Ultimate Film School Reading List: Essential Books Film Fans Should Read

If you have always been a big film fan and want to take your understanding and analysis to the next level, here are our top picks for your film school reading list. Understand how to read film and how to criticise the latest releases like a professional reviewer with these study guides routinely recommended by the top film courses at University. You can gain insight into Film History and the early technology that created moving image. Readers will also be introduced to national cinemas from all over the world and the must see films from each country. 

How To Read A Film: Movies, Media and Beyond - James Monaco

First published in 1977, James Monaco’s How To Read A Film has been on the Film Studies curriculum for decades. It is a must have for any film student looking to go beneath the surface of what they are watching. The book explores film as an art, a science and in relation to technology. Monaco also equips readers with the tools to uncover meaning from a film.

Now in it’s fourth edition, How To Read A Film has updated sections covering Digital Media, Movies in the 2000s, and the Virtual World. With Monaco’s book you can truly get the most out of the movie-watching experience.

A MUST READ if you want to learn what to look out for in movies and how to analyse a feature in depth.

Author James Monaco founded Baseline in 1982 whose primary product was a comprehensive film database much like IMDB today. Monaco taught at Columbia University and New York University and his written on French New Wave film-makers such as François Truffaut and Jean Lu- Godard.

The Cinema Book - Pam Cook

Widely recognised as the ultimate guide to cinema, Pam Cook’s The Cinema Book has been  in print since 1999 and has been since expanded in response to advancements in cinema studies. Full of in depth case studies, The Cinema Book educates readers on everything from technology and authorship to the history of Hollywood and other World Cinemas as well as the main frameworks for understanding film.

A MUST READ if you want to discover different national cinemas from around the world.

Author Pam Cook is Professor Emerita at the University of Southampton. Alongside Laura Mulvey and Claire Johnston, Cool was a pioneer of feminist film theory in the 1970s. She is also well known for her work on director Dorothy Arzner.

Ghibliotheque: The Unofficial Guide to the Movies of Studio Ghibli - Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham

Inspired by their podcast, Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham review every feature film released by Japan’s celebrated Studio Ghibli. The pair give a well-informed and in-depth analysis of films such as Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Princess Mononoke. Expect technical information on how each film was made, beautiful photographs and posters as well as expert fan reviews of each animated feature.

A MUST READ if you want to learn about animated feature films from a prolific studio outside of the USA & Disney.

Author and podcaster Michael Leader primarily researches the work of Studio Ghibli and has had his work featured across the BBC, Sight and Sound Magazine and the BFI. Jake Cunningham cohosts the Ghibliotheque podcast and is a frequent contributor across the BFI and The Independent.

Mise-en-Scène: Film Style and Interpretation - John Gibbs

An exploration into film style, the history of Mise-en-scène in film criticism and detailed scene analysis. In Mise-en-scène: Film Style and Interpretation, John Gibbs teaches readers the skills to closely examine film style. He provides detailed examples from films including Imitation Of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959).

A MUST READ for anyone wanting to understand how setting, lighting, costumes, props and make up effect film analysis.

The Oxford Guide To Film Studies - John Hill, Pamela Church Gibson

In this essential guide, top international contributors provide readers with an overview of the key concepts and approaches to film studies. Readers will learn the fundamental methods involved in Film Analysis and are introduced to the hot debates within the study of film.

The Oxford Guide To Film Studies is recognised as the most comprehensive and currently up-to-date guide for film theory. Topics covered range from psychoanalysis, audience studies, post-modernism and the Hollywood star system.

A MUST READ for anyone who wants to gain a broad overview of the key approaches and theories for studying film.

Contributors include: John Hill, Pamela Church Gibson, Richard Dyer, E. Ann Kaplan and Paul Willemen.

Introduction To Film Studies - Jill Nelmes

One fo the leading textbooks for Film Studies students recommended by Universities across the world. Jill Nelmes’ Introduction To Film Studies is currently in it’s fifth edition and features over 100 illustrations from classic films such as The Maltese Falcon, Jaws and Rebel Without A Cause.

Readers can expect seven sections with the first four covering the study of cinema and three focussing on film forms, issues in cinema and national cinemas. British, Indian, Soviet and European cinemas are covered in depth as well as theories from Formalism and Feminism. The fifth edition includes new works on Latin American Cinema, Film and Technology as well as updated concepts and new case studies on District 9, Avatar and Made In Dagenham.

A MUST READ for film studies beginners looking to get a well rounded and comprehensive overview of the key concepts of criticism as well as introductions to international cinemas.

Author Jill Nelmes is a senior lecturer at the University of East London and she primarily researches gender and film and screenwriting. She has also spent time studying screenwriting at UCLA.

Feminist Film Theory: A Reader - Sue Thornham

Feminist Film Theory: A Reader is a comprehensive look at the major theoretical developments of feminist film theory. These include structuralism, psychoanalysis, post-colonial theory, queer theory and postmodernism. This anthology maps the history of feminist debates across culture, representation and identity and looks in depth at women being objects of desire, female spectatorship and the cinematic pleasures of black women and lesbian women. 

