Spring 2022
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
FILM STUDIES
FILM-ST – 296F – MA Multicultural Film Festival
Laura McGough, Cap 100, 1 Credits
Screenings: W 7:30pm - 10:30pm
Join the audience of students, faculty, and area community at the 29th annual Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival with films and directors from around the world introduced by leading scholars and filmmakers. The first and longest-running University-based film festival of its kind, the MMFF brings the best of new fiction, documentary and experimental filmmaking by international filmmakers and seeks to cultivate an appreciation of film and moving image media, to inspire audiences to a deeper understanding of the world’s cultures through film, and to celebrate past, present and future achievements of international filmmaking in a university setting. In this colloquium, you will attend festival screenings and participate in online discussions with other students about what most interested, inspired, surprised you about the filmmakers, filmmaking, and the subject matter of works programed in this season’sfestival.
FILM-ST 381 Self-Reflective Avant-Garde Film
Don Levine, Cap 30, 4 Credits
Lecture: Th 4:00 pm - 7:30Ppm
Discussions: Tu 2:30pm - 3:45pm
Tu 4pm - 5:15pm
This course is cross-listed in Comparative Literature.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: H2, E
FILM-ST 395A Global Film Noir
Don Levine, Cap 8, 3 Credits
Lecture: W 4:00pm – 6:30pm
This course is cross-listed in Comparative Literature.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: D&G, E
FILM-ST- 397E Film at the End of the World
Daniel Pope, Cap 25, 3 Credits
Lecture: M 4:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: ILCS404
Existential threats—real, imagined, metaphorical—inspire a swiftly growing set of films from around the world. Catastrophic pandemics, climate disaster, world war, alien invasions, cosmic collisions, dystopias, zombies, intelligent machines, mass extinction, prophesied apocalypse… and the list goes on. What do films about the end of the world tell us about contemporary realities? What insights do they offer into the cultural moment that produces them and the prevailing attitudes and realities of gender, race, class, sexuality, and gender identity? How do they speak to our anxieties and fears about the future as well as our hopes and aspirations? How does the genre of end-of-the-world films intersect with other genres—thriller, action film, neo-noir, comedy, art-house, romance, drama, experimental, historical? In this course we will study the cinema of ultimate endings and analyze a range of filmic approaches to the philosophical, psychological, social, and aesthetic questions posed in end-of-the-world films.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: D&G, E
FILM-ST- 397DG Visual Cultures: Contemporary Indigenous Media
Laura McGough, Cap 5, 3 Credits
Lecture: M & W 1:25pm – 2:40pm
This course is cross-listed in Art.
In what ways can we understand the visual cultural practices currently being produced globally by Indigenous media makers? Is it possible to decolonize vision? How might visual cultural practices disrupt traditional Western narratives that position Indigenous people outside of technological progress and innovation? This course will provide students with a critical vocabulary for discussing a wide range of contemporary Indigenous media through the viewing of work created by established and emerging media makers in concert with contemporary media theory and criticism produced by Indigenous scholars and artists. Visual Cultures will survey global Indigenous media art produced post-1990 with a focus on new media practices. Students will view and interact with media across a broad range of mediums and technologies illustrative of global Indigenous media practices including experimental film, video art, media installation/projection, animation, Web projects, mediated performance, activist media and community video, Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), video games, and machinima.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
FILM-ST 397VL – Visiting Filmmaker Series
Natalia Cabral, Cap 15, 3 Credits
Lecture: TBD
This class belongs to the Visiting Professor of the 21st c. Series. Award-winning international filmmakers and film scholars offer classes in screenwriting, directing, cinematography, and other key areas of filmmaking. Students have a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience and enrich their portfolios. Class can be taken more than once, because content and faculty vary.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
FILM-ST – 497CM– Comedy: Italian Style
Andrea Malaguti, Cap 5, 3 Credits
Lecture: Tu & Th 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
This course is cross-listed in Italian.
