We’re just days away from an exciting new Fall semester. In the event you’ve neglected to pick your classes yet because you’ve been too caught up traveling, hitting up the beach, binging Stranger Things on Netflix, or just straight up sleeping in every day, don’t sweat it. We’ve got you covered on what classes you might want to take this semester.
Core Courses
As far as the Core Courses go for the Film Studies Program, there are (2) classes every student is required to take: Intro to Film Studies (FIL3006) and History of Film (ENG4121). Luckily for us all, both are being offered this semester.
FIL3006 – Professor Dan Bentley-Baker, as usual, will be teaching Intro to Film Studies online. The course introduces students to cinema as an institution as well as its role as textual narrative and provides students with an understanding of the ways films can be analyzed and understood. Professor Bentley-Baker pushes students to go out and watch films they find interesting while teaching them about concepts that will shape their movie-viewing experience and working to fine-tune their analytical skills throughout the semester.
ENG4121 – Dr. Andrew Strycharski, our program’s director, will be teaching History of Film at MMC on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-10:45 AM. The course covers ― you guessed it ― the history of cinema across the world and throughout different eras, including Germany and Hollywood’s Golden Ages.
Electives
As part of the elective requirements of the program, Film Studies students will also need to take (6) credits of film-related courses within the English Department and (6) credits outside of the English Department. There are some fascinating choices this semester including Screenwriting, Intro to Directing and Acting, and Women in Film, but more on those in a bit.
(Inside of the Department)
CRW 4931 – Professor John Dufresne, whose list of published works and accolades could fill an entire article of its own, will be teaching Special Topics in Creative Writing: Screenwriting at BBC this Fall. The class will meet once per week, Tuesdays from 5:00-7:40 PM at BBC. Be advised: both CRW 3010 (Forms and Practices) and CRW 3111(Narrative Techniques) are prerequisites for this course.
ENG 4114 – Professor Kenneth Johnson will be teaching Film Adaptation of Literature online. This course examines the nature of cinematic adaptations of literary sources, differentiating between written and visual/aural storytelling and adaptation as literary interpretation.
ENG 4132 – Professor Orly Shuber will be teaching a course on Studies in the Film: New Hollywood Cinema on Tuesdays from 2:00-4:00 PM at BBC. The course focuses on the American film industry during the late ‘60s to the early ‘80s and will look at films like The Graduate, Easy Rider, and Chinatown.
ENG 4132 – Professor Nathaniel Cadle will be teaching Studies in the Film: 1950’s and Hollywood Maverick on Wednesdays from 5:00-7:40 PM. This course focuses on the maverick phenomenon in Hollywood films of the 1950s, when such directors and producers as Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, and Harry Belafonte challenged the status quo, censorship laws, and even the U.S. government to depict homosexuality, drug addiction, and the effects of racism. Some of the films that will be examined are Strangers on a Train, A Streetcar Named Desire. and Rebel Without a Cause.
ENG 4132 – Professor Dan Bentley-Baker is always offering unique special topics courses for the Film Studies Program. In the past, he’s taught entire courses focusing on directors like Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino. This semester, he will be teaching a hybrid course on Studies in the Film: Women in Film. The central concern of the course is the representation of women in both US cinema and international film. Students will meet once per week at MMC from 2:00-3:15 PM and take part in additional group or individual activities online.
FIL 3001 – Another online course offering you could take is Film Appreciation with Daniel Mitan. It is a class for the beginning student of filmmaking, which surveys the origins and development of cinematography as an art form.
(Outside of the Department)
ASN 3200 – Asia Through Films will be offered online by Professor Ian Cohen. The course provides an overview of Asian culture, history, and society through Asian cinema.
COM 3417 – There are several offerings for Communication in Film, this semester! Professors Eduardo Santa-Maria and Yvette Lujan will be teaching the course exclusively online while Professor Orly Shuber will teach it twice throughout the week at MMC. This course will examine the unique relationship between communication and film from the 1920’s (the era of silent film) through today.
POW 4390 – Brazilian Cinema will be taught by Professor Nicola Gavioli Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:00-6:15 PM at MMC. The course examines Brazilian films and culture from Cinema Novo to the present, focusing on the northeast, urban society, magic and the Amazon. Professor Gavioli promises this class will prove to be exciting and engaging and will look at films such as Glauber Rocha’s Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol and Fernando Meirelles’ Cidade de Deus. A word of caution to this tale: the class will be taught exclusively in Portuguese.
SPW 3392 – For those interested in Cuban cinema, Professor Santiago Juan-Navarro will be teaching Cuban Culture Through Cinema online. The course examines the evolution of popular culture in Cuba as expressed in films from the 1930s to the present and emphasizes the socioeconomic-economic and political issues that gave rise to each specific stage in the evolution of Cuban cinema. Pro tip: This course will be taught entirely in Spanish, though non-Spanish majors will be allowed to write their work in English.
TPP 3265 – Professor Phillip Church will teach Intro to Acting/Directing for TV/Film Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30-1:45PM at MMC. The course offers an introduction to the fundamentals of acting/directing for TV/Film through practical exercise and creative assignments.
Mario Avalos is a senior at Florida International University, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, along with certificates in Film Studies and Professional and Public Writing.