From the early crowd scenes filmed by the Lumière brothers to the recent developments in digital technology, the cinema has always managed to enchant, challenge and horrify in equal measure. In no other medium can sound, image, history, memory, context and detail combine with personal interaction to create the profound effect that the cinema has had upon generations of audiences. Film is now fundamental to the way we live our lives in the 21st century.

As an academic discipline Film Studies is a vibrant, demanding and extremely satisfying area of study. In combination with another Arts subject, students are given the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing development of the discipline. An example of a current research project can be found on www.rexingram.ie.

The four years of the course allow students to sample a wide range of cinemas and to become fully immersed in the intellectual currents that flow in and around them. Questions of history, theory and context combine with issues of close analysis and interpretation to provide a course that is both rigorous and rewarding. In this way, students are offered the unique opportunity to develop an intellectual relationship with this most enduring of media.