The London Consortium | A Masters & Doctoral Programme in Humanities and Cultural Studies

This new MA in Film Curating, which will be offered for the first time in October 2010, is a collaboration between the London Consortium (University of London) and the London Film School. Bringing together recent thinking about curating contemporary art with the constantly evolving world of film, film festivals and the movie business, it offers a theoretical exploration into the role of film curating in an age in which digital distribution technologies are transforming both the traditional notion of curating and the commercial film distribution sector. The consideration of contemporary festival culture is central to this MA and a key attraction of the programme is the privileged access that students have to the film festivals of both Cannes and Rotterdam. Attendance for the full duration of both of these festivals is included in the fee. At the end of the year each student curates a film screening or film-related event of his or her own devising, drawing on the combined resources and expertise of the London Film School and the constituent institutions of the London Consortium.

Aims

In recent years there has been a steady increase in the prominence of curating, both as a concept and as a career path. At the same time, moving image formats have undergone a rapid process of diffusion and diversification, and the different kinds of venue for viewing film have multiplied: for much the same reason, the number of film festivals worldwide has doubled in the past 20 years and continues to grow. This innovative new degree will train students in all the aspects of film programming and presentation, in the context of film festivals as well as the instutional and commercial sectors. The institutional partnerships of the London Consortium, (in particular the involvement of Tate, the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Science Museum) make it an ideal context for students who occupy curatorial positions or wish to have careers in this area. This new collaboration with the London Film School addresses the need for a specific training and career path in film curating.

Film Curating is similar to more traditional forms of curating: it involves the selection, organisation and exhibition of art objects in a particular context. However, film is distinguished from other art forms in that it can rarely be separated from its industrial or commercial context. The MA Film Curating will focus on the most common point of contact between the cinemagoer or film researcher on the one hand, and between film culture and the film industry on the other: that is, the specialised curation of film festivals, film events and the programming of seasons at various institutions. The changes currently taking place within the commercial film distribution sector as a result of shifting economic paradigms and, most particularly, technological developments, suggest that, in the very near future, curatorial skills will be equally relevant to those working outside the institutional sector. As traditional methods of film distribution are replaced by those mandated by digital technology, film programming is likely to become a far more sophisticated and intellectually challenging activity than the kind of work done by the film ‘buyers’ of the traditional cinema chains. Film festivals will likewise not be immune to these changes. The MA Film Curating seeks to make students aware of these changes and to develop skills backed up by a fund of knowledge that will enable them to operate effectively in either sector.

Structure

Students follow two core courses provided by the London Film School (Film History, Director Strategies) and two from London Consortium (Research Skills and Methods and Curating Theory and Practice). In addition, they are introduced to the development of industrial models of film distribution and modern festival programming through a two-term core course on Production/Distribution/Exhibition. They also gain practical experience of curating, both within the context of existing institutions such as film festivals (Cannes and Rotterdam) and repertory cinemas such as the ICA and the BFI Southbank, and through the practical curation of a film or film/related event.

Courses

Production/Distribution/Exhibition

Film can rarely be separated from its commercial or industrial context. It is not an art form first and an industrial activity second, nor is it, as more normally assumed in an academic context, art first and industry second: it is both at the same time. The MA in Film Curating focuses on a particular point of contact between object and viewer/consumer, between film and audience. It examines how the specialised curation of film events and the programming of seasons at various institutions, events and venues relates to other forms of curating on the one hand; and to the industrial process of film production, distribution and exhibition on the other.
The changes currently taking place within the commercial film distribution sector as a result of shifting economic paradigms and, above all, technological developments suggest that, in the comparatively near future, curatorial skills will be equally relevant to those working outside the institutional sector. As traditional methods of film distribution are replaced by those mandated by the ubiquity of digital technology, film programming is likely to become a far more sophisticated and intellectually challenging activity than the kind of work which used to be done by the film ‘buyers’ of the traditional cinema chains.
The Production/Distribution/Exhibition course is the core strand of the MA and it introduces students to the structure of the contemporary film industry, seeks to make them aware of the changes it is currently undergoing, and helps them develop skills backed up by a fund of knowledge, both theoretical and practical, which will enable them to operate effectively in either sector. More importantly, it should help them navigate between the two. Issues covered include.

the development of ‘Hollywood’ as a distribution mechanism(an aspect of film history traditionally overlooked even by those who seek to focus on the economic aspects of the medium)
the subsequent emergence of a less obviously commercial sector, often referred to as ‘arthouse’
the role of the film festival: cultural event, commercial shopwindow, tourist magnet or networking opportunity?
the current context of film curating and programming
the relationship between practice, critical discourse and concepts of curating

This course draws on the expertise of a number of established experts and practitioners. The module runs over two terms, in the course of which students gain first-hand knowledge of contemporary film curation through privileged access to film festivals (Cannes and Rotterdam) and repertory cinemas such as the ICA and the BFI Southbank. As part of the training offered by this module, students curate a film or film-related event.

