Are you thinking about studying Film and Photographic Studies? Learn more and watch the introduction video and the programme presentation.

The master’s programme in Film and Photographic Studies at Leiden University covers the history and theory of film and photography within the broad context of visual and other media.

How do we define the works of a film director whose films cross many established boundaries at once?

If Dutch cinema is examined in academic studies, the focus is usually on pre-war films or on documentaries, but the post-war fiction film has been sporadically addressed.

Do you enjoy a great story? In the Bachelor's programme Film and Literary Studies at Leiden University you study the stories behind the stories. Because what makes a novel fascinating or a horror movie frightening? Study film, literature and media from around the entire world and discover the differences…

This PhD project analyses the politics and aesthetics of depictions of torture in American and European ‘war on terror’ films.

On some Sunday evenings the NVIC is presenting NVICinema. We bring a varied programme of Dutch or Flemish films, Egyptian classics as well as contemporary Egyptian feature films and short films from young talented directors, all with English subtitles.

The short documentary film was selected to the short film corner of the Cannes Film Festival.

The Question of Medium Specificity in Contemporary Moving Images

Leiden University has made history with its many scientific discoveries; a history that is also illustrated in a variety of books and films.

The short film Alma & Esperanza , directed by Itandehui Jansen, a PhD candidate (directing supervisor Professor Dr. Kitty Zijlmans) of the Leiden University Academy for Creative and Performing Arts, has been selected to the Short Film Corner of this year’s edition of the Cannes International Film Fe…

How to related figures of savages to conceptions of history?

This programme video is presented in Dutch

Exploring cultural production in Europe, Latin America and Africa, the institute’s research programme focuses on the continuous interconnectedness of the Arts and Society in both the textual culture of literature, learning and public debate and the visual culture of art, architecture, film, photography…

On 7 September 2023 Didem Durak Akser successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Film and Photographic Studies master’s students Vanessa and Deirdre created a film programme about the Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon for the Jewish Cultural Quarter. Due to the pandemic, they could no longer hold a physical screening and they decided to move their project online.

Show People offers a comprehensive history of the film star from Mary Pickford to Andy Serkis, traversing more than one hundred years and drawing on examples from America, Britain, Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

The short film El Último Consejo (The Last Council), directed by alumna Itandehui Jansen, has won the Emerging Talent Award at the ImagineNative Film & Media Arts Festival in Toronto.

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Aarts, Prof.dr. J.M. van Ruitenbeek

Thomas Mes defended his thesis on 9 January 2018.

Timo Schmidt and Florian Volz, both International Studies students, have travelled the route many refugees took to reach Europe by bike in the summer of 2016. Through crowdfunding, they want to finance their documentary about this journey. With three days to go, they are at 90% of their target amount…

This week 'Dutch Post-war Fiction Film through a Lens of Psychoanalysis' by Peter Verstraten was published by Amsterdam University Press, the sequel to Humor and Irony in Dutch Post-war Fiction Film from 2016. Each chapter in his 482-page new study begins with a title of Fons Rademakers who made films…

This research cluster centres on regional, national, and global intersections and interactions between a variety of artistic expressions and society. It focuses not only on objects (artistic, literary, cinematic, and medial), but also on practices (aesthetic, political, and cultural).

Itandehui Jansen graduated from the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam and is currently making films as part of her PhD project at Leiden University. And with great success. Her films have been shown at the IDFA and the Short Film Corner of Cannes, and have won a number of prizes.…

In Film and Video Intermediality, Janna Houwen innovatively rewrites the concept of medium specificity in order to answer the questions “what is meant by video?” and “what is meant by film?”

Maartje van den Heuvel, researcher and curator of photography at Leiden University, will be giving a tutorial next semester to master students of Film & Photographic Studies. A great opportunity for them to work with an exceptional collection from the Leiden University Library. Van den Heuvel explains…

The MA Media Studies consists of four different programmes in the fields of Journalism and New Media (Dutch taught), Book and Digital Media Studies, Film and Photographic Studies and Cultural Analysis: Literature and Theory.

Odile Bodde tells about her stay in London at King's College...

Haunted Europe offers a comprehensive account of the British and Irish fascination with a Gothic vision of continental Europe, tracing its effect on British intellectual life from the birth of the Gothic novel, to the eve of Brexit, and the symbolic recalibration of the UK’s relationship to mainland…

The short documentary film was selected to the short film corner of the Cannes Film Festival.

There was a time when student Lelani Antar wanted to go to film school. She ended up studying International Studies, yet she didn’t quite say goodbye to film. For her minor, she and three other students made an essay film.

LUCAS members are experts in the fields of literary history and theory, film and media studies, and art, architectural, and book history. Members of LUCAS teach in a wide variety of Bachelor's, Master’s, and Research Master’s Programmes.

The purpose of LENS – to foster, coordinate and support research in the area of the visual arts and visual media of photography, film, video and digital media – is connected to the objectives of the Master program Film and Photographic Studies.

You’ve been accepted! Leiden University looks forward to welcoming you as a new student. Your next step is to prepare for your studies. Below you can find some tips to help you get a head start as you embark on your studies at Leiden University.

Audible Absence: Searching for the Site in Sound Production

To be eligible for Film and Photographic Studies at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

The purpose of LENS is to foster, coordinate and support research of visual media of analog and digital photography, film, and video, and the visual arts.

'Don’t Let the sunny weather fool you' a film made by Visual Ethnography alumna Guusje Meeuwissen has been selected for the RAI film festival in London this year. It's a short film about the everyday lives of a farmer and a fisherman in the Philippines, and their capacity to adapt to a changing natural…

The master's specialisation in Visual Ethnography offers students the possibility to graduate by producing their own ethnographic film. The films 'Living Art', by alumna Tina Krüger, and 'Across Gender', by alumna Anouk Houtman, have received two awards.

Scientists are regularly confronted with questions of integrity. A new film teaches students how to handle this issue.

The feature drama film In Times of Rain will have its world premiere at the Guanajuato International Film Festival (#GIFF 2018) in Mexico. The film is a result of the Leiden University project ‘Time in lntercultural Context’, funded by the European Research Council.

Find out how to apply for Film and Photographic Studies at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.