Department of English

Over the last twenty years, no film practice has been more dynamic and innovative than documentary cinema, a trend that will be the main focus of the course. We will begin with a broader survey of the history of documentaries since the films of John Grierson and Robert Flaherty in the 1920s and through the evolution of modern documentaries  such ascinema vérité and meta-documentaries. As part of our inverstigationwe will attend to different cultural movements around the world, as well as the impact of technological changes and industrail shifts. The course will also focus on the theoretical positions that have engaged documentaries especially after  1945. There are no prerequisites. Requirements will include a seminar presentation and a research essay