The course explores post-WWII Italian comedies to understand how film depicts the social and ethical contradictions of capitalist society through the interactions between men who inevitably face their crisis and women who are the litmus test of such crisis and gradually get more agency. The text is conducted entirely in English.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N, E
FILM-ST- 497D Arthouse Cinema
Barry Spence, Cap 16, 3 Credits
Lecture: W 4:00 pm -7:30 pm
This course will examine the cultural phenomenon of the "art film" during the first three decades of the postwar period (1950s, 60s, 70s). The nature and characteristics of, as well as the relationships connecting and distinguishing, modernist cinema, art cinema, and avant-garde film during this vital period in film history will be the course's primary concern. We will examine the notion of the auteur and consider its usefulness for thinking about this multiform, innovative cinema. What is the relationship between cinematic modernism and the core principles and representational strategies of modern art? Does modern cinema, as Gilles Deleuze suggests, function as a mental substitute for the lost connection between the individual and the world? Can it restore our belief in the world? The course will pay particular attention to distinctive stylistic attributes, but will also look at dominant thematic concerns. There will be weekly in-class screenings as well as regular streaming of films outside of class. The filmmakers we will consider include, but are not limited to: Chantal Ackerman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Theo Angelopoulos, Ingmar Bergman, Stan Brakhage, Robert Bresson, Luis Bu?uel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Peter Greenaway, Werner Herzog, Miklos Jansco, Sergei Paradzhanov, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alain Resnais, Jean-Marie Straub, Andrei Tarkovsky, Francois Truffaut, Agnes Varda, Wim Wenders.
PREREQUISITES: For this advanced film course, students must have taken: an introduction to film course as well as at least two film courses at the 300 level or higher. If you have questions, contact the professor: bspence@umass.edu
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: H2, E
FILM-ST- 497PA Pasolini at 100
Andrea Malaguti, Cap 5, 3 Credits
Lecture: W 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
This course is cross-listed in Italian.
Course taught in English. This course examines the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini, alongside with some of his poems and essays on film, to understand the contemporary relevance, 100 years after his birth, of his critique of capitalist society and cultural homologation, pivoting on the radicalization of his sexual and ideological diversity and of an idea of cinema as recovering the experience of "poetry."
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: D&G, E
FILM-ST- 497SJ Exploring Social and Environmental Justice through Lusophone Literature, Film and Visual Arts
Patricia Isabel Martinho Ferreira, Cap 25, 3 Credits
Lecture: W 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
In this course we will learn about how cultural production from Brazil, Lusophone Africa and Portugal imagines and represents society, the environment, and the human impact on the world. We will draw on literature, film, and visual arts to engage in a conversation around topics and issues such as social and environmental (in)justices, different forms of violence and human rights violations, gender, race, class, politics and memory. We will study cultural practices that resort to different aesthetic and ideological approaches in order to respond, denounce, and creatively resist to.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N, E
AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES
AFROAM 297D - Special Topics- African American Image in Film
Instructor: Christian Woods Cap 30, 3 credits
TuTh 11:30AM - 12:45PM
This course focuses on the cinematic representations of African Americans in film from the 1890s to the present day. What were the dominant racial and gender images of African Americans that emerged during the slavery era? Why did such images achieve such popularity in film? How did black filmmakers engage with and refute dominant cultural and Hollywood images of African Americans while creating a cinematic language specific to African American experiences? What transformations have occurred in the images of African Americans in film since World War II, and especially since the 1960s?
