Celebrate Your Love of Film
VIU English is the place to indulge and celebrate your passion for film and TV! Bring your curiosity about why some movies stand the test of time, why some books make great movies (or not!), and how TV and film continue to shape our culture.
VIU’s English Department is home to a rich variety of courses in film and television studies. Our film and TV courses run in the evenings to allow for full screenings and lively discussion, and they’re accessible to students of all levels. 300-level courses are open to students with third-year standing, Love of Learning students, or with permission of the instructor.
See our Courses for more detail on all the courses offered by VIU English.
Fall 2026
See the Calendar description of FILM 101: Introduction to Film Studies
Multiple sections are offered.
Spring 2027
FILM 220: Special Topics in Film Studies
Professor Paul Watkins
FILM 220 Screening Truth to Power examines cinema as a force for social change. Roger Ebert famously called cinema an “empathy machine,” and film has been embedded in social and political conversations since its inception. In this course, we will examine films that challenge patriarchy and the male gaze (including Barbie and Portrait of a Lady on Fire), films that focus on race and class (such as Do the Right Thing, Parasite, and No Other Choice), films that use body horror to explore social panic, particularly around AIDS (The Thing, The Fly), and finally films dealing with revolution and social justice (The Battle of Algiers, Beans, No Other Land). I look forward to an exciting semester with you! Viewer discretion is advised.