Overview

The Department of Film and Television offers supervisory expertise in a wide range of subject areas, including classical Hollywood cinema, British cinema, television drama, comedy, animation and documentary.

The department has particular strengths in historical research, audience studies, film theory and aesthetics, and offers the opportunity for practice-based research as well as the traditional written dissertation. Where research proposals span various disciplines, a supervisory team can be assembled across departments and faculties to meet the needs of the project.

Programme structure

MPhil: a standalone, one-year (full-time) research degree. Students will undertake their own research project, concluding in the submission of a 25,000-word dissertation. Students may have the option to audit units from our taught master's programmes if they are relevant to their research.

PhD: a research project undertaken across four years (full-time, minimum period of study three years), culminating in an 80,000-word thesis. As well as having the option to audit taught units, there may be the potential for PhD students to teach units themselves from their second year of study onwards.

The MPhil and PhD are also available via distance learning.

Entry requirements

MPhil: An upper second-class degree or international equivalent. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of your readiness to pursue a research degree.

PhD: A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent). Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study.

See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.

Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.

Go to admissions statement

If English is not your first language, you will need to reach the requirements outlined in our profile level C.

Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.

Fees and funding

Home: full-time
£4,850 per year
Home: part-time
£2,425 per year
Overseas: full-time
£21,300 per year

Fees are subject to an annual review. For programmes that last longer than one year, please budget for up to an 8% increase in fees each year.

More about tuition fees, living costs and financial support.

Alumni discount

University of Bristol students and graduates can benefit from a 25% reduction in tuition fees for postgraduate study. Check your eligibility for an alumni discount.

Funding and scholarships

The University of Bristol is part of the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP), which offers studentships annually. For information on other funding opportunities, including University-funded studentships, please see the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences funding pages.

Further information on funding for prospective UK and international postgraduate students.

Career prospects

This programme is particularly well suited to developing a career in higher education, and for work on high-level research and creative projects in the fields of film and television.

Meet our supervisors

The following list shows potential supervisors for this programme. Visit their profiles for details of their research and expertise.

alex.clayton@bristol.ac.uk;pete.falconer@bristol.ac.uk;j.hay@bristol.ac.uk;j.maingard@bristol.ac.uk;n.massoumi@bristol.ac.uk;k.moen@bristol.ac.uk;h.l.piper@bristol.ac.uk;sarah.street@bristol.ac.uk;

Research groups

There is a lively postgraduate community in the department which runs a film club and shares research through regular research events and presentations of current postgraduate research.

The department has a termly programme of research seminars and public talks, and co-leads a regional research group, Screen Research, which organises workshops on topics across film, television and screen media.