The 15-credit Cinema Studies minor (previously called the Film Studies minor) is designed for students interested in studying movie as texts and as popular culture. Traditionally, students of this discipline study the history, production processes and the aesthetics of film as well as the theories that analyze the ways in which film, culture and audience interact to negotiate and construct meaning.

The two required courses provide the foundations for these four areas of investigation (history, production, aesthetics, theory). The electives offer an opportunity for a wider breadth of experience or a more tightly focused study.

Required Foundation Courses (6 credits)

Non-American Film Course* (3 credits)
Select from the following:

C. Auteur Course (3 credits)
Three credits of study on a director, such as:

D. Cinema Studies Course (3 credits)
Three credits of cinema survey, such as:

Course Descriptions

  • FILM1501 A basic introduction to the art of telling the visual story, examining the work of the screenwriter, art director, producer, director, actor, music composer, editor and studio executive. Such subjects as a films theme and focus, genre and market are closely discussed. The class consists of viewing film clips, readings and discussions on what are all the elements that contribute to the visual story - the how and why.

  • FILM2010 This course will study the influential works of film director, Spike Lee. From his early days at NYU, when he spoofed the controversial ?birth of a Nation?, his early films, ?She?s Gotta Have It? and ?Do the Right Thing?, through his work as a mainstream director, (?25th Hour?, ?Malcolm X?, ?Inside Man?, ?4 Little Girls?) the career and filmography of Spike Lee will be examined.

  • FILM2015 Development of the Italian cinema from Neo-Realism to today, in particular dealing with Rossellini, Fellini, Desica, Bertolucci, Pasolini, Antonioni and Wertmueller. Taught in English.

  • FILM2205 This course will introduce students to themes in film studies, with a look at how American, Italian and other internationally produced films portray images of women, as sexualized objects: as wives and homemakers; and as entrepreneurs and self-realized individuals, and how these images and ideas have changed over time. Full screenings in-class.

  • FILM2207 Over the past 25 years, the films of China, Japan and Korea have become staples of art-film houses and international film festivals. Additionally, low cost electronic media, global distribution networks and the interests of widespread, diasporic communities have made these films available to us in homes. This course examines the narrative concerns and structures and the visual styles of East Asian films in regard to their culture(s) of creation and reception. Directors might include Wong Kar-Wai, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Jia Zhangke, Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurasawa, Im Sang-soo, Kim Ki-duk, Hong Sang-soo.

  • FILM2350 A look at how developments in film language and changes in society formed the basis of a truly American cinema, not always helmed by Americans. Examples will be taken from: D.W. Griffith, F.W. Murnau (American Films), Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Hoard Hawks, John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler Orson Welles, Roman Polanski, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Ritt, Sam Peckinpah, Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, John Singleton, Quentin Tarantino, and Wes Anderson among others.

  • FILM3215 Survey of films from various countries with a focus on how different ways of seeing and thinking about the world are made manifest through narratives, styles and cinematic elements.

  • FILM3350 The history of film from the earliest attempts to visually reproduce motion to the sophistication of today's motion picture production, through the discussion and screening of such films as by D.W. Griffith, Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Coppola and international artists and their films. (Film clips and full screenings).

  • FREN2005 Development of French film with special emphasis on the contemporary period. The study of various movements in liteature and the visual arts, from antinaturalism to existentialism. Course examines how writers and filmmakers show their dissatisfaction with the status of what they consider to be the conventional modes of artistic expression.

  • HIST2100 Thematic treatment of the history behind cinematic portrayals of Europe in the Middle Ages, as well as what these films say about the socities that produce them.

  • JAPN3015 This course studies the culture of Japan through selected films. It highlights pivotal moments in Japanese history captured in Japanese movies. Moreover it takes a multidisciplinary approach to better understanding key topics regarding Japanese life.

  • SPAN2515 This course surveys Spanish Film. Students analyze how cinema represents Spanish history and culture. They also examine how Spanish Film has moved from local and national themes to include more global topics for an international audience

  • THEA2404 Study, analysis and dissection of the many creative and techni- cal ways Alfred Hitchcock "punctures" and titillates our emotions and imagination through his major works, such as "Psycho," "The Birds," "North by Northwest," "Rear Window" and other important films by the master of suspense. (Full screenings)

  • THEA2405 Screening and analyzing the numerous forms of film comedies in America and the many stars and comic teams that bring us unmitigated laughs and enjoyment: Mel Brooks, Marx Brothers, John Belushi Dan Ackroyd, Abbott and Costello, W.C. Fields and many other laughables. (Full screenings)

  • THEA2406 To examine, study and analyze, through lectures/ discussion/full-length features/clips, a broad range of Eastwood's artistic directorial/ producing capabilities in the motion picture medium. Films to be screened: The Unforgiven, Heartbreak Ridge, Pale Rider, Good-Bad-Ugly, Play Misty for Me, Dirty Harry, The Bridges of Madison County, Bird, Escape from Alcatraz, Sudden Impact, Mystic River.

  • THEA2408 Explores the cinematic style and many themes of this quintessential N.Y. filmmaker. Screenings and discussions will include "Annie Hall". "Hannah and Her Sisters", "Sleeper", "Love and Death", and "Manhattan", among others.

  • THEA3335 A detailed study of cinematic trends and expression through the works of major American film directors.

  • THEA3345 Screening, analyzing and dissecting the major films of one of Hollywood's greatest directors, Steven Spielberg, the course will study how Spielberg produces, directs and communicates through his works on a historical, psychological and cinematic level. (Full screenings)

  • VDEO2010 There has been much debate over what constitutes Film Noir. This class will examine it's beginnings as B films during WWII, how the genre got it's name from the French as well as various theories and concepts about the meaning of Film Noir - it's original meaning and what it means today. Students will view and discuss a retrospective of Noir classics and Neo-Noir films, with particular attention to styles and scripts.