Contributors include Judith Butler, Barbara Creed, Claire Johnston, Laura Mulvey, Sharon Smith, Janet Staiger and Linda Williams.

A MUST READ for anyone interested in feminism, women in film and looking at cinema through a feminist lens.

Film Art: An Introduction - David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson

Since 1979, David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson’s Introduction to Film Art has been a best-seller in film schools across the world. It develops the reader’s skills by showcasing a range of examples and film frames from cinematic works spanning genres, continents and history. Students will gain core analytical skills which will deepen their understanding of film. The 13th edition (released December 2023) includes updated examples and coverage on Digital Filmmaking.

A MUST READ for those looking to understand how to discuss film as an artform and wanting to develop skills analysing a film frame by frame.

Author David Bordwell is a prolific American film theorist and historian who has written extensively on topics including French Impressionist Cinema, Classical Hollywood Cinema, Eisenstein and Film History. His partner is acclaimed American film theorist Kristin Thompson whose research includes the history of film styles and quality television.  She has also written on Storytelling in Film and Television, Classical Hollywood Cinema and Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible.

Style and Meaning: Studies in the Detailed Analysis of Film - John Gibbs

Style and Meaning compiled by John Gibbs features contributors from film historians and theorists from across the field discussing techniques for close analysis by looking in detail at specific films. Writers explore the relationship between textual detail and wider conceptual frameworks with chapters looking at the long take, cinematography, space and point of view as well as unreliable narration.

A MUST READ if you are looking to expand your knowledge on close textual analysis by studying detailed examples from some of the leading film academics.

An Introduction to World Cinema - Aristides Gazetas

This Introduction to World Cinema examines how politics and society has influenced film in countries across the world. It navigates the key developments of technology throughout film history including the advent of Talkies and the French New Wave. Each era is examined with several key examples for students to watch. Global cinemas featured include Asia, America, Africa and Latin America as well as Europe and America.

Aristides Gazetas had a teaching career that spanned over 30 years in Canada. He designed graduate film studies programmes and wrote many courses on international cinema.

A MUST READ for international film fans who want to study the political and social landscape surrounding national cinema systems. 

The Story of Film - Mark Cousins

Filmmaker and author Mark Cousins discusses how filmmakers are influenced by each other and the historical events happening during their life. The Story of Film compliments his 14 hour documentary series named The Story of Film: An Odyssey.

The book has three main chapters focussing on the Silent era from 1885 to 1928, the Sound era from 1928 to 1990 and lastly the Digital era from 1990 to the present. He discusses the stylistic considerations filmmakers make as well as the political and social themes of each time.

If you would like an educational read that is made specifically for film fans, The Story of Film is it. Readers can expect to be introduced to international cinema landscapes and cinematic techniques from a filmmakers perspective including how lighting, framing, focal length and editing are used.

A MUST READ if you want a simple to understand yet in-depth discussion of film making techniques and their historical, political and social influences from the birth of the moving image until present day. 

Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts - Susan Hayward

A reference guide describing the key concepts of Cinema Studies including genres, movements, theories and production terminology. Now in its sixth edition, Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts has been updated to include entries exploring streaming and new audience consumption, environmental crisis, #MeToo and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

A MUST READ to understand simply each of the key concepts and terms related to the study of film.

Susan Hayward is Professor Emerita of Cinema Studies at the University of Exeter and has had many notable publications including French National Cinema, Film Ecology, and French Costume Drama of the 1950s.

The Film Experience: An Introduction - Professor Timothy Corrigan, Professor Patricia White

A comprehensive introduction to the whole film experience for students and movie fans alike. Corrigan and White note large cultural contexts such as economics, marketing and the star system and how these factors inform the way we view films. This book also equips readers with the tools needed to go from cinema goer to informed film critic. Readers will gain a insight into the essential and formal concepts of cinema as well as learn how techniques shape a film's possible meaning.

A MUST READ if you want to understand the connection between film techniques and the larger cultural landscape.

Author Timothy Corrigan is a Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His other research areas include the films of Werner Herzog and New German Film.

Patricia White is a Professor of English and Film and the Chair of Film and Media Studies at Swarthmore College. She has also written extensively on Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability.

Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis - Barry Salt

Film Style and Technology details the history of film style and it's relationship to film technology. This book includes detailed accounts of technology and the advancements made from 1885 until the 1970s with around one chapter per decade. Readers can expect to learn film theory with comprehensive analysis on the films of Max Ophuls to demonstrate the theories discussed.

Author Barry Salt has a PhD in Theoretical Physics and has worked in the film industry as a Cameraperson. He has researched film history and analysis for over 4 decades. He also teaches film-making at the London Film School.

A MUST READ if you want to learn about the technology used to make films and it's advancements from the 1800s onwards.

