Please note: we strive to ensure that this information is accurate, but in the event of a discrepancy between this website and the calendar/timetable of the relevant university, the latter will of course take precedence.
All courses listed here are half year courses.
AHIS 3850: History and Criticism of Documentary Film
Winter: Tuesdays, 09.00-13.00
Instructor: Darrell Varga
Taught at NSCAD
Though screenings and readings, this course will provide an introduction to the history, theory and criticism of documentary film. It will examine both the work of individual filmmakers and topics such as didactic documentary, the direct address, propaganda, the “Voice of God”, cinema engagé/verité, and styles not normally associated with the documentary form.
Prerequisites: AHIS 2800 or AHIS 2810 (NSCAD) or THEA 2301 or THEA 3301 (Dalhousie)
AHIS 4200: Independent Study in Film and Criticism
Times non-specific
Instructor: Various
Taught at Dalhousie
This independent study enables a student to undertake a research project in the history, theory and/or criticism of film under the guidance of a film history faculty member.
Prerequisite: 12 credits of film history (equivalent to 2 credits at Dal/King’s), approval of project by proposed course supervisor and signature of Art History Division.
CRIM 3546: Crime and the Media (Cross-listed with SOSI 3546)
Fall: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10.00-11.15am
Instructor: Michele E. Byers
Taught at St Mary’s
This course focuses on the depiction of crime in various media of mass communication. Areas of study include corporate crime, violent crime, gangs, organized crime and terrorism. This course also examines how gender, race and class are related to the way crime is depicted in the mass media.
CTMP 3304: Through Her Eyes: Women and the Documentary Tradition (Cross-listed with GWST 3304.03 and JOUR 3304.03).
Fall: Tuesday 17:35 – 20:25
Instructor: Sylvia D. Hamilton
Taught at King’s College.
This course will explore the rarely examined historical and contemporary involvement of women in the field of documentary filmmaking. Women documentary makers have produced extensive bodies of engaging work that challenge many societal assumptions about gender, class, race, the function of political power, sexuality and peace-war. They have worked at every level within the process: as directors, cinematographers, editors, sound recordists, producers, writers and fund-raisers. A variety of documentaries made by women from diverse backgrounds will be screened and analyzed along with a close reading of selected critical texts. Students will identify the similarities and differences in subjects, themes, style, aesthetics, and approached to creation, production and distribution.
CTMP 3305: Modern Film and the Theory of the Gaze
Fall: Mondays, 17.05-19.25, Wednesdays 17.05-18.25
Instructor: Elizabeth Edwards
Taught at King’s College.
This class will develop certain aspects of the theory of the gaze in relation to a selection of films which themselves embody or express a thinking about looking. We all like to look; and we are all given over to being seen, and both these modalities have received historically unprecedented elaboration in the moving pictures. The films and theories will raise issues about visual desire, horror, paranoia, surveillance and fascination.
ENGL 2095: Narrative in the Cinema
Fall: Tuesdays, 18:05 – 20:55
Instructor: David Evans
Taught at Dalhousie
This class will provide a brief introduction to the study of film narrative. Through an examination of select films from throughout the history of the medium, this class will consider various forms and conventions of cinematic fiction-making. Although social, political, psychological and other non-formal aspects of film will be discussed, the class will be primarily concerned with the aesthetics and visual styles at work in the films under consideration.
ENGL 2313: Narrative in Fiction and Film
DETAILS TO BE CONFIRMED
Taught at St Mary’s
ENGL 2325: The Media in Everyday Life
Two sections: Fall, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11.30-12.45; Winter, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 13.00-14.15
Instructor: Jennifer Vanderburgh
Taught at St Mary’s
This course focuses on the role of printed and electronic media in forming our imaginative conceptions of the world around us.
ENGL 3512: Contemporary Canadian Film and Television
Winter: Wednesdays, 16.00-20.00
Instructor: Jennifer Vanderburgh
Taught at St Mary’s
Students will critique foundational concepts, policies, and practices considered important to contemporary Canadian film and television since 1980, through the discussion and analysis of film and television texts.
HIST 3450: Film and History
Fall
DETAILS TO BE CONFIRMED
Taught at St Mary’s
Increasingly, historians have to make use of moving images as source material for their histories, while much of the public perception of the past is being shaped by documentaries and feature films. The first half of this course will examine the strengths and weaknesses of using moving images as historical documents and the second-half will examine the role of film in interpreting the past. The goal of the course is to provide students with the ability to critically employ and read film for the discipline of History. Films for study will be selected by the instructor.
RUSN 2046: East European Cinema: War, Love, and Revolutions (Cross-listed with THEA 2346.03)
Fall: Monday 14:35 – 17:25
Instructor: Yuri Leving
Taught at Dalhousie
This course brings post-Berlin Wall European film into the fray of current debates on cultural identity, transnational cinema, and postcolonialism. Despite the state control, the filmmakers of communist Europe were often more bold, honest and provocative than their profit-driven Hollywood counterparts. By drawing on political, cultural, and philosophical discourses, the course will offer pointed analyses of most significant East European films that touch upon issues of ethnicity, gender, and overcoming censorship.
THEA 2360.03: Popular Cinema
Winter: Tuesday 18:05 – 20:55
Instructor: Shannon Brownlee
Taught at Dalhousie
This class helps students develop their critical understanding of popular cinema. It introduces different approaches to the analysis of popular film, and considers principles of production, distribution, exhibition and reception in major industries such as Hollywood and popular Hindi and Hong Kong cinemas. Throughout, it addresses the implications of the concept of “popular cinema”.
THEA 3331: Film Theory II: Desire in the Cinema
Fall: Tuesdays, 13.05-15.55
Instructor: Shannon Brownlee
Taught at Dalhousie
This course focuses on theories of gender, sexuality and desire in the cinema. It addresses debates around the representation of gender, sexuality and desire on screen, as well as theories of spectatorial desire.
DAL THEA 4390.03: Special Topics in Film Studies: Irish Film
Fall: Thursdays: 10.05-12.55
Instructor: Jerry White.
Taught at Dalhousie
This is an introduction to Irish cinema. We will move more or less chronologically, and will watch a wide variety of films – fiction films, documentaries, and a bit of animation, all of variable lengths. You don’t need any knowledge of Irish history, although you do need some background in Film Studies; this is a fourth-year film class, and so obviously we assume a certain level of knowledge of film history and analysis.