Film History

This course is mainly devoted to outlining the principal features of the development of film form, film style, film construction and film technique over the last century. Since American cinema has been the most influential in commercial terms since the First World War, and also has dominated the development of the basic features of standard film construction over the same period, the principal focus of the course will be on American films. But films from other countries are also used to illustrate the points in history when they had an influence on the mainstream of film development. The course is predicated on the idea that the best way to analyse cinema is to use the terms and ideas used by the film-makers, and in fact to reverse the processes of construction of movies when analysing them. The course will be taught through a combination of lectures, screenings and seminar discussions.

Director Strategies

This course gives students a firm understanding of contemporary critical strategies in relation to film auteurship, genre and aesthetic style and a rigorous understanding of cinema using an approach which privileges the film-maker and his or her strategies. Strategies are defined as patterns of decisions which seem to be expressed in the films, which could be consciously used by directors working within limitations and conventions. These strategies are identified by showing and differentiating films made by particular classic directors or films made in particular strong aesthetic or social contexts.The course encourages students to understand director strategies within the context of a wide variety of theoretical concepts, from Walter Benjamin, Bazin, Freud, Melanie Klein, Levinas, Stanley Cavell, contemporary Aristotelian ethics and Surrealism.

Research Skills and Methods

In this course, students are presented with the information and expertise necessary to find their way around the increasingly diverse and specialised fields of knowledge and information in contemporary culture, and to communicate their arguments and findings to academic and other audiences. Students will be both familiarised with the intellectual conditions under which interdisciplinary research in culture is undertaken, and encouraged in critical analysis of those conditions. Lectures include:

What Is Interdisciplinary Research?
Why Argue?
Looking: Visual Resources and Analysis

This course is also a component of the London Consortium’s MRes and PhD programme in Humanities and Cultural Studies. MA Film Curating students will be taught alongside students of those two programmes.

Curating Theory and Practice

This module examines the increasingly pervasive concept of curating from theoretical and practical perspectives. It provides students with a full understanding of the current theory and practice of curating in the art world.

How do curators decide what to exhibit and collect?
What considerations guide the collection and display of works of art in museums of modern and contemporary art?
What factors shape the exhibition programmes of galleries of contemporary art?
What are the considerations? Are they, for instance, aesthetic or historical or to be answered by audience research?
What are the constraints and obligations at stake in a publicly funded museum or contemporary art gallery?
How do visitors, artists, the art market and the media figure in curators’ discussions?
Are some forms of art and visual practice beyond the museum curator’s consideration?
With the opening of Tate Modern in 2000, these issues were broached anew by the first and subsequent re-hangings of Tate’s collection. With particular reference to Tate, this seminar course assays the discourse of curating both within and beyond the museum. It takes the form of presentations, discussion of some key texts and meetings with practitioners.

Core Teaching Faculty

Nick Roddick is a film journalist and academic. His books include A New Deal in Entertainment: Warner Brothers in the 1930s (BFI, 1984) and British Cinema Now (with Martin Auty, BFI, 1985). He has worked extensively as a trade journalist and consultant within the film industry and for a number of major film festivals. He is also a regular contributor to Sight and Sound, Evening Standard and other publications.

Colin MacCabe is an academic and a producer of film, television and installations. His books include Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy (Bloomsbury, 2004), T.S. Eliot (The British Council, 2006) and The Butcher Boy (Irish Film Institute, 2007). His recent work as a producer includes Owls at Noon Prelude; The Hollow Men (dir. Chris Marker), and Derek (dir. Isaac Julien).

Ben Gibson worked as a producer from the late ’80’s to 2001, and as Head of Production at the British Film Institute from ‘89 to ‘99. His credits as producer and executive producer include Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes, Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein, John Maybury’s Love is the Devil, Carine Adler’s Under the Skin and Jasmin Dizdar’s Beautiful People, as well as 18 other low budget features and numerous shorts by UK directors including Patrick Keiller, Gurinder Chadha, Lynne Ramsay, Richard Kwietniowski and Andrew Kotting. From ‘81 to ‘87 he was a partner in distributors The Other Cinema/Metro Pictures, acquiring and promoting films by Almodovar, Marker, Akerman and Godard and opening the Metro Cinema. He has also been a theatre director, a repertory film programmer, founder of the London International Festival of Theatre and a film critic and journalist

Alan Bernstein has a B.Sc Econ (Lond.), M. Sc. (Lond.) from University College London. He is Head of Studies at the London Film School, where his responsibilities also include delivering the lecture series on Directing Strategies.
Alan has also worked in film production as freelance production assistant, assistant director, and editing assistant. He was part time course director at the London International Film School between 1976 - 1978, taught film theory and analysis at Madraseh Ali Film o Television, Tehran, Iran 1978-1980.

Barry Salt has a B.Sc and Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics and has been a ballet dancer, computer programmer and film lighting cameraman amongst other things. He has taught at the Slade School, University College and the Royal College of Art. Barry is the author of Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis publish by Starword, and many published articles on film history.

The London Film School

Since 1956 the school has trained thousands of directors, cinematographers, editors and other film professionals now working across the globe. It is the most truly international school anywhere, with 70% of its students from outside Britain. In 2008 students’ films were screened at 110 festivals, and won 12 major awards. Teaching is done through filmmaking, on stages, and in workshops rather than in classrooms — the building functions like a studio. LFS is a very independent non-profit school run by passionate and experienced filmmakers — 18 full-time faculty and a varied and hugely talented group of visiting lecturers, technicians and artists.