Department of English

For most of us our families are both completely familiar and utterly baffling. 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"), Ira Wohl ("Best Boy" and "Best Man"), Craig Gilbert and the Raymonds ("An American Family"), Tom Joselin ("Silverlake Life") and Ross McElwee ("Sherman's March"). We will view and discuss the work of these and other filmmakers and explore the themes, form, psychology and ethics of autobiographical and family life films. Readings will include autobiographies and film theory, history and criticism. There will be a mandatory film screening every week.