The Pittsburgh-London Film Program aims to provide students with a uniquely rich academic and cultural experience, combining the highest level of academic expertise with the world class production skills of the Derek Jarman Lab. All the courses on the program take London as their focus and all seek to mix production with history and analysis.
To attest to the outstanding quality of this program, several of the Pittsburgh London Film Program student’s essay films have been selected to screen at the BFI Future Film Festival!
The program is composed of four courses, and two masterclasses. At all stages the program combines theoretical academic analysis and detailed history of film with an emphasis on film-making practice. Each course provides students with an inventive and rich configuration of seminars, weekly screenings, and practical film production.
You can also do an internship in the field of your interest.
See a video about the program, created by one of the program's alumni here. And hear about the students' experience on the program here.
As an engaged and active participant in this program, you will have the opportunity:
- to study theory and practice of film production with renowed Hollywood screenwriters and British producers
- to develop film production skills while working in the world-class Derek Jarman Lab
- explore London with your camera, filming on the city streets to leave your semester with a portfolio of written work and short films
If your first thoughts of London are the Royal Family and Downton Abbey, prepare to be blown away. English history and culture are juxtaposed against streets lined with Indian restaurants and Chinese New Year celebrations. The birthplace of the English language is now home to speakers of more than 30 other languages – and that is not counting the variety of English accents you will hear. Skyscrapers tower over 17th-century buildings while Big Ben overlooks the River Thames. Study abroad in London and you find yourself constantly surprised by what you discover in one of the world’s most diverse and global cities.
Part of the experience is to live like a Londoner. The overwhelming majority of students choose to live in shared apartments – the English call them flats – spread across the city. While apartments are as varied as the city itself and no two flats are alike, all of them are located in safe neighborhoods and secure buildings. Regardless of where you live, you can expect a 45- to 60-minute commute to the CAPA Center. We’ve got your commute covered with an unlimited pass for Zones 1 and 2 on the London Underground.
- Shared bedrooms (2 or 3 students/bedroom, single bed or bunk bed)
- Bedding, but need to bring your own towels
- Shared bathroom
- Shared kitchen
- Internet access (for general browsing, but not meant for heavy downloading or streaming)
- Coin operated laundry
- It is not typical for UK residences to have air conditioning or dryers
If apartment living does not appeal to you, homestays are also an option. Email your Pitt program manager for more information.
The program is composed of four courses. In addition, you can choose between doing one additional class (Digital Media in Spring 2023 or Gogglebox in Fall 2023) or a part-time international internship. At all stages the program combines theoretical academic analysis and detailed history of film with an emphasis on film-making practice. Each course provides students with an inventive and rich configuration of seminars, weekly screenings, and practical film production. All courses seek to reject the division between theory and practice and to provide teaching which articulates both.
Film and Media Studies Requirements fulfilled by The Pittsburgh-London Film Program:
- ENGFLM 1495 City Symphony counts for the Film Studies Major as a Category 1 National Cinemas and Filmmakers
- ENGFLM 1497 Urban Scavenger counts for the Film Studies Major as a Category 3 Film/Photo/Video Production
- ENGFLM 1493 The City Made Strange counts for the Film Studies Major as a Category 2 Themes, Genres, and Theory
- FMST 1195 Diversity in British Cinema counts for the Film Studies Major as a Category 1 National Cinemas and Filmmakers
- FMST 1196 Digital Media Practice (SPRING 2023 ONLY) counts for the Film Studies Major as a Topical Elective, Category 3 Film/Photo/Video Production
- FMST 1198 Gogglebox: British Television Analysis and Industry (FALL 2023 and forward) counts for the Film Studies Major, minor and TVBA certificate as an elective, Category 2: Themes/Genra/Theory.
General Education Requirements fulfilled by The Pittsburgh-London Film Program:
- ENGFLM 1497 Urban Scavenger fulfills Creative Work
- ENGFLM 1493 The City Made Strange fulfills both Specific Geographic Region and The Arts
- FMST 1195 fulfills Diversity
- FMST 1196 fulfills Creative Work and The Arts
The Learning through Internships program is a unique and innovative opportunity for students to combine their internship placement (and living abroad) experience with a weekly in-class educational and mentoring experience (session), which aims to develop students' personal and professional skills while earning academic credit. The Focus Seminars and Regional Identities lectures and activities which make up an important part of the program are designed to provide theory and practice around societal themes which inform and enrich the internship experience. Students enrolling in ARTSC 1903 will earn 3 semester credits and intern 15-20 hours per week.

