This course usually runs 4 times throughout the year; Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn.

 

If you have questions please consult our new FAQs page before contacting us.

We have also updated policies for course costs/concessions and bursaries, please see our Terms and conditions.

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WHAT: This popular course returns for its Winter run.

WHERE: Online distance learning, take part in this class from your home with a computer/tablet

WHO: Run by Media Scholar and Practice-led Researcher, Catalin Brylla

WHEN: Tuesday evenings, 13th January – 17th March 2026, 6:30 PM – 21:00.

COMMITMENT: 2.5 hours per session, with extra optional reading/watching.

WHAT YOU GET: An in-depth series of discussions and lectures, offering students a robust overview of many significant documentary theories.

HOW MUCH: £325.00 | Students/Concessions: £275.00 | UCL Students: £255.00

DEADLINE TO SIGN UP: Accepting sing-ups on a rolling basis.

BURSARIES: Now closed.

AGES: 16+

 

Led by Dr. Catalin Brylla, Principal Lecturer in Film and Television at Bournemouth University, this course is targeted towards documentary practitioners who are either preparing, shooting or editing their documentary, scholars who want to analyse or use documentary as a research methodology, and people who are simply passionate about non-fiction films. Keeping the balance between the theory of practice and the theory in practice, each session will include discussions of how concepts relate to formal considerations in documentary filmmaking. Participants will also learn how to critically frame their film practice in order to produce thought-provoking films that have social and cultural implications.

Indicative Course Outline:

Session 1: Soviet Montage and Poetic Documentary
•    Documentary elements
•    Soviet montage and conceptual watching
•    The poetic documentary

Session 2: Continuity and Observational Documentary
•    Spatial and emotional impact of shot sizes
•    The immersive actuality of continuity
•    The observational documentary

Session 3: Interviews and Participatory Documentary
•    Characterisation through interviews
•    The function of cutaways
•    The participatory documentary

Session 4: Defamiliarisation and Reflexive Documentary
•    Brecht and defamiliarising the audience
•    The reflexive documentary
•    The hybrid documentary

Session 5: Narrative and Point-of-View
•    Narrative structure: story and plot
•    Narrative point-of-view
•    Creating empathy for characters

Session 6: Materialities: Objects and Spaces
•    The mediation of space and time
•    Everyday materialities
•    Memory as trace and event

Session 7: Performativity and Documentary Comedy

The performative documentary
•    Documentary comedy and distantiation
•    Parody and mockumentaries
•    The investigative documentary comedy

Session 8: Essay Film
•    Portrait essay
•    Travel essay
•    Diary essay
•    Editorial essay
•    Refractive essay

Session 9: Stereotypes and the Other

• Social categorisation and documentary narratives

Stereotypes and prejudice
•    Types of Others in documentary

Session 10: Challenging Stereotypes

•    Industry initiatives
•    Narrative and aesthetics to de-stigmatise communities
•    Perspective-taking and empathy
•    Cross-categorisation, recategorisation, recategorisation

 

Testimonials:

“Your [Catalin’s] insights into spectators and the relationships between composition, storytelling, editing, and subjects have inspired me greatly.” – Grace Lin, 2024

“I loved it so much and it was so interesting! Catalin is an incredible teacher, not only because he covered so much and structured it so well, but made us think. I saw things and noticed stuff I never did before. It will really change how I see things. So thank you so much for that.” – Past Participant, March 2024

“I enjoyed the course. It was my first documentary course, and the final result was positive. I have learned a lot and have much more to learn. The programme was good for a short course—dynamic classes balanced between the contents, debate and participation.” – Ricardo Sá Nogueira, previous student

“The course was brilliant, very rich in content and interactive. Catalin has been extremely supportive throughout, provided a lot of resources and offered great analytical depth, which was very suitable to my needs.” – Eleni Pappa, previous course participant

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This course will be delivered via online distance learning, and students will require a computer or other internet connected device.

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If you still have other questions relating to a specific course or request, please get in touch with us via emailing shortcourses@opencitylondon.com

(Image: Still from Zanzibar Soccer Dreams, 2016, by Florence Ayisi and Catalin Brylla)

What is UCL’s section of Public Anthropology?

Public Anthropology is a subsection of UCL’s Anthropology department. It hosts the short course programme, Open City Documentary Festival, and several graduate degree programmes.

The two main strands within Public Anthropology are media and creative and collaborative enterprise, which both merge industry expertise with academic research agendas.

Graduate degree programmes based in the Public Anthropology section include:

• Audio Storytelling for Radio and Podcast MA

• Creative Documentary by Practice MFA

• Creative and Collaborative Enterprise MA

• Designing Audio Experiences: Art, Science and Production MA

• Ethnographic and Documentary Film (Practical) MA

• Immersive Factual Storytelling MA

Public Anthropology houses London’s global non-fiction film festival, Open City Documentary Festival. Open City Documentary Festival produces an annual film festival, the bi-annual journal Non-Fiction and screening projects throughout the year.

Public Anthropology runs short courses in filmmaking, audio, virtual reality, film theory, practical camera training and film editing.