Professor Ian Christie will be delivering a series of lectures within the Master of Arts in Film Studies course offered through the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta.

Christie is a film historian, curator, broadcaster and consultant, and has been a professor of film and media history at Birbeck College, University of London, since 1999. He has written and edited books on early cinema, Russian cinema, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Martin Scorsese and Terry Gilliam and has worked on exhibitions ranging from Twilight of the Tsars (Hayward, 1991) to Modernism: Designing a New World (V&A, 2006).

He leads an annual workshop for the members of Europa Cinemas at the Bologna Cinema Ritrovato Festival, where the link between the old experience of cinema with contemporary culture and especially e-media is discussed. He currently serves on the UK Screen Heritage Programme Board and is also an adviser to the London Film Museum.

Christie’s current research interests include the history of production design, early and new optical media, the cultural impact of film in the digital era and the potential of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience to help us further understand the viewer’s experience on screen.

Tomorrow’s lecture entitled ‘From Glasshouses to the Dream Factory: A Short History of Set Design’ looks at the earliest film sets up to the major stylised sets of the 1920s and 1930s, and the creation of fantastic worlds in the 1940s. It is taking place at the Faculty of Arts Library, Old Humanities Building between 5pm and 7pm. On Wednesday, Christie will be looking at the advent of sound in cinema. When Warners introduced synchronised sound films in the late 1920s, they had little idea what it would be used for, apart from musical numbers. But the 1930s and 1940s saw a profusion of new genres that combined sound and image in very different ways. This is taking place at LC 119, Dun Mikiel Xerri Lecture Centre.

‘Sets and Settings: Representing London on Screen’ is the theme of Friday’s lecture. Filming in all large cities poses practical problems, so London-set films have tended to combine elements of location and built sets, creating a variety of cinematic versions of London. The lecture is being held at the Faculty of Arts Library, Old Humanities Building.

■ The public is invited to attend these lectures which are all taking place at the University of Malta between 5pm and 7pm. This is being organised with the support of the Ministry for Tourism and the Malta Film Commission.