Media and film studies

Cinema and Climate

Module code: P5093
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Film, Seminar
Assessment modes: Coursework

On this module, you'll explore cinema through an eco-critical lens, examining its role as both a representational and material art form with real-world impacts. You'll study three media ecologies that highlight cinema's relationship with climate:

• the social: mainstream representations of climate in cinema and their influence on beliefs and behaviours regarding the climate crisis
• the perceptual: art cinema and experimental films that aim to reshape viewers' perceptions, fostering greater attunement to life forms and the environment
• the material: the environmental footprint of film production and consumption.

You'll engage with examples like slow cinema, eco-feminist perspectives and indigenous films to understand cinema's potential to influence perceptions and actions towards the climate crisis.

Module learning outcomes

• Demonstrate an appropriate understanding of the key themes, issues, and debates related to representation of the climate crisis in film and media
• Identify major issues related to the material effects of climate crisis on film and/or media industries as well as the material effects of the film and/or media industries on the climate crisis
• Identify and analyse major films, media and watershed events that have influenced the field and analyse their contribution to the debates on climate change
• Plan and realise an independent research project that applies critical approaches encountered in the module, constructing an analysis and argument in an original case study.