This course fulfills the "Category I: National Cinemas and Filmmakers" Film and Media Studies requirement.
The city symphony film emerged in the 1920s, when filmmakers were experimenting with the mobility of viewpoint enabled by the portable film camera and more sensitive panchromatic film stock. The city, in particular its interwar technologies of urban transport and machinery, provided the ideal testing ground for the newly sensitive and mobile camera. It demanded to be seen, and shown, in a new mode that for Brazilian director Alberto Cavalcanti, only film could provide. But of all the international cities that were given the symphony treatment in the 1920s – New York, Paris, Berlin, St Petersburg, Sao Paulo – London was missing. If London lacked its own ‘city symphony’ film in the 1920s, what were the significant representations of the urban experience? This course looks at the ways in which London both invited and defied the filmmaker’s gaze in this critical period of early cinema, and considers how a contemporary city symphony for London might be composed.
The city has been an integral part of the filmmaker’s vocabulary since cinema’s genesis in the late nineteenth century. The urban environment and the craft of film grew up together in the twentieth century, seasoned by various convergences of technology, one notable one in the 1920s with broadcast radio, telephony and the talkies, and another over the last fifteen years, with broadband, smartphone cameras, and digital media. This course bridges these two periods, drawing on history and theory to interrogate the form of the city symphony film essay, and develop an urban filmmaking practice that allows students to gather and formulate their own reflections on London.
The course will be run alongside Urban Scavenger, in which students will develop and make their own film within a taught theoretical framework. Students will be strongly encouraged to bring ideas from one to the other, and to combine critical analysis with practical filmmaking.
This course fulfills the "Category III: Film/Photo/Video Production" Film and Media Studies requirement and the "Creative Work" General Education requirement for the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.
The Urban Scavenger course takes the camera as a tool for the excavation of ordinary things scattered in the urban spaces of a modern metropolis. With a focus on the archaeology of banality and the relation between the public and the private we will explore the iconography of London through the lenses of surrealism, psychogeography and material culture studies. The course will look at a variety of moving image practices but with a special attention to the genres of the film essay, film diary and vlog, covered concurrently in the partner City Symphony course. By closely integrating practical elements with theoretical sessions, we hope to draw connections between the discourse on urban consumer society and the images surrounding it, between collecting objects and editing, between the order of things and creating a political narrative.
Students will be asked to gather shots on a weekly basis responding to the discussions during the theoretical sessions. The shots will be uploaded to a dedicated video blog and commented on by the whole group throughout the term. Towards its end the footage collected by the students will be revised and they will be encouraged to use it when editing their own essay film.
Methods of instruction will include screenings, in-class presentations and analyses, filming sessions, field trips to unusual London locations, crits or review sessions and editing supervision.
This course fulfills the "Category II: Themes, Genres, and Theory" Film and Media Studies requirement and the "Specific Geographic Region" and "The Arts" General Education requirements for the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.
London has existed for more than two thousand years, and the ghosts of the recent and ancient past remain abroad in its streets and its culture. This course aims to explore the deep funds of strangeness and otherness that permeate London’s places and spaces, through examining films and television series that show the city as a brimming reservoir of past and future shocks.
The course will examine science fiction, horror and noir/neo-gothic cinema and television from all eras, with a particular emphasis on works that take London itself as a major part of their story. These might be disaster or alien invasion films that see the city as a site of destruction or devastation, horror films which render a familiar city frightening and strange, or noir explorations of London’s underbelly that expose sides of the city that are normally hidden.
The course will both present an alternative history of London on film, and also provide students with rich possibilities for the analytic study of film and television. Horror and science fiction are notorious as vessels for the expression of both social and political anxieties, and the selection of films would encourage analyses of both psychological content and broader contexts (areas might include, for instance, Cold War-era fears, body horror, racial or class concerns).
Readings will be both critical and complementary, and hope to locate uncanny London on film in relation not only to American cinematic tropes in genres such as horror, but also to the large fictional and occult literature which features London as a place of archaic energies and occult forces.
All students develop their basic skills in analyzing film texts, and will also develop a good grasp of long-trends and recent themes in British horror and science fiction cinema. They will gain insight into the ways that film can reflect and respond to contemporary social and political conditions and events, and the way that film and television relate to literature. Students will gain an understanding of horror and science fiction as key genres in British film, and gain awareness of some key points at which these genres in British cinema and television differ from their counterparts in US film.
As a result, students on this course will:
- understand and engage with the international history of cinema (as well as that of other visual media forms) and be able to place media texts within their social, political, cultural and historical contexts.
-have hands-on experience in at least one area of film and media production (e.g. photography, film, video, video installation, or digital imaging).
-be able to write clearly, coherently and skillfully about the cinema (its history, theory, aesthetics, and/or social/cultural context).
FMST 1195 Diversity in British Cinema: Race, Gender and Class-This intensive and comprehensive course will allow students to take an innovative approach that sees race, gender and class in close dialogue with the underlying cultural phenomena that shape the British cinematic landscape. The course is designed to introduce students to British cinema whilst engaging in theory, practice and analysis. It intertwines historical accounts with film screenings and lectures as well as discussions with filmmakers and curators.
