-Film include:

  • Film theory and history
  • World cinema
  • All areas of European cinema with particular expertise in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Basque and British cinema
  • North American Cinema: Hollywood and independent American cinema
  • Queer film and television
  • Race and gender onscreen
  • Ethical film theory
  • Spectatorship
  • Interdisciplinary practice and cinema
  • Film and religion
  • Women’s cinema and feminist thought 
  • Auteurist cinema
  • Hispanic cinemas: the Caribbean and Latin America
  • American television drama
  • Film and art: surrealism and cubism
  • Film aesthetics and close analysis
  • Television studies
  • Genre, fantasy and fictional worlds

For a full list of all areas of supervision, please see the individual profiles on the Members page.

For an informal chat about research degrees in Film Studies at the University of Birmingham, to get further information or to enquire about applying, please contact:

Professor Rob Stone: r.stone@bham.ac.uk

Dr Andrew Watts: a.j.watts.2@bham.ac.uk