Film & Media Studies

This course traces the history of comics and graphic novels in Western Europe and North America. Beginning with an introduction presenting the main characteristics of this medium, this course traces its development, from the beginnings of storytelling with images in Antiquity to the latest innovations. Even though they have retained their own characteristics over the last two centuries, Western European and North American comics have also developed in close proximity. Following the development of the press and book industry, as well as other media like cinema, comics and graphic novels have a rich history that can only be understood in their cultural context. This course allows students to understand how this medium has shaped and been shaped by many aspects of the history and cultures of these places.

This course introduces fiction film screenwriting. It covers the professional practice of developing, writing and rewriting short film scripts in a collaborative, workshop environment. Upon completing this course, students will have significantly developed their practice in preparation for future screenwriting projects.

This course covers the historical development of journalistic activity in Brazil across different media. It investigates the relationships between journalism, culture, and power in Brazil.

This course examines media through a social justice lens – revealing hidden costs and social, political, cultural implications of emerging media technologies and longstanding media practices. It covers key concepts and theories from media studies, journalism studies, cultural studies, sociology, and criminology, with an emphasis on First Nations knowledges and critical approaches to race and gender. 

In contemporary cinema and media studies, few concepts are invoked as often the ‘the digital’. Despite our familiarity with the term, the issues associated with it are complex and part of a much longer relationship between media, technology, and production practices. To address these issues from a theoretical and practical perspective, this course explores a range of topics related to digital aesthetics, data, bodies and performers. Across the course, students engage in related practical tasks that provide an experiential form of understanding and encourage embodied reflection on the topics under focus. The tasks offer students increased awareness of the range of easily accessed digital tools, and instill increased confidence when it comes to incorporating such tools into practice-based work.

This course covers Cuban cinema since the creation of the film institute (ICAIC) in 1959. It considers films by Cuban directors, and representations of Cuba by foreign filmmakers and Cuban filmmakers in exile, thus focusing on screenings of Cuba and Cuban topics from multiple viewpoints. Specific aesthetics are studied to contextualize applications of Cuban theoretical texts in relation to imperfect cinema, and the viewer's dialectics. The course explores the effects of non-chronological sequencing and distancing in film; black humour, subjectivity, and alterity; allegorical interpretations leading to censorship; the self and the State, with particular attention to gender and sexuality in relation to law; film autobiography as a genre; auteur cinema; revolution and the creation of the 'new man'; revolutionary national identity 2 and marginality; and diaspora, exile and inner exile, among other topics. Overall, this module studies film as a political medium across modern and postmodern contexts, using theoretical texts and key films to illustrate pivotal turning points in socio-historical contexts specific to Cuba and the impact of its 1959 revolution on all aspects of public and private life.

This course is a specialized AI vertical teaching program tailored for practical audiovisual content production. The core content consists of three parts:

‌1.Fundamentals and Creativity‌ (Development and industry applications of AI media technology, AI video themes and creative thinking).
‌2.Production Process and Basic Software Operations‌ (Full workflow overview and integrated script planning, text-to-image generation and precise control methods, comprehensive practices of text/image-to-video).
‌Advanced Industry Applications‌ (Usage channels of SD tools, explanations of SD FLUX KONTEXT models and Comfyui node-based workflows, AI special effects production methods and related tool applications).

This course examines horror’s aesthetic, experiential, and political dimensions, while investigating why and how it has persisted as one of popular culture’s most vigorous and influential genres. It closely considers a range of classic and contemporary films, TV shows and video games, confronting questions of power, affect, mediation and representation.

This course explores a range of films (popular genre movies and art cinema) from post-war Japan in relation to their historical background (national and international). It examines in particular the international circulation and understanding of Japanese cinema.

This course teaches critical thinking approaches, methods, and techniques for evaluating information and making sound decisions. It examines misinformation, common logical fallacies, and misleading uses of statistics and data visualization, using everyday examples to build practical analytical skills. Emphasis is placed on assessing the credibility and validity of information in an environment saturated with competing claims. By strengthening the ability to identify and challenge misinformation, the course highlights the importance of critical thinking for informed decision-making, scientific literacy, and the functioning of democratic societies.