Global Cinemas and the Transcultural

Course Overview

The MA in Global Cinemas and the Transcultural from SOAS University of London offers students the unique opportunity to study in-depth regional cinemas outside the now standard research topographies, both geographical and theoretical, of mainstream cinema studies, so opening up avenues for advanced research in areas and methodologies as yet untapped. Alternatively, it provides an avenue of study for those simply wishing to obtain a post-graduate qualification in Cinema Studies without being confined to a European- and/or American-centric world-view. The degree is designed around a compulsory core course, Cinema, Nation and the Transcultural, that simultaneously challenges existing critical paradigms defining 'national cinema' in the simplistic terms of geographical zones of production and reception, while offering alternative methodological approaches to the study of cinema within the local/global, inter-cultural contexts of the post-modern world. The elective elements of the degree allow students the opportunity to specialize in one or more of the many regional cinemas on offer in the School: Japanese, Chinese (mainland, Hong Kong & Taiwanese), mainland and maritime South East Asian, Indian, Iranian, Middle Eastern and African). It also enables students to combine specialist film studies knowledge with a minor course in an Asian or African language or to advance their social and cultural knowledge of a given region through an ethnographic course. Alternatively, through our links with Birkbeck College, students may choose from a selection of elective courses to further develop cross-cultural perspectives in an east/west framework. SOAS is exceptional in its geographical focus, and the expertise in the disciplines of Film and Screen Studies makes us unique in the field. In a -global- industry, film and media scholars, and practitioners are increasingly recognising the need for a move toward the study of image cultures and industries beyond the historical hegemonies of the European and Hollywood industries. This has been more than evident in the career trajectories of graduates from the MA Global Cinemas and the Transcultural degree. Graduates from this degree have gone on to find employment in Film Festivals (Venice to name one), DVD distribution companies, the art house cinema circuit, while others with a practice based background have gone onto form their own production companies, in one case producing documentaries for Al-Jazeera (see the Contra image link on the SOAS Centre for Film and Screen Studies website). Other graduates have followed the more traditional pathway into PhD programmes where they have been singularly successful in competing for AHRC studentships.