Beyond the borders between our countries, reflection and analysis of films and audiovisuals are areas that have been explored in depth since the middle of the 20th century. The devotion to and study of the moving image that has developed in countries such as France, Italy or Germany explains the good state of health that has been enjoyed or is being enjoyed by the corresponding film industries, where the act of thinking the cinema has been a prelude to its practice. The International Master's Degree Programme in Film and Audiovisual Studies (IMAC in English) is the culmination of this trajectory in the teaching of the film industry, where the learning and traditions of the field's pioneering university centres are mixed with the resources and new visions of the most modern centres.

The International Master's Degree programme in Audiovisual and Cinema Studies (IMAC) is a unique initiative in this field that aims to combine the 17 most prestigious and experienced universities in film theory in the same project. These centres are joined in an extensive collaboration network to allow students to specialize in the different fields of this art: aesthetic analysis, historiography, preservation of the cinema, new trends in the film industry, hybridizations with other arts, documentary tradition and new audiovisual practices.

From the pooling of the various master's degrees in film of each of the universities, this initiative allows the students of this master's degree to do some of their training at their home university and complement it with two stages abroad at the universities where the faculty, curricula and teaching resources are best adapted to their educational interests. The international master's degree programme provides the chance to internationalize film research, both for future doctoral theses and for the opportunity to work abroad in the field of film or audiovisuals and their many branches.

In the 21st century, where screens have become the main medium of interacting with the world around us, an initiative of this magnitude encompasses both the need for students' internationalization and the need for film and audiovisual studies to be as transversal and complete as possible at all levels.

  • Training to be able to write a doctoral thesis in the future as an essential part of the pedagogical aims. Knowledge of the different paradigms involved in film theory and the development of strategies and analytical methods in relation to film or audiovisual works are considered essential.

  • The master's degree programme must enable students to teach in the broad audiovisual field. The advanced knowledge acquired by students by the end of the master's degree programme must also train them for management and programming in institutions dedicated to the preservation, cataloguing or dissemination of audiovisual works such as film libraries, festivals, museums and cultural centres or for specialized film or television critique.

Specific skills

  • Specific knowledge about research theories and methods in contemporary audiovisuals.
  • Specific knowledge about the practice of research in relation to the context of contemporary audiovisuals.
  • Knowledge about the new forms of visual representation in relation to the tradition.
  • Cognitive ability to understand and interrelate knowledge in the audiovisual field.
  • Ability to search for and use written materials to document ideas.
  • Capacity for critical analysis and thinking.
  • Creativity in the hermeneutic interpretation of images.
  • Ability to write and convey the ideas generated by images. 
  • Ability to transmit knowledge of cinema and audiovisual works in the field of teaching or in the resulting professional practice. 
  • Training for students to conduct their own research on the basis of the knowledge and research methods acquired. 
  • Ability to conduct original research on cinematographic works.

Transversal skills

  • Intellectual: critical analysis of the academic skills acquired. Ability to generate new ideas in the field of the academic essay.
  • Communication: presenting research, ideas and scientific findings worthy of in-depth study constructively and effectively.
  • Interpersonal: knowing how to reflect aloud in both lectures and in the oral presentations given by fellow students. Knowing how to make the field of study known. Knowing how to understand new study fields.
  • Personal management: efficient and effective organization of their own time —developing the ability for self-learning enabling them hermeneutically to re-read the world (of images) that surrounds them.