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
ART
ART 230 Image Capturing
Instructor: TBD Cap 16, 3 credits
MoWe 9:05AM - 11:50AM
Introduction to photographic tools and methods. The balance between self-inquiry and the importance of process and materials as vehicles of meaning. Theory explored through class critiques and slide presentations. Photography examined and discussed both from a personal point of view and in its wider cultural context.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
ART 231 Photography II
Instructor: Susan Jahoda Cap 14, 3 credits
TuTh 8:30AM - 11:15AM
In-depth exploration of techniques and materials including zone system, large format, and non-silver processes. Slide lectures, discussions, and readings. Prerequisite: ART 230 or consent of instructor.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
ART 275 Digital Imaging
Instructor: TBD Cap 14, 3 credits
TuTh 1:00PM - 3:45PM
This course explores the creative possibilities of digital image creation and manipulation. Through demonstrations, creative technical assignments, students explore the digital workflow in independent projects involving sustained inquiry into self selected theme.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
ART 375 Moving Image
Instructor: TBD Cap 14, 3 credits
This course explores digital video and sound within the context of contemporary art practices. Students learn basic skills and concepts used in experimental digital video production through small-scale projects.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
ART 384 Computer Animation II
Instructor: TBD Cap 16, 3 credits
MoWe 9:05AM - 11:50AM
The second of a two semester sequence. Animation techniques using digital tools as applied to film, video, music and tehcnology. Animation software (Maya) and professional compositing programs are used. Development and design of personal work is stressed. Emphasis is on creativitiy and professionalism. Studio course.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
ART 397DG - Special Topics- Visual Culture: Contemporary Indigenous Media
Instructor: Laura McGough Cap 20, 3 credits
MoWe 1:25PM - 2:40PM
In what ways can we understand the visual cultural practices currently being produced globally by Indigenous media makers? Is it possible to decolonize vision? How might visual cultural practices disrupt traditional Western narratives that position Indigenous people outside of technological progress and innovation? This course will provide students with a critical vocabulary for discussing a wide range of contemporary Indigenous media through the viewing of work created by established and emerging media makers in concert with contemporary media theory and criticism produced by Indigenous scholars and artists. Visual Cultures will survey global Indigenous media art produced post-1990 with a focus on new media practices. Students will view and interact with media across a broad range of mediums and technologies illustrative of global Indigenous media practices including experimental film, video art, media installation/projection, animation, Web projects, mediated performance, activist media and community video, Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), video games, and machinima.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
COMMUNICATION
COMM 140 – Introduction to Film Studies
Instructor: TBD, Cap 125, 3 Credits
Lecture: Tu & Th 2:30 pm – 3:45 pm; Screening: Tu 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
This course offers an introduction to the study of film as a distinct medium. It introduces the ways in which film style, form, and genre contribute to the meaning and the experience of movies. Topics include film as industrial commodity, narrative and non-narrative form, aspects of style (e.g. composition, cinematography, editing, and sound), and the role of film as a cultural practice. Examples are drawn from new and classic films, from Hollywood and from around the world. This course is intended to serve as a basis for film studies courses you might take in the future.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: I, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N/A
COMM 284 Possible Futures: Science Fiction in Global Cinemas
Instructor: Kevin Anderson Cap 110, 4 credits
Fr 10:10AM - 1:10PM
There are multiple growing concerns regarding issues of climate, class, race, gender identity, and the nature of democracy in our contemporary world. Science fiction has proven to be a thought-provoking genre to help raise awareness to many of these social and environmental issues. This course takes a global perspective on such pressing issues by examining science fiction films from around the world. As such, the course uses science fiction films as primary texts, accompanied by weekly readings. Students will engage in a critical analysis of the assigned films and readings in order to better appreciate what we can begin to anticipate regarding our future. (Gen. Ed. SB, DG)
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
COMM 331 Program Process in Television
Instructor: Jason May Cap 36, 3 credits
Lecture: We 10:10AM - 11:00AM
Labs: Mo 1:25PM - 4:25PM
We 1:25PM - 4:25PM
Fr 9:05AM - 12:05PM
Lecture, studio lab. This course introduces concepts and techniques of television production through weekly lectures and lab meetings. During the first seven weeks, basic field camera concepts and techniques, as well as other video production information, are introduced in the lecture. Under the supervision of their lab instructor, they will produce a short program that puts the concept of the week to work. During the second half of the semester, students work on two major projects: first, a short, narrative piece shot in single-camera, post-production style; and second, a multiple camera piece shot in the production studio.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
COMM 342 – History of Film II
Martin Norden , Cap 50, 3 Credits
Lecture: Tu & Th 2:30 pm – 3:45; Screening: Tu 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
A survey of key events and representative films that mark the history of worldwide cinema since 1950. In addition to identifying and providing access to major works, the course is designed to facilitate the study of the various influences -- industrial, technological, aesthetic, social, cultural, and political -- that have shaped the evolution of the medium.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: H2, E
COMM 345 – Contemporary World Cinema
Anne Ciecko, Cap 43, 3 Credits
Lecture: M 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
This course offers an overview of recent filmmaking from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and elsewhere. While narrative fiction feature films are central, documentary, short-form work, and other digital/audiovisual media will also be included. Developing tools of film analysis and criticism, we will explore representational strategies and issues of context: current events, cultural, political, social, historical, and economic circumstances that impact the production, exhibition, marketing, distribution, and reception of films. The class meeting time includes lectures, discussions, class activities, and regular screenings of feature films and clips; at least one screening outside class may also be required. All undergraduates are welcome. No prior background in film studies is required, only an openness to diverse cultures and representations.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N, E
COMM 360 – Music, Culture, and the Moving Image
Kevin Anderson, Cap 100, 4 Credits
This course explores the relationship between music and the moving image across multiple forms of media, including Film and Television, Documentaries, Music Videos, Video Games, Commercials, Broadcasts (e.g. news, sports), and Social Media (e.g. TikTok). The scope of the material studied includes examples from multiple cultures and points in the history of the moving image, paying particular attention to hybrid and cross-cultural blends of image and music, and the ways in which this marriage of image and sound produce cultural and emotional meanings.
