Film Studies Certificate

Contact: Catherine Portuges, Director

Office: 101 South College

Phone: 545-3659

The Faculty

The Committee of the Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies administers the program and advises students in the Certificate in Film Studies. Committee members are: Chair: Catherine Portuges (Comparative Literature), Carolyn Anderson (Communication), Liane Brandon (School of Education), Dianne Brooks (Legal Studies), Barton Byg (Germanic Languages), Anne Ciecko (Communication), Laszlo Dienes (Comparative Literature), Patricia Galvis-Assmus (Art), Susan Jahoda (Art), Don Levine (Comparative Literature), Martin Norden (Communication), Roger Rideout (Music), Jacqueline Urla (Anthropology). Associated faculty (2002-03): Edwin Gentzler (Comparative Literature), Angel Loureiro (Spanish and Portuguese), Patrick Mensah (French and Italian), Robert Schwartzwald (French and Italian), Yaohua Shi (Asian Languages and Literatures), Jennifer Stone (French and Italian), Richard Stromgren (Communication).

The Certificate in Film Studies

The Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies offers a certificate to undergraduate students as a complement to their academic major. All undergraduates formally enrolled at the University may apply to this program which, upon successful completion, leads to a certificate in film studies at the time of graduation. The program provides a coherent course of study in film and video as contemporary art forms, drawing upon professors from the Colleges of Humanities and Fine Arts and Social and Behavioral Sciences and the School of Education. Interested students are encouraged to meet with an adviser in the Film Studies office to design an individual course sequence.

The Certificate in Film Studies in addition to a chosen major offers an excellent background for students who intend to enter the professional fields of film and television, wish to apply to graduate film school, and/or would like to expand their liberal arts education. The program offers practical experience through internships with public television and independent production companies, and other external opportunities for advanced work in theory, history, criticism and related aspects of studies in the moving image.

Requirements

A student who wishes to obtain a certificate in film studies takes a minimum of six courses (eighteen credits) in film, video and/or television from at least three different departments in order to ensure the interdepartmental and interdisciplinary nature of the certificate. These eighteen credits are drawn from five categories of courses, including:

1. An introductory course in film

2. Theory or history of film

3. Genre, auteur or national cinema

4. Upper-level seminars

5. Electives (courses in film or video production strongly encouraged)

The University offers approximately forty courses in film and related arts across the disciplines each semester, providing students with a wide selection of seminars that address film theory, criticism, and production, as well as connections between film and other visual and performing arts.