Out of the Past – Film Noir and its Origins

An eight-week course with Matthew Jarron. Thursday evenings, 6.30 - 9.00 p.m. 22nd October - 10th December 2026 Booking will close on Monday 19th October 2026 at 12 noon. Due to limited resources we are UNABLE TO ACCEPT LATE BOOKINGS after this date. Thursday evenings 6.30 - 9.00pm for eight weeks, 22nd October - 10th December 2026 The dark and doom-laden world of film noir has given rise to many of cinema’s most enduring and influential creations. Its shadowy cinematography, hard-boiled detectives, glamorous femmes fatales and ambiguous, fatalistic plotlines continue to haunt our imaginations to this day. Yet as a genre it was only defined many years after its most celebrated films were made. In this new course, illustrated with numerous extracts and complete films, we will explore the international origins of film noir (particularly German expressionism and French poetic realism) before diving into the dark waters of classic American noir in the 1940s and 50s. ******* EARLY BIRD OFFER Signing up for this course by the end of September 2026 will entitle you to a promo code for a 50% discount for Matthew's next course, Cast a Dark Shadow – International Noir, a six-week course on Thursdays, 6.30-9pm, starting 21 January 2027. You will receive the promo code by email and it will be valid until the end of December 2026. ******* Tutor: Matthew Jarron Matthew is Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee, looking after a collection of over 30,000 objects, artworks and specimens and running the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, the Tayside Medical History Museum, and the exhibition programme in the Tower Foyer & Lamb Galleries. He also has a lifelong passion for cinema and has taught film history evening classes in Dundee since 2001. Course Code 10 118 Enquiries should be sent to: [email protected] As a volunteer organisation with limited resources we try to respond to queries as quickly as possible. Please bear with us.