Students will be exposed to a wide variety of international, cultural, and historic pairings of music with moving images, and will emerge from the course with a thorough foundation in the following: how and why music pairs with the moving image; how and why the relationship between music and images has varied across time and cultures; and the ways in which psychological states, cultural-historical markers, and emotional appeal are targeted through the pairing of sonic and visual stimuli.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
COMM 397B - ST-Intro Studio Directing
Instructor: Jason May Cap 12, 3 credits
Th 10:00AM - 2:00PM
Students will learn basic concepts and techniques of directing studio television productions in a full-scale studio facility on the UMASS campus. The course focuses on the analysis of subject matters addressed in late night sketch comedy, along with the technical execution and eventual production of a collective effort long format skit show. Each student will create and direct one skit, while filling other production roles as needed for all other student projects. Some post-production editing and field camera work will be involved.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
COMM 433 - Advanced Television Production and Direction
Instructor: Jason May Cap 12, 3 credits
Tu 2:55PM - 7:00PM
Intensive workshop course in advanced concepts and techniques of studio-based television production, with a focus on the direction of live programs. Under the supervision of the instructor, each student will produce individual projects in a variety of genres, which will be streamed digitally. Some post-production editing and field camera work will be involved.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
COMM 445 – Screenwriting
Martin Norden, Cap 20, 3 Credits
Lecture: Tu & Th 10:00 am – 11:15 am
An examination of the art, craft, and business of screenwriting from theoretical and practical perspectives. Topics include screenplay format and structure, story, plot and character development, dialog and scene description, visual storytelling, pace and rhythm, analysis of professional and student scripts and films.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
COMM 597V - Special Topics- Advanced Video Production Workshop
Instructor: Kevin Anderson Cap 12, 3 credits
Tu 4:00PM - 7:00PM
Students work individually or in small groups to devote the entire semester's class time to the creation and completion of a substantial media project: e.g. short narrative film, documentary, music videos, TV or Web series, etc. Students are required to have a script or outline of the project prior to the start of the semester so that projects will commence production shortly into the semester and move on to completion of post-production, including creation of a soundtrack; run test screenings; develop marketing strategies for distribution and/or festival exhibitions.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
COMP-LIT 350: -- International Film
Barry Spence Cap: 75 Credits: 4.