FMST 1195 Diversity in British Cinema: Race, Gender and Class introduces students to the question of diversity in relation to Britain and British cinema over the last fifty years. There are three different emphases in the course: race, gender and class, although we will be closely looking at their intersectionality. The first section of the course will examine race and multiculturalism in British film with an emphasis on the works of Isaac Julien. This section will cover the last forty years in British cinema with some of its major participants in the form of historians, filmmakers and curators. The second section of the course, taught by Professor Laura Mulvey, will look at films dealing with questions of gender and class and their modes of representation. The final section of the course will introduce students to the British class system through its modern representations and contestations.
Each class includes a theoretical discussion that provides a critical framework for working with visual media. Topics explored include multiculturalism, gentrification, women-inflected cinema amongst many others. This will allow students to both understand the cultural context of British cinema over the last fifty years, as taught by some of the leading figures in the British film industry.
This course will meet once per week. Each session will have a screening, lecture and seminar discussion.
The gogglebox, the tv set, or perhaps these days your phone or tablet: The small screen takes many forms these days, and is ‘on demand’ in a way unlike any other time in the last century. Britain has a long and complex history of televisual endeavours. The influence of the BBC, ITV, Channel Four and now the streaming giants on British social, cultural and economic practices is immeasurable. The theoretical half of this course will critically engage with genre, national identity, culture wars and the sense of self Britain gets from the massive output of content on these shores, whilst simultaneously examining the nuances of British television industry practices, funding structures and distribution networks. The practical half of this course will seamlessly integrate practical exercises that make connections between these case studies and technological and industry policies and practices. While the title of this course refers to British television, this misnomer will form an undercurrent running through every session: who decides what British identity vis a vis television is? Who is defined as British on screen? What outputs are embraced as emblematic of Britain and who is excluded and overlooked? Why say British at all and not English since this course will not examine specific Scottish, Welsh or Irish productions? Through written critical work and practical exercises in pitching ideas and analyzing television scripts, students will leave with a critical and practical foundation in the British television industry. This course is a Category II elective that counts for the major, minor, and TVBA certificate. This course takes place in London as part of the Pittsburgh London Film Program.
As a part of the program you can do an optional internship. Whether your post-graduation plans include entering the workforce, going to graduate school, or pursuing a different path, professional work experience always stands out on a resume.
Internships in London are 20 hours per week, excluding commuting time. In addition to workplace experience, you will also meet with peers and faculty for internship seminars to help you get the most out of the experience. Internships are always unpaid, always for three credits, and always pass/fail.
You can sign up for an internship regardless of your major as a part of the application process. Keep in mind that you will not know what your internship placement is until 14 days before departure. While this may seem like a long time to wait, remember that our partners are searching for an internship just for you. Your past experiences, coursework, and desired placements areas are all taken into account. This kind of personalized service takes time but is well worth the wait.
Get in touch with your Pitt Study Abroad program manager to learn more about internships. Please note that internships are availble for students in their second semester of sophomore year or higher.
As part of your study abroad program in the UK, you will be required to apply for a student visa if you are pursuing an internship placement. Please be aware that UK visa processing times may be delayed due to ongoing impacts of the global pandemic. Obtaining a visa is solely your responsibility and is a very detailed process. You should be prepared to do the following:
- Begin your visa application process as soon as you receive the detailed instructions and guidance from CAPA
- Follow the instructions carefully, checking for mistakes
- Respond promptly to any requests for follow-up or additional information related to your visa application
- Check to ensure that your returned passport has the appropriate visa stamp prior to departing the U.S.
Failure to follow the visa instructions correctly may result in additional cost beyond the visa application fee, visa denial, or may impact your ability to do an internship on your program.
Pitt runs this program in partnership with CAPA: The Global Education Network and the Derek Jarman Lab.
For more than 45 years CAPA: The Global Education Network has worked with institutions of higher education to build programs that meet students goals for learning abroad. The CAPA London Center is housed in 2 connected Victorian townhouses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and their staff will be there to assist with any questions or challenges through out the program.
- The Derek Jarman Lab is a media hub based at Birkbeck, University of London, seeking to bring filmmaking to the centre of academic research across all the disciplines of the university. Under the rubric of research led filmmaking the Lab teaches faculty and postgraduate students to use film both to disseminate and to deepen their research. The Lab is also active in organizing events, producing films and encouraging moving image research.
- The Derek Jarman Lab is chaired by Colin MacCabe and part of the Birkbeck’s Institute. It is also supported by the University of Pittsburgh.
- The Derek Jarman Lab’s first feature-length documentary, The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. Go to seasonsinquincy.com for details.
- The Lab’s name comes from the film-maker, painter and writer Derek Jarman (1942-1994) whose work ranged from experimental super 8 to international features.
Bryan Schultz