Film Theory: An Introduction Through The Senses - Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener 

Film Theory: An Introduction Through The Senses is a key text for film students looking to be guided through the major film theories from the classical period to the present day. Elsaesser and Hagener use seven different configurations of spectator and screen, which move progressively from exterior to interior, and retrace the important stages of film theory. The discuss everything from neo-realism to psychoanalysis and demonstrate the relationship between cinema and its spectator.

The revised edition, released in 2015, now includes discussions of contemporary films such as Her and Gravity as well as including an expanded final chapter to discuss film theory in the digital age.

A MUST READ if you want a well rounded guide to film theory from 1945 to the present day.

Authors Thomas Elsaesser is Professor Emeritas of Film and Television Studies at the University of Amsterdam and visiting Professor at Columbia University. Matle Hagener is Professor of Media Studies at Marburg University and he was written on topics including the invention of Film Culture and the European Avant Garde.

A History of Experimental Film and Video - A.L. Rees

A History of Experimental Film and Video is an introduction to the experimental for new readers interested in the broader cinema. A.L. Rees follows the transition of the film avant-garde between cinema and modern art in his critically praised history of experimental film. 

In this revised and expanded edition, Rees provides a guide for fans of avant-garde filmmaking and a close look at artists from Cézanne and Dada to the new wave of British film and video artists from the present day. This comprehensive study positions avant-garde film between both the cinema and the gallery.

A MUST READ for fans of art who want a deep look into the world of experimental cinema.

A.L. Rees was a tutor in visual communication at the Kent Institute of Art & Design and the Royal College of Art in London. He also advised the Arts Council, British Film Institute and Tate Gallery throughout his career.

Film Art. An Introduction - David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson 

Film Art: An Introduction is a popular and well-regarded introduction to film analysis and usually is recommended in tandem with the author's other textbook Film History: An Introduction (see above).  The writers assist students in developing a fundamental set of analytical skills that will enhance their knowledge of any film, regardless of genre, by using examples from many eras and countries. Students get a deeper understanding of how filmmakers' creative decisions impact what audiences experience and how they react through in-depth case studies.

Readers should expect to learn how film is an art form and how to recognise artistic conventions to gain meaning. 

A MUST READ if you want to learn a set of core analytical skills which will allow you to experience and notice film as an art form.

Author David Bordwell is a prolific American film theorist and historian who has written extensively on topics including French Impressionist Cinema, Classical Hollywood Cinema, Eisenstein and Film History. His partner is acclaimed American film theorist Kristin Thompson whose research includes the history of film styles and quality television.  She has also written on Storytelling in Film and Television, Classical Hollywood Cinema and Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible.

Film as Film: Understanding and Judging Movies - V.F. Perkins

V. F. Perkins, the renowned cinema scholar, offers a framework for enhancing our comprehension and appreciation of movies. Perkins invites readers to relive well-known scenes from films like Hitchcock, Eisenstein, and Chaplin with clarity, straightforwardness, and simplicity. Perkins explores the history of cinema and celebrates its use of magic, and realism. 

Film as Film showcases the thrill experienced by a fan with the observation of the critic. It is builds on the work of Bazin and other early cinema theorists.

A MUST READ if you want to sharpen your perception, expands your understanding on film in a direct and insightful way.

Victor F. Perkins was a British film critic best known for his work on Film Aesthetics and interpretation who started teaching at the University of Warwick in 1978.

Critical Visions in Film Theory: Classic and Contemporary Readings - Timothy Corrigan, Patricia White, and Meta Mazaj

Critical Visions in Film Theory encapsulates the broader, more inclusive view of film theory today, concentrating on subjects like race, gender and sexuality, and new media, while embracing cutting-edge ideas without discounting the history of classical film theory.

Over the past 30 years, the study of cinema theory has seen a profound shift with new perspectives on age-old discussions about authorship, genre, and film form.

A MUST READ if you want to explore modern arguments in film theory alongside historical discussion. 

Author Timothy Corrigan is a Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His other research areas include the films of Werner Herzog and New German Film.

Patricia White is a Professor of English and Film and the Chair of Film and Media Studies at Swarthmore College. She has also written extensively on Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability.

Meta Mazaj is a Senior Lecturer in Cinema Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has published work on topics including critical theory, Balkan cinema, and new European cinema.

Postmodernism and Film: Rethinking Hollywood’s Aesthetics - C. Constable

A look at postmodern film aesthetics and contemporary challenges dominating the analysis of Hollywood cinema. Catherine Constable discusses the conceptions of classical, modernist and new Hollywood and the construction of a linear history of style. She uses Jean-François Lyotard's non-linear conception of postmodernism to view postmodern aesthetics as occurring across the history of Hollywood.

This study explores nihilistic theorists of the postmodern including Frederic Jameson and affirmative theorists such as Linda Hutcheon. Constable's analysis looks at modern Hollywood examples including Bombshell, Sherlock Junior and Kill Bill.

A MUST READ if you are interested in exploring postmodern theory relating to aesthetics across the history of Hollywood.

Catherine Constable is Associate Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick. Her work ranges from Jean Baudrillard and the Matrix to Film Theory, Feminist Philosophy and Marlene Dietrich.

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