Cinema and Television Research

Research beyond academia

DMU’s Cinema And Television History (CATH) group is a leading light in demonstrating cultural research with real-world impact.

Its inclusive approach to research takes its work beyond academia to bring an understanding of cultural issues and values to new audiences.

From running film festivals to exhibitions, media appearances and working with arts organisations, archives and professional bodies, CATH has influenced policy and played a key role in preserving our cinematic and cultural heritage.

In 1998, CATH’s Dr Laraine Porter worked with the British Film Institute’s National Archive to launch the British Silent Film Festival.

Now an annual event, it has led to the DVD release of British silent films and helped preserve early cinema as well as give scholars, archivists and enthusiasts the chance to re-assess filmmaking in Britain between 1895 and 1930.

CATH became home to the Hammer Film archive in 2012 and is involved in an ongoing digitisation project. It marked the occasion with a two-day festival, Hammer Has Risen from the Grave, including the world premiere of the restored version of The Curse of Frankenstein, introduced by actor and writer Mark Gatiss.

Women in film and entertainment

The under-researched role of women in the film and entertainment industry has also been a focus of its work. The CATH Cine-Sisters programme celebrated the contribution of women with a series of live interviews with female script supervisors, composers and actors such as June Whitfield and Barbara Windsor.

Professor Steve Chibnall, Professor of British Cinema, has brought a scholarly focus to films which had previously received little academic attention.

His work on film censorship, British B movies and “quota quickies” have revealed much about British society and the film industry, while his monograph on the classic Get Carter was hailed as giving “this British crime masterpiece the critical attention it has always deserved.”