Arabic and Film Studies

Arabic and film studies at the University of St Andrews is a four-year combination that connects one of the world's most significant languages with one of the defining art forms of the modern era. Arabic is spoken by hundreds of millions of people across the Middle East and North Africa, and it carries a literary, philosophical, and scientific heritage of extraordinary depth, as well as being of growing geopolitical significance in a world where the Arab world plays an increasingly important role in global affairs. Film studies examines cinema as an aesthetic, cultural, and social form, asking how films create meaning, how they encode and challenge values, how they have developed historically across different national traditions, and how they circulate as both art and industry.

The programme includes a year abroad, extending your encounter with Arabic-speaking cultures and film traditions beyond the campus.

You will develop genuine proficiency in Arabic, learning to read and communicate in the language with increasing confidence, while engaging critically with film as a medium through the theoretical and historical frameworks that film studies provides. The combination encourages you to think comparatively about language, culture, and visual storytelling, bringing the perspectives of both Arabic studies and cinema studies to bear on questions that neither discipline could address alone.

St Andrews notes that Arabic's breadth of application enriches almost any subject pairing it enters, and film studies brings both analytical precision and cultural sensitivity to the combination. Graduates move into careers in academia, journalism, the diplomatic service, the film and media industries, cultural organisations, international non-governmental organisations, and education. Many continue to doctoral research in Arabic studies, film studies, or cultural studies.