Teaching film studies in the age of streamed screenings and the commercial teaching archive

New modes of online and hybrid course delivery can pose significant challenges for teaching film studies. The shift from in-class screenings to online delivery of course films impacts what is available to screen—privileging work available in digital form—and how this material is accessed and engaged with. This article discusses some of the issues and opportunities that can arise from the move to online learning for film programs by reflecting on the place of ‘unseen’ films in the curriculum and classroom. Over the past few years ‘unmade films’ have become an area of interest for film scholars for understanding how material resources and opportunities are allocated in screen industries. This article proposes that contemporary film studies teaching needs an analogous discourse of unseen cinema, and explores how teaching ‘the films we can’t see’ might offer a productive way of teaching film studies in the age of online delivery.