Overview
Cinema, both mainstream and avant-garde, was the most exciting art form to emerge in the 20th century. Today cinema exists in an even more complicated media environment, encompassing various platforms such as online streaming services and video games. Our Film Studies BA offers unparalleled critical, historical, and theoretical tools to understand and appreciate the creative potential of cinematic and digital media and their social, cultural, political, and economic importance in our world.
Key benefits
- We are consistently identified as one of the best departments for the study of cinema and related media in the UK.
- As well as engaging in scholarly research, writing, and debate, our students have opportunities to pursue creative practice in filmmaking, including audio-visual work and video essays, in all three years of the BA.
- Our students enjoy dedicated Film Studies screening and seminar rooms, and a professionally equipped auditorium with 35mm and/or digital video projection.
- Our central location offers an unbeatable range of possibilities for access to film and moving image media, notably through our proximity to the British Film Institute and other world-renowned institutions and cinemas.
- Our graduates are skilled in audio-visual analysis, creation and presentation. They also receive training in filmmaking, curatorial practices, and archival research. These skills are useful for careers in film and media production, distribution, and exhibition; arts and cultural management; public relations and advertising; journalism; and education.
- We collaborate with film festivals and programmes in the UK and around the world, thus offering our students opportunities to visit them, establish networks, and learn about global film cultures.
- Through the Maughan Library at King’s, we have large, world-class physical and online library collections of specialist books, journals, and databases in film and media studies, a first-rate DVD collection and the latest video streaming services.
The part I enjoy most about studying the BA Film Studies at King’s are the film screenings that usually take place after our lectures. I love the communal experience that this brings with it, especially the moments of shared laughter or stunned silence.
Course essentials
The Film Studies BA is taught in the heart of London within easy reach of the BFI Southbank, the BFI Rueben Library, the IMAX, the Garden Cinema, Barbican Centre, Tate Modern, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and a multitude of cinemas in Leicester Square and Soho. We also support and collaborate with many film festivals in the UK and abroad and serve as a hub of global cinematic cultures. Our degree will provide you with a detailed knowledge and understanding of film and moving image media of all kinds, the technological development and techniques employed to make them, the critical responses around them, and the sociopolitical and aesthetic debates they give rise to. The Film Studies BA provides a solid foundation for careers in the film industry, media, and the creative and performing arts. Study an array of topics from different periods and places with lecturers renowned for their cutting-edge research.
Course aims
- To develop your knowledge and understanding of film and related visual media, their history, theory, and analysis, from the late 19th century to the present day
- To familiarise you with the intellectual debates that have revolved around cinema and moving images, and their relationship with literature, art history, philosophy, architecture, music, politics, sociology, and economics
- To enable you to interpret, examine, and question moving images of all kinds, and to understand their technological and industrial origins
- To provide you with skills to make short films, using professional equipment
- To give you a solid foundation for careers in media, the arts, and related fields
Special features
Optional study abroad
Key Information
Course type:
Single honours
Delivery mode:
In person
Study mode:
Full time
Required A-Levels:
AAB
Duration:
Three years
Application status:
Open
Start date:
September 2026
Application deadline:
16 September 2025
Administrative bodies
Awarding body
King's College London and Affiliates
Regulating body
Base campus
Strand Campus
Strand Campus feels like the heart of London—historic yet buzzing with energy. Nestled by the Thames, it offers world-class academics, vibrant student life, and endless inspiration from the city’s culture and diversity.