We were sad to hear of the death of Film and Literature alumnus James Higginbotham on the 3rd of June, 2023. James studied with us from 1986 to 1989 and is remembered as part of the Film and Television Studies family.

Alumni Ilaria Puliti, who did her MA in the Department, recently won a film criticism competition with a chapter of her MA dissertation on Italian director Alice Rohrwacher. As a result, the material has been published as an essay in the latest issue of Italian cinema magazine Cineforum.

Film/Lit grad Nathaniel Newman is currently doing an MA in Creative Writing. He kindly returned to the department to talk to The Practice of Film Criticism students about what he’s learned from doing a degree that focusses on practice and delves into more personal and poetic areas than are usually required of an academic essay; a process that involves the making and taking of criticism from colleagues, and that thus requires the creation of a safe and respectful context in which that can flourish.