Film Practice PhD

Our Film Practice PhD provides you with a unique opportunity to develop your film as a practice-led research project.

Overview

Newcastle University has embarked on an ambitious programme of growth in film practice under the name of Film@CultureLab. It’s led by award-winning documentary filmmaker Dr Ian McDonald. Film@CultureLab is committed to developing a distinctive approach to non-fiction film practice pedagogy and research. This is rooted in an understanding of documentary film as a cinematic medium and filmmaking as a means of expression and of challenging, critiquing, and intervening in the social and historical world.

We offer practice-led, practice-based, or theoretical PhDs in Film Practice in the following areas:

• most areas of documentary/non-fiction film practice (see supervisor profiles for specialisms)
• creative documentary practices in the UK, India, South Asia, Africa
• intersections between the documentary and sociological, anthropological, cultural studies
• sports documentaries
• feminist film practice
• social linguistics, translation and documentary practice
• documentary theory and practice in the USSR / Russia
• theorising documentary as a critical and creative practice
• history of the documentary and of documentary movements
• studies of independent film production and exhibition
• world cinema
• Indian cinema
• film festival studies

Film@CultureLab PhD scholars are based in Culture Lab. You’ll have access to the superb facilities in Culture Lab and join a vibrant community of practice-led PhD scholars in film practice. PhD students are encouraged to regularly present their work to each other as part of the Film Praxis Forum ‘Work-in-Progress’ Series held each year.

Your future

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.