Greetings! I am the Director of International Progarms at the College of Business. I've been at Pitt since 2011 and during this time served in the Study Abroad Office, Swanson School of Engineering, Frederick Honors College and the College of Business Administration. My portfolio of responsibilities includes expanding global and experiential opportunities for Pitt Honors students. Prior to joining Pitt my career focused on providing executive-level leadership and consulting to nonprofit organizations in Colorado and Washington DC.
I graduated from Kalamazoo College (MI) with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and earned a Master of Nonprofit Management degree from Regis University (CO). During my free tine I enjoy long backpacking trips, following Detroit-based professional sports, painting, going to concerts, and exploring new places - especially those overseas.
Schedule an appointment
Email me at bryan.schultz@pitt.edu to schedule an appointment.
Sarah Joshi

Sarah Joshi is the Director of the Pittsburgh London Film Programme, part of the University of Pittsburgh's Centre for International Studies and a Lecturer in Film and Media Studies.
Sarah holds a PhD in Humanities and Cultural Studies, an M.A. in Humanities and a B.A. in Classical Archaeology. After finishing her M.A., Sarah taught for a Humanities and Philosophy department at a local college in California. While her M.A. thesis was on the missionary compulsion to write in the last quarter of the 19th century in India, her PhD research with the London Consortium was concerned with contemporary Hindi cinema and the negotiation of interracial relationships and cultural citizenship in diasporic-centric films. Sarah’s current research interests focus on two areas of British cinema, specifically urban horror and class .
Sarah was the Manager for the University of London-Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image and the Associate Director of the Derek Jarman Lab for 3 and a half years. She has published on the Non-Resident Indian, as well as on representations of the Partition of India and Pakistan in popular film and literature. Her forthcoming publication examines werebeasts in Hindi cinema within the context of the Asian Gothic.
Colin Maccabe

