The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is home to one of the largest collections of material relating to the moving image in Britain. We are both an accredited public museum and an academic research facility and we hold a collection of over 85,000 items. Over 1,000 of our items are on display in our Galleries and are available to be viewed by the public.
We welcome you back to explore three centuries of moving image history. Leading film critic Mark Kermode visited the museum in Summer 2017 and made this film about us for his 'KermodeUncut' video blog.
We welcome you back to explore three centuries of moving image history. Leading film critic Mark Kermode visited the museum in Summer 2017 and made this film about us for his 'KermodeUncut' video blog.
Services
The museum holds several archival collections which have been generously donated by key figures in British cinema. The archives have a particularly strong emphasis upon modern British independent films. This list is intended to give a brief overview of the various archive collections held in the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.
The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum partnered with Grand Challenges this year to create a digital showcase. This project was compiled to highlight the interconnectedness and hypertextual nature of the history of the cinema. Ranging from 19th century pre-cinema optics to star ephemera created in recent decades, the collection varies greatly but, observed collectively the individual items form a cohesive history of the evolution of film.
The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum supports teaching and research in a number of courses across the University of Exeter, in particular courses run by the College of Humanities. These films, which we have called Object Stories were filmed by student Mini Warren to showcase the research based in the museum by three menbers of film studies staff: Helen Hanson, Joe Kember and Lisa Stead.
We welcome school visits to the museum and can provide a tour of the galleries. We prefer that group visits take place during university vacation time if at all possible. To find out more information or to book a group visit, please contact us. You can find activities for children and information for teachers here.
Students volunteers often make films for us inspired by the museum and some examples are below. The following film from 2019 by Volunteer Elliana Hamer is a guide to new students on making the most of the museum during their time at the University of Exeter.
We are delighted to show this film by student volunteer (and member of campus filmmaking society XTV) Elliana which is an introduction and guide to using the museum for new and returning University of Exeter students during the course of their studies.
We are delighted to show this film by student volunteer (and member of campus filmmaking society XTV) Elliana which is an introduction and guide to using the museum for new and returning University of Exeter students during the course of their studies.
Reviews (10)
Carolyn Keil
Dec 13, 2021
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Monica W.
Nov 20, 2021
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Tiny but cute collection with surprisingly good items from 'non-Western' cultures. Really friendly curator. Not a fan of audiotours and my favourite thing about museums is reading the descriptions next to items, so just getting a few words on each piece here is a bit unsatisfying. 😂 But it's free and right on campus!!
John Dersley
Aug 12, 2021
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Definitely worth a visit if you're seriously interested in film history. It's fairly small, based around a bequest by Bill Douglas to the University of Exeter. To display as much as possible, the exhibit cases are a bit crowded but the items are of great interest. The second gallery has a good exhibition of pre-film moving image makers. Nice people in charge, and not too far to walk from the city centre (we did, ages 73 and 76).
Glenys Lloyd Williams
Jul 23, 2021
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Carlos Andres Gil Gomez
Jun 24, 2021
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In terms of museum experience, I should mention it was a singular one.
I visited the museum 2 years ago (approx), and I think I never saw one single person since I entered until I left, it was kind of spooky XD
Having said that, the actual museum pieces and the photos I brought back home were one of the big remarks of my travel to Exeter, it is a real shame it is not visited that often.
I visited the museum 2 years ago (approx), and I think I never saw one single person since I entered until I left, it was kind of spooky XD
Having said that, the actual museum pieces and the photos I brought back home were one of the big remarks of my travel to Exeter, it is a real shame it is not visited that often.
Lee McAllen
Aug 23, 2020
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Rhiannon Jones
Jan 25, 2020
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Cam Stace
Jan 11, 2020
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Ash
Nov 08, 2019
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Clare Baker
Jul 23, 2018
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A lovely little free museum. Free to visit on the University campus. Took kids ages 9, 10 & 12 years they had fun learning about the moving picture through a selection of toys they could handle and play with. Took about an hour to look around. Cabinets with displays and a information book you can borrow with more info. Parking on roadside and pay at machine. Visited in summer so no students about.
