Guide to Cinema Studies at the University of Zurich

Field of Study

Cinema Studies is a theoretical field comparable to the studies of Literature, Music or History. It does not include practical film training. Central to the field of study is a theoretical reflection of the medium of film and analytic engagement with cinematic works and their contextual embedment.
Accordingly, Cinema Studies is principally concerned with

• acquiring an analytic instrumentarium and a specialised terminology;
• the aesthetic and stylistic uniqueness, narrative structure, genre, ideological and historical allocation of cinematic works;
• film history and historiography in their various forms (historical style; development of an œuvre; national lines of development; history of production and technology);
• film theory including theory development of related disciplines, for example aesthetics, semiotics, genre theory, narratology, communication theory and response theory.
  

Studying Cinema Studies

Students of Cinema Studies should be endowed with high aesthetic sensibility. The field of study further requires awareness of other cultures and high degrees of flexibility, time investment and organisational ability.
Courses in our seminar are held in German. Thus, students are expected to submit essays and make oral presentations in fluent German. Good written and spoken abilities in other languages are necessary, too, especially of English and French. For additional language training please contact the
Sprachenzentrum (language centre) of our university.
Students of Cinema Studies should possess the ability to read complex theoretical texts in a number of foreign languages; they should school their auditory comprehension to such a degree that they are able to understand most films in the original version without subtitles; be capable of a wider scale comprehension in terms of sociology, psychology, music, ethnography, etc.; and be willing to attend film screenings or watch television programmes at inconvenient times.
In addition, it is desirable that students of Cinema Studies get involved as often as possible in film festivals, cinemas, film productions, cultural institutions, television stations etc., and have made their own (amateur) experiences in photography and small-gauge film or video, as this facilitates insights into technical processes and aesthetic decisions.

Structure of Studies: Bachelor-/Master-Courses

Cinema Studies can be pursued as a first or second subsidiary subject for a bachelor or master degree. The minimal obligatory requirements for application can be obtained by contacting the Seminar. Prerequisite for admission in all cases is a valid registration at the University of Zurich.
The University of Zurich is currently in a state of transition, changing its system of degrees to the internationally acclaimed bachelor-master-system. If you plan to study Cinema Studies in Zurich, please contact our office.

Research

Our research in Cinema Sciences concentrates on the following areas:

• History of the cinema, especially Swiss cinema
• Basic research on conceptual and theoretical questions
• Documentary, experimental and fictional genres
• Aesthetic, narratological, and pragmatical aspects of the cinema medium and its dispositives
• Gender studies
• Phenomenons of popular culture
• Technical and economical aspects of cinema

For further information about current research projects, please refer to our (German language)
research page.