Gen Ed: AT
Lecture/Screening: Thursday 4:00-7:00
Friday Discussion sections (consult Spire)
We will screen films from across the globe studying examples of a range of lesser-known subgenres of the Horror film, such as Giallo (Italian genre mixing slasher horror with detective mysteries), Fantastique (French genre mixing gothic horror with fantasy erotica), and Jiangshi (Hong Kong genre mixing slasher horror with Kung Fu). And we will consider in equal measure the so-called dystopian film. We will look at the interrelationship connecting these two modes, which can be seen at work in films like Battle Royale. This course will include a primary focus on gender issues, will examine the representation of women, and will screen (transgressive) examples of these modes by women filmmakers. The intention of this course is to expose students to a cultural diversity of these vital contemporary film genres beyond the conventional Hollywood fare. Weekly film screenings and discussion.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: D&G, E
COMP-LIT 391W - Seminar- Dream, History & Identity in Polish Film
Instructor: Krzysztof Rowinski Cap 25, 3 credits
TUTH1:00-2:15
What happens when a nation "dreams" itself, when it projects an image of its identity and uses it to negotiate its socio-historic predicament? Perhaps modern Polish cinema, which rose from the ashes of the Holocaust and World War II and in a new communist age, offers as good a case study as any of this important question. In the course of this class, we will look at Polish history as mediated through the lens of film in works by Wajda, Has, Munk, Kieslowski, Roman Polanski, Skolimowski, Zanussi, Holland, and more recent filmmakers such as Pawlikowski, who have also more readily addressed social and psychosexual norms, applying a queering lens to traditional motifs, including family, the church, death and sexuality. Accompanying these works is the notion that the very act of recreating history necessarily transforms it into something else. In these diverse "dreams of Poland" and of Polish identity - some more serene, some more hallucinatory - we will also get a better sense of what Deleuze meant when he warned of getting lost in someone else's dream.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N, E
FRENCH
All courses are cross listed with Film Studies
GERMAN
All courses are cross listed with Film Studies.
ITALIAN
All courses are cross listed with Film Studies
JAPANESE
JAPANESE- 391T – Tokyo Through Literature and Film
Amanda Seaman, Cap. 15, 3 Credits
Lecture: Tu & Th 11:30 am - 12:45 pm
PREREQ: NONE
NOTE: This class has a graduate joint-section under Japanese 591T
In this course we will explore the transformation of Tokyo from Edo into one of the most vibrant, cosmopolitan cities of the world. Taking the themes of maps, disaster, and rebirth, and the role of space in identity formation, we will look at how the city has been transformed and reborn. Our materials will include film, photos, literature, and history in order to delve into the nooks and crannies of the city and the city spaces.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N, E
JOURNALISM
JOURNAL 333 - Introduction to Visual Storytelling
Instructor: Brian McDermott Cap 60, 4 credits
TuTh 10:00AM - 11:15AM
In introduction to Visual Storytelling, students will become better producers and consumers of visual media. Students will develop a deeper visual literacy by studying topics like visual ethics, aesthetics, agency, and the currents of the modern visual journalism ecosystem. By reporting their own video, photography and data visualization projects, students will learn how to control exposure with a DSLR camera, how to capture quality video and how to use different editing and production software. (Gen. Ed. AT)
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
JOURNAL 444 - Short-Form Documentary
Instructor: Greeley Kyle Cap 16, 4 credits
TuTh 1:00PM - 3:00PM
This class is where documentary filmmaking and traditional journalism meet. People often look at news for the headlines and see little bits of the news. Here, we give them more depth, alternate perspectives, ask deeper questions and look to the future with long form storytelling. David Wilson, a co-founder of the True/False Film Festival calls this a "new era of journalism" and says, "We are getting away from the 'voice of God' narration. Primary sources still rule, but viewers also want stories to help triangulate a topic." The challenge of modern day videos is to tell enrapturing stories in a short period of time. This course will teach you how to produce short, sharp, strong micro-documentaries.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
JUDAIC
All courses are cross listed with Film Studies.
SPANISH & PORTUGUESE
SPAN- 397W Latin America Cinema
TBD, Cap TBD, 3 Credits
Screenings/Lecture: TBD
The course is designed to introduce students to the films of some of the most important Latin American directors. The course will center on a variety of topics that are vital to the understanding of the most significant political, historical, social and cultural events that have shaped Latin America.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N, E
ONLINE COURSES
FILM-ST 284 – The Undead Souths
Patrick Mensah, Cap 12, 4 Credits
Lecture: Online
Gen Ed: AT, DU
This course is cross-listed in French.
