Centre for Film Studies

Director: Dr David Martin-Jones

About the Centre for Film Studies

The Centre for Film Studies, which embraces colleagues from across the University, was established in 2005 to encourage interdisciplinary research. The Centre has an international advisory board composed of leading academics and industry professionals. Our activities combine a mixture of cutting edge scholarly activities alongside events facilitating cultural engagement.  

The Centre has a distinctive identity, focusing on film as a transnational medium. It is driving forward research in several key areas including as the world's leading hub for research into film festivals (see further under Research Activity). The Centre supports a vibrant research environment which involves experienced, high profile academics working alongside a large community of doctoral students. The Centre organises conferences, workshops, film festivals, screenings with visiting directors as well as regular fortnightly research seminars with guest speakers (scholars, critics, industry professionals, publishers) from international and national locations. These events attract scholars and students from across the University, and beyond.

In addition, cultural engagement lies at the heart of our activities. Numerous collaborations, projects and events have been designed to develop film culture at a local level, and to enhance the globally connected nature of film culture in St Andrews.

We publish a twice yearly newsletter, detailing our various activities. Click here for the latest edition, or visit the archive. [Please email us if you would like to receive our newsletter.]

Click here for a full listing of Centre for Film Studies events, past and present.

Annual Report

The annual report provides full details of the Centre's activities and the publications of its members throughout the year.

Management Committee

  • Mr. Bernard Bentley
  • Prof. Robert Burgoyne
  • Prof. Berys Gaut
  • Prof. Christopher Hawkesworth 
  • Prof. Dina Iordanova 
  • Dr. David Martin-Jones
  • Prof. Gill Plain

International Advisory Board

  • Yoram Allon (UK)
  • Professor Dudley Andrew (U.S.)
  • Irene Bignardi (Italy/Switzerland)
  • Professor John Caughie (UK)
  • Professor Ian Christie (UK)
  • Professor Pam Cook (UK)
  • Mark Cousins (UK)
  • Professor Stuart Cunningham (Australia)
  • Professor Richard Dyer (UK)
  • Professor Peter Evans (UK)
  • Professor Mette Hjort (Hong Kong)
  • Professor Thomas Elsaesser (Netherlands)
  • Professor Laura U. Marks (Canada)
  • Professor Toby Miller (U.S.)
  • Professor Hamid Naficy (U.S.)
  • Professor Lúcia Nagib (UK)
  • Professor Duncan Petrie (UK)
  • Professor Eric Rentschler (U.S)
  • Professor Robert Rosenstone (U.S.)
  • Professor Ginette Vincendeau (UK)

Future events

Tue 12th February 2013 17:15 to 19:00

CFS Talk: Vijay Mishra, Salman Rushdie and Bollywood Cinema

This paper returns to an earlier essay on Salman Rushdie and Bollywood Cinema (2007) and expands that essay with reference to material located in the Salman Rushdie Archive deposited in the Manuscript, Archives and Rare Books Library, Emory University.

Tue 19th February 2013 19:00 to 21:00

Cinema St Andrews screening: The Blue Lamp (1950)

The Blue Lamp, was co-written by a lifelong resident and University graduate of St Andrews, Jan Read.

Wed 20th February 2013 17:15 to 19:00

CFS Talk: Catherine Wheatley, "Do unto others": Self, Faith and Christian Foundational Myths in Contemporary European Film

Since the turn of the century, and the events of September 11, the European media has seen an influx of images of Islam and the Arab race onscreen. While the above quote, taken from Dyer's seminal study, White, opens up onto questions of race on screen, my intention here is to focus on that other unspoken "norm" of European cinema - the Christian faith.

Tue 26th February 2013 17:15 to 19:00

CFS Talk: Neill Campbell, The posthumous and the post-Western: Theorising the Modern Cinematic West through John Sturges' Bad Day at Black Rock.

The posthumous and the post-Western: Theorising the Modern Cinematic West through John Sturges' Bad Day at Black Rock.

Sat 9th March 2013 09:00 to 18:00

CFS Symposium: Texture in Film

This one-day symposium seeks to provide a forum for interdisciplinary approaches to the close analysis of film, inviting papers which explore any aspect of texture in film. Proposals are invited for 20 minute papers, which should be illustrated with detail from films. Alternative presentations, such as workshops, will also be considered. In order to encourage discussion the day will run with no parallel panels.