| Spring 2006Schedule | Fall Schedule |

To Students: The film courses listed below will earn credits toward either the major or minor in Film Studies. Students seeking advisement on enrollments for Film Studies courses offered during the Summer or Fall of 2005 should contact:

Professor Stuart Liebman, Coordinator, Film Studies Program, in "G" 202B.

His office hours during Spring 2005 are M/W 10-12, and by appointment. Phone: 718-997-2962

R = required course for Film Studies major and minor
E = elective course

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Thursday 1:40-4:30 PM Professor Jiaxuan Zhang,

This course focuses on the new development of Chinese cinema since the mid-1980s, and specifically discusses the major aspects of this new orientation. The central theme of these new films is a critical examination of the history and the cultural tradition of China as well as the current reality of China 's society; the new-generation filmmakers' employment of cinematic technique is remarkably sophisticated. Moreover, as cinematic technique primarily originated in the West and was transplanted to the new cinema in China , an examination of how the same system of cinematic signs is exploited by Chinese filmmakers within their own cultural context is meaningful. A discussion of comparative cinema may lead to that of comparative culture. The screenings of two or three western films, therefore, is necessary for this discussion.


Thursday, 3:05-5:55 PM Professor Andrea Flores

In this course we see films from North Africa and read literature closely related to those films. Some film theory is also included. Issues of production, postcolonialism and national identity in film are examined. Readings: Arab Cinema , Viola Shafik; Dreams of Trespass , Fatima Mernissi; The Wretched of the Earth , Franz Fanon; Bab El-Oued , Merzak Allouache; Men in the Sun , Ghassan Kanafani; Lawrence of Arabia , Steven Caton. Film Screenings: New Arab Cinema (Dir. Ferid Boughedir); Silences of the Palace (Dir. Moufida Tlatli); The Battle of Algiers (Dir. Gilles Pontecorvo); Bab El-Oued and Omar Gatlato (Dir. Merzak Allouache); "The Dupes" (Dir. Ghassan Kanafani); Lawrence of Arabia (Dir. David Lean); A Wife for My Son (Dir. Ali Ghanem); Lion of the Desert (Dir. Moustafa Akkad); A Door to the Sky (Dir. Farida Belyazid).

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Thurs. 3:30-6:20 PM Professor Mark Rosenblum

In this course students will view and analyze a provocative series of commercial and documentary films by Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers who have projected images of conflict and resolution. Students will study with Israeli, Palestinian and American film directors, scholars, diplomats and activists who have documented and participated in the elusive quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace. The course will conclude with a simulation of an Israeli-Palestinian peace summit with students researching and role-playing the anticipated position of the two sides. Among the questions to be considered: Is peace between Israelis and Palestinians impossible, inevitable, contingent? What has been the American role from the Carter presidency to the Bush White House? Has the U.S. served as a peace broker or peace breaker?

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Wednesday 1:40 - 5:40 PM Professor Heather Hendershot

Everything in films today--composition, editing, lighting, narrative structure--was created 100 years ago by the inventors and innovators of early film. We cannot fully understand today's film industry, how today's films look, or even how they make us feel, without turning to our cinematic past for explanations. This survey course examines the history of cinema from its origins in the late 19th century to the transition to sound film in the late 1920s and early 1930s. We will study a range of films from all over the world, but we will focus in particular on U.S. films. Representative Films: Sherlock Junior (Keaton), Life of an American Fireman (Porter), A Corner in Wheat (Griffith), Male and Female (DeMille), The Smiling Madame Beudet (Dulac), Un Chien Andalou , (Bunuel/Dali), Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov), Metropolis (Lang). Representative Readings: Tino Balio, ed., The American Film Industry ; Anton Kaes, M ; Tom Gunning, D. W Griffith and the Origins of American Narrative Film .

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Monday/Wednesday 10:15-12:05 PM Profs. Jonathan Buchsbaum & Stuart Liebman

An examination of the dominant conventions characteristic of most film, television and video production. Lectures illustrated with a wide range of media examples present the basic principles of sound and image combinations, including technological principles, shot language, composition, editing, and storytelling. Readings cover both practical material and theoretical discussions of visual and audio parameters. Students apply these principles in the production of short video projects.

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Tuesday 1:40-4:30 PM Professor Rachel Lyon

For motivated and matriculating students, launching their own independent projects represents the single most likely path to a successful career behind the camera. Producing Independent Movies & Media will allow matriculating and advanced students learn how to create independent movies, programs, series, and other media within the current media business environment. They will learn about researching and writing compelling treatments, budgeting, and the actual presentation and "pitching" of projects in a professional manner. Additionally, students will study legal issues in filmmaking, resumé writing techniques, and the basic practices of fundraising. Students come out of the course with one project, ready for development, funding, and pre-production.

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Thursday 9:15 AM to 1:50 PM Professor Zoe Beloff

This course is an introduction to 16mm production. Lenses, exposure, basic lighting and editing will be covered. Storyboarding and shot construction will be discussed. A number of short 16mm films are screened in class. Each student will be expected to complete two short narrative films by the end of the semester. (No prerequisites).

