In March 2021 we hosted a series of webinars for students doing Spanish, French, and German at A-Level. 127 students took part over the 3 virtual events, which covered films taught on the A-Level syllabus: Pan’s Labyrinth, La Haine, and Lives of Others.
During the events, student participants heard a lecture given by Dr. Miguel Garcia Lopez from the Department of Hispanic Studies, Dr. Albertine Fox who is a lecturer of French Film, and Dr. Debbie Pinfold, Senior Lecturer in German at Bristol. The academic presentations covered the cultural and historical contexts of each film, their relevance and critical reception, references to texts, films and directors for comparison and wider reading, and character development, plot, and cinematographic techniques used with examples from specific scenes and shots.
The lectures were followed by lively and engaging discussions and questions about each film. The online Q&A format allowed students to view and respond to each other’s written questions and comments, which participants found helpful. Students also heard from current undergraduates about their experience as a student of Languages or the Arts at Bristol, and were given some tips about preparing for exams and making the jump from A-Level to University. One key tip is to find a way to engage with the language you are studying. This can be through music, podcasts, films, books, cooking, sport… anything that fires up your interest and motivation!
Here is what some students said about the film webinars:
- “I enjoyed the readiness of the academics and students to answer questions and their obvious passion for their subjects. I enjoyed the engaging delivery of the webinar and the background information about the film”
- “I found the ‘taster’ seminar rather interesting and showed me what classes at university are like.”
- “I mostly enjoyed the deep analysis of the film as that allowed me to think critically and build on my analytical skills”
This event has become a regular feature of the Outreach calendar for languages at Bristol. It was first launched in 2018 as a physical event on the university campus with a tour of the School of Modern Languages and our Multimedia Centre (which includes a cinema!) This year the event has moved online due to the pandemic; however, the online format allowed more students to take part from around the UK.
We hope to return to delivering events on campus soon. You can keep up to date with events we are hosting by checking our outreach webpage. If you are a school student or teacher, you can sign up to events via our Schools and Colleges Newsletter.