Film: The City as Muse

Has a film ever challenged your beliefs, transformed your understanding of an issue, left an emotional aftershock, or motivated you to act? Was that the intention of the filmmaker or an unanticipated consequence? Since the inception of the motion picture, the urban landscape and its inhabitants have served as a rich and diverse palette for filmmakers. This course will provide an overview of documentary, experimental, and hybrid films that proffer an unexpected and sometimes disturbing perspective on cities, both here and abroad. We will examine films that privilege artistic expression and expand the conventions of the film form, analyzing how filmmakers distill an issue, situation, or environment through a particular formal style and point-of-view.Through a consideration of iconic historic films, the student will gain a rich understanding of how cities have inspired filmmakers who work outside the traditional fiction genre. In addition to written assignments, students will distill their own experience of the city through photo essays that explore the eclectic geographic, social, and cultural life of New York. Local ¿field trips¿ will include attendance at the annual Margaret Mead Film Festival in October and DocNYC in November. Course readings and discussion will provide an incisive inquiry into the artistic ¿voice¿ of the filmmaker in an analysis of both form and content.