Brunswick, Maine • bowdoin.edu
The cinema studies program at Bowdoin introduces students to
the techniques, history, and literature of film and other visual
media. The curriculum serves to cultivate an understanding of
both the vision and craft of visual artists, and the views of society
and culture expressed in cinema. Students are exposed to a range
Cinema Studies
Bowdoin
Facilities and Resources
The cinema studies program office
is located in Massachusetts Hall.
Cinema studies courses are offered in
of genres and methods, including narrative film, global cinema,
classrooms around campus, with film
documentary production, and formal and theoretical analysis.
screenings held in several on-campus
Cinema studies minors develop the tools needed to examine and
appreciate cinema, one of the most important art forms of the
modern era.
auditoriums, including Sills Hall, Smith
Auditorium; the Visual Arts Center,
Beam Classroom; and Searles Hall,
Room 315. All screening venues are
The program takes an interdisciplinary approach, offering many courses in
conjunction with other departments and programs throughout the College.
Courses in cinema studies may be cross-listed with other departments such
equipped with theater seating, large
screens, and state-of-the art projection.
In addition, the Language Media Center
houses an extensive collection of
as Asian studies, Russian, anthropology, English, German, gay and lesbian
DVDs of films used in classes and is
studies, or gender and women’s studies. Cinema studies faculty come from a
equipped with playback stations for
variety of disciplines within these departments bringing to their students a
individual viewing. All international
broad and deep perspective of cinema and its place in the world.
standards of analog and digital playback
are supported. The center provides
support for the creation of multimedia
Curriculum
Course Offerings
Bowdoin College does not offer a major in
More than twenty courses are offered in
cinema studies. Students minoring in cinema
cinema studies each year, including first-year
studies are required to complete a total of
seminars, introductions to film techniques,
five courses. These must include Cinema
literature, history, and theory and upper-
Studies 1101, Cinema Studies 2201 or 2202
division courses and advanced seminars.
(History of Film I or II), a 3000-level seminar
that must be taken at Bowdoin, a cinema
studies course that incorporates theory, and a
course in non-US cinema. Students can count
one class for more than one requirement
(i.e., a 3000-level course with a theory
component). First-year seminars in cinema
studies may count toward the minor, but no
more than two courses below the 2000-level
will count toward the minor.
presentation materials and facilities for
the recording and editing of analog and
digital audio and video.
Cinema studies first-year seminars provide
an excellent introduction to the study of
film. A few first-year seminars are offered
each year, each of which is limited to sixteen
students. Some seminars offered in past
years include: Film Noir; East Asian Genre
Cinema: Action, Anime, and Martial Arts;
Cultural Difference and the Crime Film;
and Historians, Comediennes, Storytellers:
Women Filmmakers in the German-Speaking
Countries.
Intermediate and advanced courses give
experienced students an opportunity to do
more rigorous work in the discipline. Several
upper-level courses are offered each year.
Examples include Film as a Subversive Art:
Avant-Garde Cinema; New Waves in the New
World: Latin American Cinema; Film and
Biography; Transnational Chinese Cinema;
Images of America in Film; Activist Voices in
India; African American Film; Italy’s Cinema
of Social Engagement; and Reel Places:
Framing Interactions between Humans and
Their Environments.
After Bowdoin
Rather than being a pre-professional program,
the cinema studies minor offers students
an opportunity to explore and learn about all
aspects of contemporary and historical film.
Graduates enter a variety of fields, including
the film industry, and may pursue graduate
work in cinema studies.
Cinema Studies
Film Screenings and Events
The cinema studies program hosts and sponsors a variety of on-campus
film screenings, lectures, and film festivals each year. Recent examples include:
• Poster Girl: Screening and discussion with producer Mitchell Block
• Granito: How To Nail a Dictator, with filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis
• Latin American and Spanish Film Festival featuring such works as Lope, Tambien la Lluvia, Contracorriente, and Chico y Rita, among others.
• Gloria Swanson: Ready for Her Close-Up, a book release celebration with professor
Tricia Welsch
• Annual World Cinema Film Festival, offering a varied program of important
contemporary narrative and documentary films from around the world with post-screening discussions moderated by faculty and students.
• The Garden, discussion and screening with director Scott Kennedy Hamilton
Bowdoin Film Society
Faculty
This is a tightly-knit family of cinephiles and
Aviva Briefel, professor of English and
filmmakers dedicated to cultivating and
cinema studies, B.A. (Brown), M.A., Ph.D.
maintaining a thriving filmmaking community
(Harvard); teaching concentrations include
on campus. The society lies at the heart of
Victorian literature and culture, the horror
cinema culture at Bowdoin College. It has
film, women and film, and cinematic
a strong tradition of exploring the world of
adaptation; research interests include
film, whether through showing students how
narratives of art forgery, the horror film,
to use equipment to realize their artistic
Victorian empire and the body, and the
visions or by organizing film events for the
Victorian gothic.
community. The society meets weekly during
the academic year to discuss programming
and projects. Currently, the society screens
films every weekend for the campus and
hosts two major student film festivals: the
48-Hour Film Festival in the fall and the
Spring Film Festival. Programming has long
been the primary focus of the group, with the
continued goal of screening a variety of films
including under-appreciated cinematic gems
and Hollywood blockbusters.
Sarah Childress, visiting assistant professor
of cinema studies, B.A. (Emory), M.A., Ph.D.
(Vanderbilt); research interests include Latin
American cinema, experimental and avantgarde film, film theory and criticism, and film
manifestos.
Allison Cooper, assistant professor of
Romance languages and cinema studies,
B.A. (Knox), M.A., Ph.D. (California–Los
Angeles); teaching and research interests
include Italian modernism and the avantgarde, modern and contemporary Rome,
Italian cinema, gender and sexuality studies,
and language pedagogy and curriculum
development.
For more information about Bowdoin,
please write or call: Dean of Admissions
Bowdoin College, 5000 College Station
Brunswick, ME 04011-8441
207-725-3100
bowdoin.edu
admissions@bowdoin.edu
Bowdoin College complies with applicable provisions
of federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination
in employment, admission or access to its
educational or extracurricular programs, activities,
or facilities based on race, color, ethnicity, national
origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity
and/or expression, age, marital status, place of birth,
veteran status or against qualified individuals with
disabilities on the basis of disability.
Shu-chin Tsui, professor of Asian studies
and cinema studies, B.A. (Xi’an University of
Foreign Language Studies), M.A. (Wisconsin–
Madison), Ph.D. (Michigan); concentrates in
culture studies and Chinese literature.
Tricia Welsch, professor of cinema studies,
B.A. (Fordham), M.A., Ph.D. (Virginia);
teaching and research interests include
biography and film; film history, especially
the early and silent periods; British, German,
and American cinema; the work of major
directors; film comedy; the gangster genre;
and gay and lesbian cinema.
The information in this publication was accurate at
the time of publication. However, Bowdoin College
reserves the right to make changes at any time
without prior notice to any of the information,
including but not limited to course offerings, degree
requirements, regulations, policies, procedures, and
charges. The College provides the information herein
solely for the convenience of the reader, and to the
extent permissible by law, expressly disclaims any
liability that may otherwise be incurred.
For more information, go to:
bowdoin.edu/cinema-studies/
Revised March 2015