LFS is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the education of filmmakers from the UK and the rest of the world. It aims to be the world's leading international conservatoire of filmmaking.

LFS offers MA, PhD and part-time workshops programmes focused on aesthetic achievement, craft excellence, creative collaboration and artistic freedom. It acts as a centre of inspiration for graduate students and working filmmakers, fostering professional development, innovation, research and scholarship across all practical areas of film.

The London Film School is a place to experiment, find your voice and connect with the industry.

For 60 years The London Film School (LFS) has been the place for emerging creative talent to hone their craft, find their voice and engage directly with the vibrant UK screen industries. With a student cohort from every corner of the globe, LFS has always been a cultural hub where fresh voices, experiences and perspectives rub shoulders with tradition and history. The story of film has played out here at Shelton Street – the pull of celluloid, alongside the push of the new and the emergence of a digital world. Here, we take both seriously to celebrate a tradition of innovation.

LFS is built around a conservatoire model, providing a hothouse environment for intense creative work. Our MA programs in Filmmaking, Screenwriting and International Film Business are recognised by Creative Skillset as industry standard and at a level of professionalism that has delivered us the status of a Film Academy. We are one of only three such academies in the UK.

With our MA Filmmaking there is no pre-specialisation, rather we believe that in order to find your filmmaking voice, you need to understand filmmaking as a whole. That is, you will experience and be provided with, a full education in all the craft areas. The experience we offer here is built around the notion that filmmaking is a collaborative process, not a product of any one individual. Our students engage across all disciplines, with their fellow students and staff. Our MA Screenwriting provides a unique opportunity to develop a full length feature film script, with individual mentoring and guidance from industry mentors. In addition, our screenwriting students have opportunities to work with our filmmaking students to make a number of short films across the year. In a fast-changing media landscape the need to understand digital strategies and new funding models is addressed in our MA International Film Business, a course run in conjunction with the University of Exeter. With modules in international finance, world cinema and a field trip to the Berlin Film Festival, the course prepares students for careers in programming, exhibition and distribution.

At LFS we nurture and respect the imagination of our students. We believe it is important to experiment, challenge conventions and explore new modes of storytelling, and to find new ways to connect with audiences. Through this we are able to set up a dynamic dialogue with the screen industries and to shape and influence the future. Our staff and visiting lecturers are connected to the UK and global industries, bringing their experiences into the everyday practice of teaching here at LFS. We balance the mastering of technical skills with the creative development of ideas. Alongside that, you will also engage with the new challenges facing screen storytellers in an ever-changing landscape. We apply that same imagination and experimentation to thinking about new business models and how to develop your career as an independent filmmaker.

In celebrating our 60 years we also look to the future. Our graduates have gone on to make substantial contributions to world cinema and global storytelling. Going forward we expect no less, but now the playing field is bigger. Outside of cinema we see our storytellers and our filmmakers working in television and across new platforms. As film and television converge, as new platforms emerge, our graduates will confidently explore how to adapt their skills and expertise in filmmaking to tell compelling stories in any medium, on any platform, in any place.

These are exciting times for the LFS and the industry. We invite you to join us as we enter the next chapter of our journey.

Student life

Course locations