Colin MacCabe is Distinguished Professor of English and Film at the University of Pittsburgh and Executive Director of Pitt in London and the Pittsburgh London Film Center. Since 1985 he has divided his time between Pittsburgh and London and between literary criticism and film production. His website is www.colinmaccabe.com
Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey is a Professor of Film and Media Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London. She is the author of: Visual and Other Pleasures (1989; 2nd edition 2009), Fetishism and Curiosity (1996; 2nd edition 2013), Citizen Kane (1992; 2nd edition 2012) and Death Twenty-four Times a Second: Stillness and the Moving Image (2006). She made six films with Peter Wollen, including Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) and Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti (1980). With artist/ filmmaker Mark Lewis, she has made Disgraced Monuments (1994)
Lily Ford

Lily Ford is a historian and filmmaker with a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London, in the cultural history of flight. Her book on this subject, Taking to the Air, was published in 2018. Lily has herself made films on both contemporary and historical subjects (A Humbrol Art: The Paintings of George Shaw, 2018; Fallen Women, 2016), as well as producing films with others, notably the feature documentary The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger, 2016. She is Deputy Director of the Derek Jarman Lab and teaches filmmaking practice and theory there.
www.jarmanlab.org | https://vimeo.com/167121358
Francis Gooding

Francis Gooding is a writer and researcher in music, art and film. He worked as a researcher and author on the Colonial Film: Images of the British Empire project (colonialfilm.org.uk). He is a contributing editor to Critical Quarterly, and is the author of Black Light: Myth and Meaning in Modern Painting(2009). He is a columnist at The Wire and a regular contributor to the London Review Of Books.
Bartek Dziadosz

Bartek Dziadosz is the Director at the Derek Jarman Lab. He studied Law in Cracow and Contemporary Media Practice at the Westminster Film School. He made a successful career as a cinematographer and editor before devoting most of his time to the Lab. Bartek has just finished his doctoral research on editing. He was cinematographer on Spring, A Song for Politics and Harvest in The Seasons in Quincy sequence. He also directed A Song for Politics and edited Harvest. His own documentary on the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, The Trouble with Being Human These Days, has screened around the world.
Websites: jarmanlab.org | seasonsinquincy.com | beinghumanthesedays.org
Adam Simon

Adam Simon is a veteran of the Roger Corman film factory where he wrote and directed cult-classics Brain Dead (1990) and Carnosaur (1993), among others. He has written scripts for Oliver Stone, John Schlesinger, James Cameron, John Woo, Jackie Chan, and many others. He’s created miniseries and pilots for NBC, HBO, Showtime and USA networks, and Sony television, and directed and produced award-winning documentaries for BBC, Channel Four and the Independent Film Channel. His horror films include Bones – starring Snoop Dogg and Pam Grier – and The Haunting in Connecticut. He is also the creator and head writer of WGN’s TV series Salem.
Akshi Singh

Akshi Singh is a postdoctoral fellow at Queen Mary, University of London, and Reviews Editor at Critical Quarterly. She is writing a book on the psychoanalyst, diarist, and artist Marion Milner, titled Weather in the Mind.
Items Billed by Pitt |
||
---|---|---|
In-State | Out-of-State | |
Tuition | $9,880 | $17,982 |
Program Fee | $8,319 | $8,319 |
Study Abroad Fee | $400 | $400 |
Total Billed by Pitt | $18,599 | $26,701 |
Estimated Additional Out-of-Pocket Costs |
||
---|---|---|
Airfare | $1,000 - $1,500 | |
Personal Expenses and Meals | $3,000 - $5000 | |
Local Cell phone | $100 | |
Visa (non-US citizens) | $500 | |
1 TB External Hard Drive | $30 |
Remember that your lifestyle and spending choices can greatly affect the amount of money you'll need while abroad. Visit our Budgeting page for more information.
Included in the total program cost are the following:
- Tuition for 15 credits
- Housing
- Orientation in London
- Cultural Events and Activities
- An Unlimited Tube Pass for Zones 1 and 2
- Excursions to Stonehenge and Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon
- Health Insurance
- Membership to the University of London at Imperial College Student Union
- Access to the Derek Jarman Lab and film production equipment