Film Studies (Film & Philosophy pathway available)

Kosuke
Japanese
Film Studies Research MPhil/PhD
My research is on films made in Okinawa, Japan, between the late 1980s and the 1990s, which I am trying to understand in comparison with various new cinemas which emerged in the 1980s across other East Asian regions, including Hong Kong New Wave, Taiwan New Cinema and South Korean New Wave.

I chose King’s College London primarily because Dr Jinhee Choi, my MA supervisor at the University of Kent, moved to King’s last year. An expert in East Asian cinema, Dr Choi always gives me helpful advice on both my research on Okinawan cinema and other aspects of academic life.

I find the Film Studies Department at King’s College London a very vibrant research community for any researcher on Asian cinema, with top-quality faculty members such as Dr Choi and Professor Chris Berry, and a group of research students sharing similar interests. I and a few other PhD students are currently working together to start up a reading group on transnationalism in East Asia, which we are planning to develop next year into a series of talks given by UK-based scholars on East Asian cinema.

We benefit enormously from the availability of small grants offered by the School of Arts and Humanities. Fortunately, I am awarded with King’s Overseas Research Studentship, which covers my tuition fee and provides me with a stipend for living costs. Since life in London can be a little expensive, I could never have afforded to study at King’s, if it were not for this award.

I am grateful for the stimulating research environment and exciting training programmes that I can now enjoy, and am convinced that research and communication skills that I acquire at King’s will be essential for my future career as a film scholar.