Our Film Studies Minor

Explore your love of cinema with our film studies program

Are you a film buff who could spend hours streaming movies on Netflix? Take your love of movies to the next level with a film studies minor.

You'll learn to appreciate motion pictures as an art and cultural phenomenon while fulfilling the artistic expression requirements of our central curriculum.

Watch movies in and outside of class? Check.

Read books and journals and blogs about movies? Check.

Talk and write about movies? Check.

Maybe even write screenplays and shoot short features? Check.

Popcorn? It's up to you.

Our minor in film studies introduces students to the academic study of film. You'll learn the vocabulary of film criticism and appreciation and apply it to the analysis of American and international films of the past century.

You may take all five film studies courses to satisfy the minor or any number of film-based courses in topics such as history, English literature, political science and Jewish studies. Another option is to take screenwriting or production courses for film studies credit.

In recent years, we've offered courses on topics as diverse as:

The history of horror films
The films of Robert Altman
Cult films
Israeli cinema
Novel to film adaptations

Film classes taken while studying away are also often appropriate for transfer credit as film studies courses.

Add a film studies minor? Check.

Minor in Film Studies. The minor in film studies is an interdisciplinary program using courses in several departments and coordinated by the Film Institute. It provides students with a broad introduction to motion pictures as an art and cultural phenomenon. Students minoring in film studies complete, with grades of C- or better, 20 semester hours from the following: FILM-150, FILM-180, FILM-210, FILM-220, FILM-230, FILM-240, FILM-300, COMM-282 or COMM-382. Independent Studies and COMM-502 Individual Investigation are also available for credit toward the film studies minor, with Film Institute and instructor approval.

Double-counting restriction for interdisciplinary minors: only 4 semester hours of this minor may be double-counted toward the student's major.