Module description
In the last few decades, the number of film festivals in the world has boomed. Even more recently, Film Studies researchers have begun to pay attention to this phenomenon, and the sub-field of Film Festival Studies has grown rapidly. This module combines practice and theory. Students will form small groups and curate their own evenings in a week-long campus film festival to be held in the final week of the semester. We will also read a wide range of research in Film Festival Studies. Assessment will take the form of critical analysis of existing research and an essay which draws upon existing research to reflect on the student's own experience curating screenings.
Assessment details
- Participation (15%)
- 1200 word Essay (25%)
- 2800 word Essay (60%)
Educational aims & objectives
In this module, students will learn about running film festivals through: a) curating their own screenings; b) publicizing the screenings; c) communicating with filmmakers to seek permission to screen and organize guest visits (of locally available guests, because we have no funds); d) preparing programme notes and other materials to support screenings; and e) presenting their screenings to a KCL audience. They will also learn about current scholarship on film festivals, including: a) the history of film festivals; b) taxonomies of types of film festivals (the business festival, the audience festival, the programmer festival, the manager festival); c) the power dynamics of film festivals (stakeholder configurations, nation v. city, the sole trader); and d) film festival theory (media events and different ideas of publicness).
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students will be able to:
1. select, synthesize, and apply diverse theoretical concepts and historical knowledge to the analysis of film festivals, including the ideas of the public event, the festival circuit, stakeholder configurations, audience festivals, business festivals, and festival films;
2. conduct original library or archival research where they will take responsibility for accessing support and accept accountability;
3. acquire a systematic knowledge of film festival studies in both theory and historic-industrial research;
4. adjudicate on contesting critical perspectives and generate an original critical position in their essays;
5. synthesize the knowledge they acquire in class and apply it to their understanding of other cultural events;
6. learn and actively seek the most cutting-edge methodologies in film analysis and historical research;
7. work in teams to prepare their film festival screenings.