Film & Visual Culture and German

Film and visual culture is a discipline concerned with the moving image in all its forms, asking how films and other visual media are made, what formal and aesthetic choices shape the experience of watching them, and how they function within cultural, social, and economic contexts. Combining it with German adds a particularly important dimension: German-speaking cinema is one of the most historically significant in the world, from the Expressionist films of the 1920s through the New German Cinema of the 1970s to contemporary German, Austrian, and Swiss film, and the language opens access to a film culture that is often underrepresented in English-language film education.

At the University of Aberdeen, this four-year full-time programme provides rigorous training in the history and theory of the moving image alongside serious study of the German language and the cultures of German-speaking countries. You will develop analytical skills for interpreting film as a cultural form while also developing your linguistic competence in German, supported by the study of German cinema as a specific area where the two disciplines converge. The programme includes a year abroad, which gives you immersive experience in a German-speaking country and deepens both your linguistic fluency and your cultural understanding.

With a typical entry tariff of 184 UCAS points, this is a competitive programme.

Graduates from film and visual culture and German programmes are well placed for careers in film criticism and journalism, arts administration, cultural policy, broadcasting, publishing, education, translation, international business with German connections, and academic research. The combination of critical media literacy and German language skills is distinctive and valued in European and international cultural contexts. Postgraduate study in film studies, German, or European cultural studies is a natural continuation.