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Monday/Wednesday 4:30-5:45 Professor Julian Cornell

A survey of the major classical and contemporary film theoretical writings. Authors to be read include Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Bazin, Munsterberg, Arnheim, Epstein, Metz , Mulvey and Carroll, among others. Topics such as feminist and psychoanalytic film theories, theories of the gaze will be considered.

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Thursday 4:00-8:00 PM Professor Heather Hendershot

This course surveys the history of the horror film, from its roots in the gothic novel to its more recent manifestations in the "slasher" film and the new Japanese ghost films. Students will consider issues of gender and spectatorship, the ideology of the family, and industrial and economic forces that have shaped the horror film such as the fall of the studio system and the rise of gimmicks such as 3D. A key goal of the class will be to examine the issue of taste and the horror film's simultaneous status as "trash" and "art," the relationship between cult and camp, and the high/low aesthetic of Italian "giallo" films. Representative Films : Frankenstein , The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , Invasion of the Body Snatchers , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , Halloween , Suspiria , Dead Alive . Representative Readings : Joan Hawkins, Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-Garde ; Carol Clover, Men, Women and Chainsaws ; Barry Keith Grant, ed. The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film ; Kevin Heffernan, Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror films and the American Movie Horror films and the American Movie Business 1953-1968 .

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Wednesday 6:30 - 10:20 PM Professor Julian Cornell

The focus of this course is the question: "What is the 'national' in national cinema?" Utilizing a wide selection of post war films from Eastern Europe as specific cultural and historical manifestations and 'evidence' this class will examine how a given country's cinematic production can be understood as an active intervention in the creation of that particular country's national identity. We will investigate the process by which these films envision, imagine and critique their respective societies during critical points in their histories. In particular, the course will be concerned with the role of the artist and filmmaker as a social critic in a Communist society. We will also investigate how a given film addresses the question of what their country's unique historical and political experience might mean. Films to be screened will include The Shop on Main Street and Closely Watched Trains ( Czechoslovakia ), Knife in the Water , Ashes and Diamonds and A Short Film About Killing ( Poland ), The Red and the White and A Film About Love ( Hungary ), Do You Remember, Dolly Bell ? (Bosnia), Before the Rain (Macedonia), Cabaret Balkan (Serbia), Jakob, der Lügner (East Germany), The Oak (Romania) and Nostalghia , Burnt By The Sun and Prisoner of the Mountains (Russia).

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Monday 6:30-10:20 PM Professor Julian Cornell

This course will introduce students to the works of four of Japan 's best-known cinematic artists: Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Nagisa Oshima and Takeshi Kitano. Students will be asked to consider each director's films from two complementary perspectives. First, each artist's work will be examined in terms of its distinctive aesthetic attributes. How does a given film express the unique vision of the director in terms of cinematic technique, approach to narrative and recurring thematic preoccupations? Second, the director and their films will be discussed in light of the larger historical, political and cultural context of their given era. How can we understand the artist in relation to their times? How do the films function as a form of social criticism and attempt to define the meaning of Japanese history and culture? Films to be screened will include: Rashômon , The Hidden Fortress , The Bad Sleep Well , Ugetsu Monogatori , The Life of Oharu , Sansho, the Bailiff , Cruel Story of Youth , Violence at Noon , Violent Cop , and Sonatine, among others.

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Tuesday 1:40-5:30 PM Professor John Matturi

The 1960s was a time of great turmoil and the events and the transformations and attitudes of the era continue to have an impact on our political, social, and cultural lives. The 1960s was also among the most exciting periods of film history and this course will examine how the innovative films of the time reflected, participated, and critiqued their era. Among the films to be screened are 2001: A Space Odyssey , Blow-Up , Bonnie and Clyde , Shock Corridor , Pierrot le Fou , Wavelength , and Apocalypse Now . We will critically read excerpts from relevant classical philosophers, including Plato and Rousseau; influential thinkers of the era, including Marshall McLuhan, Herbert Marcuse, and Susan Sontag; and commentators on the era and its films, including Alan Bloom and J. Hoberman.

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Friday 12-4:50 PM Professor Robert Kapsis

This course examines Alfred Hitchcock's career as well as his legacy, with special concern for how his influence is reflected in the contemporary thriller genre. In the first part, we will examine Hitchcock's motion pictures as well as his popular television series in relation to the network of influences which combined to produce them, including Hitchcock's personal eccentricities, the contexts of the thriller genre, the film industry, the film art world, and the wider society. In the second part, we will explore how Hitchcock's work has influenced the careers of important American directors, especially Brian De Palma, Martin Scorcese, and Steven Spielberg.

REQUIRED TEXTS : Kapsis, R., Hitchcock: The Making of a Reputation . Chicago : University of Chicago Press , 1992; Kapsis, R., Multimedia Hitchcock , DVD/ROM Disc, 2003 (Available from instructor); Spoto, D., The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock . New York : Da Capo Press, 1999; Wood, R., Hitchcock's Films Revisited . Revised Edition. New York : Columbia University Press, 2002; Modleski, T. The Women Who Knew Too Much . New York : Methuen , 1988; Cohen, P. Alfred Hitchcock: The Legacy of Victorianism . University Press of Kentucky , 1995.

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