La Dolce Vita - dir. Federico Fellini
One of the films the NFTS has screened
as part of the Passport to Cinema programme
SCREEN ARTS
Working together is at the heart of studying at the NFTS. As well as learning together in workshops and on productions, students also come together for the Screen Arts programme.
A knowledge of history, culture and aesthetics is fundamental to the craft of film and television programme makers. The Screen Arts programme both gives students knowledge of moving image culture and develops their ideas about it. The greater your understanding of cinema and television, the more inspired you'll be as a film or TV programme maker. As moving image culture continually evolves, so does the Screen Arts programme, with students as well as staff contributing ideas for new areas of study.
Screen Arts is an integral part of the MA programme and students on Diploma Courses are strongly encouraged to attend too. There are three major strands:
Screenings
As well as daytime screenings at Beaconsfield, the School runs the Monday evening Passport to Cinema programme at BFI Southbank, in central London. In their time at the School, students can see a wide variety of classic and contemporary films of different genres, countries and cultures, some of which are hard to obtain from other sources and all presented as they were intended to be seen, on the big screen. Important examples of classic television are also included in the programme. Passport to Cinema also stages live events, which have included personal appearances by Adam Curtis, director of the BBC series The Power of Nightmares , Production designer Sir Ken Adam, and an onstage interview with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Staff and guest speakers introduce screenings.
Seminars and Masterclasses
Mondays are dedicated to Screen Arts: in addition to the Passport to Cinema screenings on Monday evenings, there are regular screenings and seminars during the day. The year kicks off with a series of four seminars on the History of Cinema, followed throughout the year by seminars on aspects of film and television culture given by visiting experts. Regular seminars include Ian Christie on Russian Cinema, Julian Petley on the Horror Film and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith on European Cinema.
A programme of Masterclasses brings distinguished filmmakers and writers on film and television to the School to talk to students about their own films and careers, as well as on a comprehensive range of subjects concerned with moving image history, culture and aesthetics. Recent Masterclass guests include Stephen Soderbergh, Park Chan-wook, Danny Boyle, David Fincher, Ray Harryhausen, Joel Silver, Peter Weir, Roger Deakins and Simon Beaufoy among many others. These occasions allow students to learn from and exchange ideas with established and experienced professionals as they discuss their approach to filmmaking, and are in addition to specialist seminars and masterclasses run by each department for their own students.Read more about our Visiting Tutors and Masterclasses.
MA support
The dissertation/research project is an important component of the MA course, where students can reflect on ideas about film and programme making and explore areas of screen art that inform and develop their practical work. The Screen Arts department is there to help students choose their subject matter and give tutorial support while students develop their dissertation or research.
