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Email academic.registry@tcd.ieWhy do films affect us the way they do? How did filmmakers and film theorists respond to the introduction of sound? What is a digital story world? These are just some of the many questions that Film asks students to consider in lectures and small-group seminars. Over the course of your degree, you will encounter a wide range of film styles and movements from the beginning of film up to the present day. You will engage with diverse critical perspectives and explore the social, cultural, and ideological implications of film as art and popular culture. In addition to academic assignments, you will be encouraged to respond creatively to critical issues via projects, presentations, practical exercises, and video essays, as well as to develop your screenwriting skills.
Film at Trinity is not a practical or professional training programme. Instead, the course is built on strong academic and intellectual foundations. Areas of study in the first two years include film analysis, the history of Hollywood cinema, introduction to Non-Western cinemas, aspects of European cinemas, cinema and Ireland, and theories of the digital image. You will be introduced to basic screenwriting using the format of the writers’ room, and will explore the potential of the smartphone to create mini-dramas. You will study documentary theory and put this into practice by making a short documentary film. In third and fourth years, you will build on what you have learned with more advanced options that provide a range of opportunities for critical and experiential learning.
Trinity is ranked in the top 40 for Performing Arts (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024), reflecting the high quality of our teaching and learning. Film students are very engaged with DU Film Society and with Trinity Film Review, the student-run film journal. Our students regularly attend film festivals and organise screenings and film events.
Our ‘In Conversation’ series of public talks offers students the opportunity to attend talks by leading practitioners. Participants to date include: Lenny Abrahamson, John Butler, Emer Reynolds, and Ed Guiney.
Film formed an Industry Advisory Panel in 2019. The members of this panel are: Lenny Abrahamson, Aoife Duffin, Gavin Fitzgerald, Paddy Breathnach, Alan Gilsenan, Ed Guiney, Neasa Hardiman, Katie Holly, Lucy Kennedy, Helena Korner, Claire McGirr, Niall McKay, Maeve O’Boyle, Marian Quinn, and Ken Wardrop. While many of our graduates enter the film industry in a variety of roles, further training may be necessary to be industry ready.
In the first and second years, core modules include: Introduction to Film Analysis, American Cinema from the Silent Era to the 1930s, American Cinema from the 1930s to the 1960s, Introduction to European Cinemas, Introduction to Non-Western Cinemas, Introduction to Digital Media, Ireland and the Cinema, Introduction to Film Production, Introduction to Screenwriting, Introduction to Editing, Video Essays, and Documentary Theory and Practice. Core modules are subject to change from year to year.
In the third and fourth years, students choose from a wide range of electives. Recent electives include: Digital Storyworlds, Writing for the Big Screen, Writing for the Small Screen, Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema, Punk Cinema, Film Authorship, Sound and Cinematography, Women and Film, Melodrama, Film Style and Performance, Anime, Video Games: Theory and Practice, Experimental Film, Practical Documentary, The Film Soundtrack, Contemporary Non-Western Cinemas, TV: Theory and Criticism, and Writing for Games. Electives are subject to change from year to year.
Film students are assessed by a combination of essay, assignment, project, class participation and presentation. In their final year, students will create a screenplay or video essay with an accompanying theoretical rationale of 4,000 words.
There are QQI/FET routes available for this course. Please see www.cao.ie for details.
Film has Erasmus exchanges with a number of universities. Students regularly participate in non-EU exchanges (at UCLA, USC, University of British Columbia and others). For more information on study abroad destinations and requirements visit: www.tcd.ie/study/study-abroad
All applicants to Trinity are required to provide official evidence of proficiency in the English language. Applicants to this course are required to meet Band B (Standard Entry) English language requirements. For more details of qualifications that meet Band B, see the English Language Requirements page here.
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Read the information about how to apply, then apply directly to CAO.
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Register your interest in studying at Ireland’s leading university, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin.
Film at Trinity provides an in-depth and broad curriculum. One of the greatest things about Film is how small the class sizes are, this means many tutors and lecturers have the time to meet your needs and provide guidance on a one-on-one basis. With the demands of university lecturing, not many other universities provide such a helpful thing.
Graduate
There is so much to say about my time as a Film student at Trinity, but I think the most important thing is just how much I enjoyed it. In Film, being surrounded by both my classmates’ and teachers’ love of film, the impossibility of making a life in film became possible. I think when you study something you love a B.A. goes from being a requirement for gainful employment, to a really transformative experience.
Graduate from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and winner of the Outstanding Writing for the Screen, Graduate award. Matthew sold his first screenplay, Spring Offensive, to Fox Studios.
