Undergraduate Catalog 2009-2011

Cinema Studies

Faculty

B. Barr, Program Coordinator; C. Austad, S. Barnett, D. Blitz, J. Boutouba, S. Cohen, J. Del Ama, G. Emeagwali, R. Kagan, P. Lapuerta, C. Pesca, K. Ritzenhoff, J. Teitler (Dept. phone 832-2780)

Program Overview

The interdisciplinary minor in cinema studies is for students interested in developing a critical understanding of the moving image. Audio-visual media play a dominant role in our culture and in our lives, and this course of study will provide students with the skills to create, understand, and interpret various forms of the moving image. The minor is multidisciplinary in method (drawing on courses from different departments in the university) and multicultural in scope as it seeks to look at media in an international and cross-cultural context. This course of study regards cinema as an art form, as social practice, and as cultural artifact. Courses in the minor cover the history, theory, criticism, and practice of the moving image, with the aim of creating active and critical viewers of films and other audio-visual texts.

The curriculum for cinema studies may include coursework in film history, production, film theory, national cinemas, genre studies, authorship, visual culture, history, philosophy, and aesthetics. All courses in the curriculum are devoted primarily to study or production of the moving image. A rigorous curriculum will be grounded first of all in a basic understanding of production along with cinema history and theory. Students may then elect to focus on production courses, critical studies courses, or a combination of both.