Program Description

The cinema studies major offers students an opportunity for intensive study of the art of film through a broad range of courses in history and aesthetics. All students begin with year-long introductory surveys of film and modern art, then proceed to more advanced courses that focus on a wide variety of directors, national cinemas, genres, modes (narrative, documentary, avant-garde), and critical/theoretical approaches. In their senior year, students explore and extend their knowledge of cultural, historical, industrial, philosophical, and artistic perspectives on the medium in their senior project.

This program is rigorous and highly competitive, with official admission to the program contingent on successful completion of Introduction to Cinema Studies I and II during the freshman year and a qualifying examination in film history and aesthetics, which is given at the end of the freshman year.

Program Faculty

Requirements for the Major

Freshman year:

• Introduction to Cinema Studies I & II (a grade of B or higher is required in each)
  
• One art history course, chosen from the following or approved by the cinema studies program coordinator:
  History of Art Survey II
  Touchstones of Modern Art
  The Work of Images: The Function of Art in Western Culture
  Introduction to Modern Art
  Art Since 1945

To advance to the sophomore year, students must pass a qualifying examination in film history and aesthetics, which is given at the end of the freshman year.

Sophomore Through Senior Years

• One of the following courses:
  Close Analysis
  Research Practicum: Silent Cinema
  Principles of Montage
• Six upper-level elective courses in cinema studies
• Cinema Studies Junior Seminar
• Cinema Studies Senior Colloquium
• Cinema Studies Senior Project

Representative Elective Courses

American Cinema of the ’50s
American Film Genres
Cinema and Revolution
Contemporary Global Cinema
Cult Cinema
Documentary Film and Theory
Eastern European Film
French Cinema
Latin American Cinema
Meaning and Truth in Cinema
Methods in Film Criticism
Mexican Cinema
The American Avant-Garde Film
The Cinematic Bestiary
The Western
Topics in Classical Cinema

Representative Alumni

• Zak Block ’08, founder and editor-in-chief, Squawk Back (www.thesquawkback.com)
• Shira Daniels ’07, production assistant and executive assistant to the senior vice president of production and the executive producer, Zodiac USA
• Andrew Jupin ’06, programming associate and print coordinator, Jacob Burns Film Center
• Sean Weiner ’05, faculty member, Media Arts Lab, Jacob Burns Film Center

For more information, please visit the cinema studies program site.

Updated June 6, 2012

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