Screen Research

Screen Research at UWE Bristol is co-convened by Dr Mark Bould (Professor of Film and Literature) and Professor Charlotte Crofts (Professor of Cinema Arts). Representing the full range of moving image research in the College of Arts, Technology and Environment, it works across campuses and disciplines - primarily Film Studies, Filmmaking, and Media Communications - to promote members’ research and contribute to the cultural life of the city and region.

We aim to provide a supportive and stimulating environment for postgraduate research students and postdoctoral fellows, ensuring their full integration through organising research seminars, workshops, symposia, and conferences; supporting the development of individual and collaborative projects, and acting as an incubator for new ideas and initiatives. We maintain numerous collaborations within and beyond the University, including the Digital Culture Research Centre (DCRC), Creative Economies Lab, Watershed and Bristol City of Film, part of the global UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

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About us

Previously the Moving Image Research Group, Screen Research at UWE Bristol is evolving to meet new challenges and opportunities, building on a rich history of collaboration and innovation. We are committed to fostering a genuine, sustainable research culture that embraces new ideas and perspectives while celebrating our past achievements.

Screen Research is dedicated to exploring the moving image at all points along the value chain - from production to consumption to its after-life in culture - organised under four themes:

Screen culture

Screen Research supports work around independent cinema exhibition and festivals, the contemporary role of repertory cinema and ‘classic’ movies, and issues around programming, curation, and screen heritage. This is especially evident through our relationships with the Cary Comes Home Festival and the Bristol Radical Film Festival. We are also concerned with social, economic, and environmental justice, and engage with genre and film history, stardom, audiences, and fandom.

Screen production and distribution

Screen Research supports work mapping Bristol’s production ecology and the experience of freelance labor in the regional industry. The recommendations in the reports Go West! Bristol’s Film and Television Industries (2017), An Invisible Army: The Role of Freelance Labour in Bristol’s Film and Television Industries (PDF) (2019) and Go West! 2: Bristol’s Film and Television Industries (2022) have informed government policy and led to the annual Bristol and Bath Screen Summit.

We have also supported the development of the Documentary Film Council, an advocacy organisation for the sector founded in 2023 as a co-operative Charitable Community Benefit Society, which developed out of UK Feature Docs, a three-year AHRC-funded study of the UK’s feature documentary film industry’s development and the challenges it faces.

Screen education

Screen Research addresses local skills challenges, working with Bristol City of Film to develop their action plan around freelance training, EDI, and sustainability. We foster partnerships between industry, local/regional government, and educational institutions. Leveraging our BAFTA Albert Education Partnership and the ‘Applied Skills for a Sustainable Screen Industry’ accreditation, we are developing a research focus around green filmmaking, encompassing sustainable production and climate content.

Screen practice and performance

Screen Research supports and works to build the status and understanding of practice-as-research so that practitioners are better able to contribute to the Research Excellence Framework (REF), and for their work to be valued by REF. We support the online journal, Screenworks, which publishes peer-reviewed screen media practice research.

Contacts

For more information about staff, postgraduate opportunities, current events and activities, please contact Professor Mark Bould (mark.bould@uwe.ac.uk) or Professor Charlotte Crofts (charlotte.crofts@uwe.ac.uk).