Students must complete one Film History course in order to qualify for entry into the Screen Arts & Cultures concentration program.

This course is designed to introduce students to the history of silent cinema from its technological and cultural origins in the late nineteenth century to the impact of the development of sound on film ("the talkies"). The objective is to orient students to a wide range of cinema, within the limits of film availability, to establish the relations between films from different aesthetic, industrial, and national contexts, and to illuminate the development of narrative form and film style. Students will develop a sense of how the film industry evolved and the changing historical context of both production and reception. Students will also grapple with some of the issues and debates over how, in the early 21 st century, we frame our historical understanding of cinema's emergence and early development worldwide. 3 Credits.

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