The Film Studies department started in the year 1996. At present, this is a Generic Elective subject and under the new CBCS curriculum is offered to all science and arts faculty students. Every year we receive several students who, in future, either pursue Film Studies in their higher studies or do academic research. Scores of our students also tend to join different production houses, print media offices, or undertake full time/freelance activities as film critics. Some have already gone into academics, completing their MA., M.Phil., and Ph.D. or have joined filmmaking institutes such as FTII, SRFTI, etc.

The department regularly organizes special lectures, seminars, and workshops. For the past two years the department has been collaborating with the film society of the college, Xaverian Film Academy, to organise students’ seminars. The department whole-heartedly encourages students to take part in other national seminars and film competitions as well. The various prizes they have won in such competitions are too numerous to be recounted here.

1. Film Studies aims to create critical viewers of cinema, culture, and media. The course aims to make the study of cinema interesting by incorporating various innovative audio-visual teaching methods. Studying different film movements, mainstream cinemas, national cinemas etc. the course tries to give a wholistic understanding of cinema with respect to its history, form, and production-distribution system.
2. The course tries to help students to read cinema through different perspective — social, political, historical etc. Through the analysis of film texts, the students are encouraged to present their understanding of cinema, rediscover classic texts and appreciate their contemporary films.
3. In the two semesters of this course Indian cinema is majorly emphasized. From early Indian cinema to Indian New Wave auteurs, from Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen to contemporary Bollywood, the course tries to make the students aware of their cinematic history.
4. However, there are a list of prescribed texts, the students are still encouraged to watch more and more films to be aware of different styles, forms and practices around cinema.
5. This is an interdisciplinary subject hence students from different honours departments join the course. We believe, the practice of reading a text, analysing a text, being aware of its structure, functioning and ideology should help the students to be a sharper and a critical reader. The course should contribute further to be a more informed student of other disciplines and engage enthusiastically with other audio-visual media.

Dr. Ipsita Barat has received her PhD. Degree from the Department of Film Studies Jadavpur University, Kolkata. The title of her thesis is Bollywood in the New Millennium: Industrial Networks, Convergence and Narratives.

Prof. Shenjuti Dutta was doing her Ph.D. at the School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University and has recently submitted her thesis. The title of her thesis is Her Face: Close-Up, Affection-Image and Alterity.