This course will explore themes of the Southern Gothic in works of Cinema and popular Televisual narratives. We will study the development of the lurid motifs of the Gothic that works affiliated with this genre often deploy to invoke a sense of horror and dread, moral corruption, and psychological abjection, all seemingly meant to assimilate the South and its citizens to the category of a degenerate and menacing otherness. The imagery of dismal landscapes, dark swamps, decaying architecture, fanatical and occult religious practices, and the often grotesque or monstrous figures and cultural tropes that aspire to associate the South with an imaginary medieval past, will be examined mostly as marks of an ambivalent ideological struggle surrounding the self-identity of America. Thanks to this regime of gothic tropes and insignia, America, on the one hand, heralds its own self-identity as culturally rich and historically continuous, and yet, it is, at least partly thanks to this same regimen of gothic tropes (understood as figures of otherness), on the other hand, that America also typically (or stereotypically) deals with anxieties arising from its attempts to define its own modern identity, and its identity as modern and exceptional. Such anxieties give rise to instances of negative stereotyping, and practices of cultural exclusion that the course critically interrogates. We also study several important ways in which the Gothic serves as an important voice for the marginalized, while enabling critical reflections on the social and cultural practices of exclusion we have alluded to.
The history of slavery, the civil war, and its aftermath, as well as literature produced by certain Southern writers (such as William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Katherine Anne Porter, and others) since the late 19th century, will be identified as important defining contexts of emergence for the Southern gothic, and as the indispensable conditions that have made its deployment into 20th century film and television possible. Due attention will also be paid to the influence of French colonial adventures and interventions in shaping cultures and "gothic" mythologies of the American South, and the Caribbean, as well as the role played by America's own efforts to secure and maintain hegemonic influences on the region.
The course is conducted in English and requires no prior knowledge of the field. All films are streamed to your computer from the UMass library on demand. Required readings are provided online, and no book purchases are necessary.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
FILM-ST- 397E Film/End of the World
Daniel Pope, Cap 10, 3 Credits
Lecture: Online
Existential threats-real, imagined, metaphorical-inspire a swiftly growing set of films from around the world. Catastrophic pandemics, climate disaster, world war, alien invasions, cosmic collisions, dystopias, zombies, intelligent machines, mass extinction, prophesied apocalypse...and the list goes on. What do films about the end of the world tell us about contemporary realities? What insights do they offer into the cultural moment that produces them and the prevailing attitudes and realities of gender, race, class, sexuality, and gender identity? How do they speak to our anxieties and fears about the future as well as our hopes and aspirations? How does the genre of end-of-the-world films intersect with other genres-thriller, action film, neo-noir, comedy, art-house, romance, drama, experimental, historical? In this course we will study the cinema of ultimate endings and analyze a range of filmic approaches to the philosophical, psychological, social, and aesthetic questions posed in end-of-the-world films.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: D&G, E
FILM-ST 397Q – Production Sketchbook
Patricia Montoya, Cap 15, 3 Credits
Lecture: Online
Video, still images and sound are used in this course to explore the fundamental character of storytelling, filmmaking and time-based art practices. Students perform all aspects of production with particular attention to developing ideas and building analytical, critical and production skills. We will read seminal written work and interviews with practicing artists in order to expand our knowledge, understanding and love for the medium. Through exercises that include weekly projects students will produce sketches aimed at exploring video as an experimentation tool. There will be special emphasis paid to sound design that includes original music, and ambient sound gathered with separate sound recorder. The class will review students the basic theoretical tools to critique their own productions and develop an understanding of the possibilities that medium offers.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
FILM-ST- 497D Arthouse Cinema
Barry Spence, Cap 15, 3 Credits
Lecture: Online
This course will examine the cultural phenomenon of the "art film" during the first three decades of the postwar period (1950s, 60s, 70s). The nature and characteristics of, as well as the relationships connecting and distinguishing, modernist cinema, art cinema, and avant-garde film during this vital period in film history will be the course's primary concern. We will examine the notion of the auteur and consider its usefulness for thinking about this multiform, innovative cinema. What is the relationship between cinematic modernism and the core principles and representational strategies of modern art? Does modern cinema, as Gilles Deleuze suggests, function as a mental substitute for the lost connection between the individual and the world? Can it restore our belief in the world? The course will pay particular attention to distinctive stylistic attributes, but will also look at dominant thematic concerns. There will be weekly in-class screenings as well as regular streaming of films outside of class. The filmmakers we will consider include, but are not limited to: Chantal Ackerman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Theo Angelopoulos, Ingmar Bergman, Stan Brakhage, Robert Bresson, Luis Bu?uel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Peter Greenaway, Werner Herzog, Miklos Jansco, Sergei Paradzhanov, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alain Resnais, Jean-Marie Straub, Andrei Tarkovsky, Francois Truffaut, Agnes Varda, Wim Wenders.
