Department of English

For most of us our families are both completely familiar and utterly mysterious. Since the advent of the movie camera, fiction and documentary filmmakers have sought to explore the familiarity and solve the mysteries of their own and other families. These filmmakers include Woody Allen (*Annie Hall*), Frederico Fellini (*Amarcord*), Ingmar Bergman (*Scenes From a Marriage*), Scott Hicks (*Shine*), Ira Wohl (*Best Boy* and *Best Man*), Craig Gilbert and the Raymonds (*An American Family*), Tom Joselin (*Silverlake Life*) and Scott McElwee (*Sherman's March*). We will view and discuss the work of many of these filmmakers and explore the themes, form, psychology and ethics of films about family life. Readings will include autobiographies, biographies and literary and film criticism.