12) Film History:

After a survey of the early history of film aesthetics and technology, students study masterpieces of the American sound film, with a focus on genres. The class also examines the influence of European and Asian filmmakers.

Topics covered include:

• From still photography to moving pictures
• The impact of Griffith and Eisenstein
• The Soviet propaganda film
• German expressionism and French avant-garde
• Film noir, the French new wave
• Great Asian directors: Kurosawa and Ozu
• Personal directorial styles: Capra, Hawks, Ford, Welles, Kazan and Kubrick
• Important Europeans: Antonini, Wenders, Truffaut, Godard, Ophuls, Fellini and Bergman
• Classical Hollywood system vs. modernism
• Celebrated contemporary American directors