Film & Media Studies

This course examines the composition and direction of films and the relationship/position between the director and the audience.
 

To introduce the history of, and testimony about, the greatest genocide in human history - the Holocaust (aka Shoa) - this course centers on the narrative fiction, non-fiction, and films by an eminent Holocaust survivor, the Nobel Prize-nominated author and screenwriter, Professor Arnošt Lustig. It introduces the Holocaust and some of its most relevant sites in Central Europe to provide a historical, philosophical, and anthropological introduction to the catastrophe. Throughout, the course examines some of the key portions of Arnošt Lustig's Holocaust testimony encapsulated in his twenty one novels and collections of stories. By combining classroom instruction, commented film screenings, and visits to some of the most relevant Holocaust sites in Central Europe, this experiential course places the Holocaust within a larger historical, philosophical, and cultural context, and provides a deeper insight into the catastrophe known as Holocaust/Shoa.

What is the relationship between a city’s structure and the way it is represented? This course investigates this question by analyzing Florence’s urban history and its visual representation in paintings, frescoes, maps, photographs, and films from the 1200s to today. As the city has been in turn the site of a proud communal society, the main center of the Medici and then Lorraine rule, the capital of newly unified Italy and the repository of national and international cultural and ethical (and touristic) values, we examine how Florence has been both shaped by and represented according to different political and cultural agendas, and how the city’s structure and its representation have constantly affected each other. Special emphasis is devoted to the emergence of photography and cinema and the radical visual and conceptual shift that these media have produced in the city’s image. Some of the issues this course explores are: the role of linear perspective as a scientific and political tool for representing, conceptualizing, and controlling urban space; the ways in which the city has been reconfigured and portrayed by foreigners from the 1600s on; and photography’s and cinema’s potential for addressing compelling urban issues such as the contrast between memory and urban modernization, the elusive relationship of past preservation and mass tourism, and the enmeshment of notions of tourism and surveillance. 

This course explores the important roles media play in our everyday life, and considers a wide range of issues, including (but are not limited to): 
How do we incorporate various forms of media into our daily lives? 
How does media influence our perceptions of ourselves, others, and society?
What is so “new” about “new media”? 
What is so “social” about social media?
Why does media matter? 

This course provides an opportunity to reflect critically on one's media use, and helps them investigate the relationships between media, individuals, and society. 

This course examines the conceptual frameworks and technologies that shape the making of screen-based media and contemporary art practices. Through a series of lectures, seminars, tutorials, and screenings, students explore the evolution of experimental film, video art, and independent filmmaking from the 1960s to the present. Students engage in the production of a self-directed digital film that may be realized in any style or genre. They learn the applied skills and competencies needed to use of studio facilities and equipment.