Film and Photographic Studies

Specialisation of: Media Studies
Degree: Master of Arts in Media Studies
Mode of Study: Full-time
Duration: 1 year
Start date: September, February
Language of instruction: English
Location: Leiden
Croho/isat code: 60830
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The specialisation in Film and Photographic Studies offers you a unique programme, focusing on a challenging academic study in the field of ‘lens-based’ media, comprising photography, film and video.

The curriculum is a combination of history and theory of film and photography within the broad context of visual and other media. The programme will focus on these three media as well as on the basis of the discourse on their specific nature and their relation to one another.

Graduates of this master’s programme are qualified for positions as film and photographic historian, museum curator, critic, manager of a photographic agency or exhibition producer.

Programme

First semester

During the first semester you will focus on various aspects of the study of film and photography through the lecture series on Media Theory, and Histories and Theories of Film and Photography, and module 1 of the Editorial and Curatorial Training Programme or another elective. The aim is to acquire insights into the various practices surrounding film and photography, whether these be academic or professional. Upon completion of the lectures and elective, students will be able to identify not only individual photographers and photographic projects, but also major issues in film and photography history and theory.

Second semester

In the second semester you will continue to refine your academic and practical skills, with the main focus being the master’s thesis. You may choose to take module 2 of the Editorial and Curatorial Training Programme, an internship or an academic elective. You will take part in a research seminar devoted to a subject related to film and photography with a view to training your skills in writing a thesis.
Students with an active practice as photographer or documentary filmmaker may submit a visual thesis as their final project.

Prof. Susan Meiselas

Susan Meiselas

“It is characteristic of my life’s work that I place myself where I don’t actually belong.”

“The digital age will fundamentally change press photography and raise questions about authorship and the authenticity of sources. Today almost everyone has a digital camera or cell phone, and citizen journalism will progressively become a dominant source for news.

Photography is about daring to look at things. It is characteristic of my life’s work that I place myself where I don’t actually belong: I am there, yet I am also not there. I approach my subject not only as a documentary photographer, but also as an historian and ethnographer.

In the book Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History I reconstructed the visual history of the Kurds by collecting photographs and written materials from multiple perspectives, weaving together accounts from missionaries, colonial administrators, anthropologists and journalists.

In 2001 I produced the book Encounters with the Dani, with a similar approach, focusing on the transformation of the Dani people of West Papua through photographic documentation of their exposure to the West. In this last project, I did extensive research in personal archives and museums, collecting and interviewing throughout the Netherlands.”