International Film Studies Certificate

Requirements

The Undergraduate Certificate in International Film Studies is organized around three conceptual and methodological elements:

1. Introduction to Film Studies
   
   Each student is required to take one film class designated as an introduction to Film Studies (click here for Courses). This course will not only introduce students to the history of film, but to the technical vocabulary of film study, from basic principles of mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound to more theoretical questions of narrative, authorship, and formal design, as well as broader considerations concerning the nature of the image and visual language. This component of the Undergraduate Certificate in International Film Studies also introduces students to the appropriate techniques of film analysis and strategies of analytical expression.
    
2. Comparative International Film
   
   Students are required to take Film Studies courses from several different national film traditions (click here for Courses) and to explore cinema as an international art form. Students will examine the earliest days of filmmaking in the late nineteenth century when the language of film was basically uniform, the national film styles that began to emerge during and after World War I, as well as the new internationalization of film today that puts, for example, Chinese and American film languages in dialogue with each other.
    
3. Certificate Capstone Project
   
   In the final Film Studies course that a student takes and plans to count as part of the Undergraduate Certificate in International Film Studies, the student will complete a research paper under the guidance of the faculty member teaching the course (click here for Certificate Capstone Project).

Courses

The Undergraduate Certificate in International Film Studies requires sixteen (16) hours of coursework in Film Studies.

• 3 hours may be, but are not required to be, at the 100 level;
• 6 hours must be at the 300 level or above;
• UK film courses count retroactively for the Undergraduate Certificate in International Film Studies. If you have already taken film courses, contact the Program Director;
• You may only take courses listed in the curriculum below one time. If you take a course in area no. 1 (Introduction to Film Studies), for example, you may not repeat that course in area no. 2 (Comparative International Film).

• Introduction to Film Studies: choose one of (3 hrs)

  • ENG 280: Introduction to Film (3)
  • FR 103: French Cinema (3)
  • JPN 283: Japanese Film (3)
  • GER 305: German Film Today (3)

• ​Comparative International Film: choose three (9 hrs)

  • The three courses must come from three separate national film traditions
    CHI 321 Introduction to Contemporary Chinese Film
    CLA 100 Ancient Stories in Modern Films
    ENG 180 Great Movies (Subtitle required)
    ENG 280 Introduction to Film
    ENG 284 History of Film I
    ENG 285 History of Film II
    ENG 380: Film and Genre: (Subtitle required)
    ENG 384: Literature and Film
    ENG 480G Studies in Film
    FR 103 French Cinema
    FR 225 French Film Noir
    FR 325 Le cinéma français [taught in French]
    FR 335 War, Literature, Film
    GER 305 German Film Today
    GER 361 German Cinema
    JPN 283 Japanese Film
    ITA 335 Topics in Italian Cinema (subtitle required)
    MCL 343 Global Horror
    PHI 393 Philosophy of Film
    RUS 275 Russian Film
    RUS 535 Russian Visual Studies
    SPA 371 Latin American Cinema (subtitle required)
    SPA 372 Spanish Cinema (subtitle required)
    SPA 529 Themes in Modern and Contemporary Spanish Literature, Culture and Film (subtitle required)
    SPA 539 Themes in Latin American Literature, Culture and Film (subtitle required)
    WRD 311 History of Documentary
    WRD 312 Introduction to Documentary
    WRD 412 Intermediate Documentary

• CAPSTONE COURSE (3 hrs)

CHI 321 Introduction to Contemporary Chinese Film
ENG 380: Film and Genre: (Subtitle required)
ENG 384: Literature and Film
ENG 480G Studies in Film
FR 325 Le cinéma français [taught in French]
FR 335 War, Literature, Film
GER 361 German Cinema
ITA 335 Topics in Italian Cinema (subtitle required)
MCL 343 Global Horror
PHI 393 Philosophy of Film
RUS 535 Russian Visual Studies
SPA 371 Latin American Cinema (subtitle required)
SPA 372 Spanish Cinema (subtitle required)
SPA 529 Themes in Modern and Contemporary Spanish Literature, Culture and Film (subtitle required) [N.B. may be taken only when the course topic pertains to film]
SPA 539 Themes in Latin American Literature, Culture and Film (subtitle required) [N.B. may be taken only when the course topic pertains to film]
WRD 311 History of Documentary
WRD 312 Introduction to Documentary
WRD 412 Intermediate Documentary

• MCL 592 Research Practicum: Film Studies Capstone (1 hr) 

Enroll in IFS