PREREQUISITES: For this advanced film course, students must have taken: an introduction to film course as well as at least two film courses at the 300 level or higher. If you have questions, contact the professor: bspence@umass.edu
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: H2, E
FILM-ST 497K – Short Documentary Filmmaking
David Casals Roma, Cap 20, 3 Credits
Lecture: Online
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: D&G, E
GRADUATE COURSES
FILM-ST – 597CM– Comedy: Italian Style
Andrea Malaguti, Cap 5, 3 Credits
Lecture: Tu & Th 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
This course is cross-listed in Italian.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N, E
FILM-ST- 597PA Pasolini at 100
Andrea Malaguti, Cap 5, 3 Credits
Lecture: W 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
This course is cross-listed in Italian.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: D&G, E
FILM-ST- 597T Catalan Film Festival
Barbara Zecchi, Cap 30, 1 Credits
Lecture: 4/11 – 4/15, 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
FILM-ST- 597V Videographic Essay
Daniel Pope, Cap 25, 3 Credits
Lecture: Tu, 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm,
What is possible when the mode of film scholarship departs from the printed word and inhabits the form of the media it examines? As the media environment evolves, critical engagements with film are emerging in the digital landscape, with the videographic essay one of the most prominent. This is a course in planning, scripting, and editing videographic essays in film scholarship. Making a videographic essay is much like making a film, often with similarities to documentary and the essay film. As such, we will engage not only film analysis and film scholarship but also video editing, visual composition, sound design, and other aspects of moving image media. In this class, we examine a wide array of videographic essays and explore the unique analytical and expressive opportunities the medium offers. With this foundation, we develop the critical, creative, and technical skills necessary for making effective video essays addressing films and film theory, directors, genres, national cinemas, and cultural and sociological topics. Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: E
FILM-ST- 695A International Film Noir
Don Levine, Cap 2, 3 Credits
Seminar: W, 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Often referred to as the only indigenous American film style, "film noir" in its very appellation reveals that its major effects (for certain modern conceptions of cinema) lay elsewhere. We will examine film noir in its American heyday (1945-1957) and how it came to be a major propelling force in the new European cinema of the 1960's (Godard, and the Cahiers du cinema).
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: D&G, E
FILM-ST- 697B Israeli & Palestinian Cinema
Olga Gershenson, Cap 12, 3 Credits
Lecture: Th, 4:00pm - 6:45 pm
This course uses film to interrogate an array of issues defining Israeli and Palestinian societies, including competing views of national histories. The course will open with looking at the emergence and development of Israeli and Palestinian cinematic discourses and proceed to explore the dynamic of representation from the period of British mandate, through establishment of the state of Israel, and the onset of Palestinian diaspora, the wars of 1948 and 1967, to the current era. Discussion will be structured around the following major themes: borders and walls; historical traumas; collective and interpersonal memory; cultural influences and appropriations. In addition to film, we will bring into conversation other intertexts, including media, music, and visual arts. All readings and films are with English translation.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: III, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: N, E
FILM-ST- 797E Exile Cinema
Jonathan Skolnik, Cap 5, 3 Credits
Lecture: Th, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm
An exploration of films refugees from Nazi Germany, primarily in the USA (both Hollywood and B-productions) but also in the USSR and Palestine. Works by directors including Wilder, Sirk, Ulmer, Lang, Lubitsch, and Sternberg.
UNDERGRADUATE FILM STUDIES CERTIFICATE CATEGORY: II, IV, V
FILM STUDIES MAJOR IN BDIC CATEGORY: H2, E