“Talking about dreams is like talking about movies, since the cinema uses the language of dreams; years can pass in a second, and you can hop from one place to another. It's a language made of image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream.”

This quote from Italian film director, Federico Fellini, articulates this course’s molecular approach to cinema, an art form that rewards careful attention to lighting, costuming, narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, dialogue, sound, and other elements of the cinematic experience. Paired with the topic of this course—Academy-nominated films—our careful attention to the foundations of cinema will provide us the opportunity to understand the logic and rationale of assigning aesthetic value to some movies over others. What, exactly, makes a movie “great” or award-winning? By looking at films from an informed and critical perspective, students will answer this question on their own terms, and along the way we will explore the unique responses of film to the pressing issues of our time.

Films that will be covered:
The Banshees of Inisherin
Triangle of Sadness
Avatar
Tár
Top Gun 2: Maverick
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Six-Week Course Schedule | Thursdays
Feb 02 | 11:00 AM
SKIPPING Feb 09
Feb 16 | 11:00 AM
Feb 23 | 11:00 AM
Mar 02 | 11:00 AM
Mar 09 | 11:00 AM
SKIPPING Mar 16
Mar 23 | 11:00 AM


This class will be held onsite at WIH and simulcast via Zoom