Current Undergraduate Course Listings

• Times and locations of courses are published in the Public Class Schedule.
• Official Calendar Course Descriptions are available in the Undergraduate and Graduate Calendars.
• Official Course Outlines will be distributed at the first class of the term.

Fall 2025-Winter 2026

First Year

FILM 1101A Introduction to Film Studies – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Marc Furstenau
• DESCRIPTION: This course introduces students to the main terms and concepts of Film Studies, considering film as an art and as entertainment, analysing the aesthetics of film form, and studying the cinema as a social practice. We will watch films from the entire history of the cinema, since its invention in about 1895, considering examples of film styles and genres from around the world, while addressing the central critical issues in the study of the cinema.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Evaluation will be in the form of optional on-line Quizzes. These will test your knowledge of the basic analytical terms and formal and critical concepts from the assigned textbook. Full details on assignments and grading will be provided in the syllabus.
• READINGS: Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction. Sixth Edition (Boston and New York: Bedford and St. Martin’s, 2021). This is available from the Carleton University Bookstore, either as a paper copy or as an eBook.

FILM 1101B Introduction to Film Studies – Winter Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Marc Furstenau
• DESCRIPTION: This course introduces students to the main terms and concepts of Film Studies, considering film as an art and as entertainment, analysing the aesthetics of film form, and studying the cinema as a social practice. We will watch films from the entire history of the cinema, since its invention in about 1895, considering examples of film styles and genres from around the world, while addressing the central critical issues in the study of the cinema.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Evaluation will be in the form of optional on-line Quizzes. These will test your knowledge of the basic analytical terms and formal and critical concepts from the assigned textbook. Full details on assignments and grading will be provided in the syllabus.
• READINGS: Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction. Sixth Edition (Boston and New York: Bedford and St. Martin’s, 2021). This is available from the Carleton University Bookstore, either as a paper copy or as an eBook.

FILM 1120A Seminar in Film Studies – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Gunnar Iversen
• DESCRIPTION: This seminar course is an introduction to Film Studies. We will look at film as a popular entertainment form, an art and a social phenomenon. In the course we will discuss different ways of interpreting and analyzing films, and the course will also introduce students to important concepts, ideas, issues and the vocabulary in Film Studies. This course is recommended for Film majors.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Essays
• READINGS: Textbook: Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience – An Introduction, Sixth Edition (Macmillan).

Second Year

FILM 2001A Film Theory and Analysis I – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Katherine Morrow
• DESCRIPTION: The objective of this course is to introduce students to the main theories and methods of analysis that have been developed for the study of film. As we trace the history of film theory, we will consider a wide range of significant examples of film analysis and interpretation, as well as broader accounts of the cinema as a medium and as an art form. We will view films chosen from throughout the history of the cinema, representing various genres, styles, and national contexts.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Response papers (30%), midterm exam (30%), final exam (40%)
• READINGS: All course readings will be available online

FILM 2002B Film Theory and Analysis II – Winter Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Katherine Morrow
• DESCRIPTION: The objective of this course is to further explore the main theories and methods of analysis that have been developed for the study of film. Building on FILM 2001, students will explore theoretical topics in more depth, including questions of cinematic representation, film genre, viewership, and experience. We will analyse a range of significant films, chosen from throughout the history of the cinema and spanning various genres, styles, and national contexts.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: In-class activities (15%), response papers (25%), midterm exam (25%), final exam (35%)
• READINGS: All course readings will be available online

FILM 2106A The Documentary – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Katherine Morrow
• DESCRIPTION: This course will provide a broad, historical overview of the evolution of documentary form and explore how documentary films present subjects and address viewers. We will begin with conventional definitions of the form to consider how filmmakers educate viewers and highlight social issues. Then we will focus on the problems and challenges of these conventional approaches, including ethnographic misrepresentations, the ethics of intervention, and the limits of direct representation. Finally, we will look at inventive uses of the form to capture what cannot, or should not, be shown
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: In-class activities (15%), response papers (20%), midterm exam (30%), final exam (35%)
• READINGS: All course readings will be available online
• CROSS-LISTED WITH: JOUR 2106A

FILM 2401A Authorship in Film and Media: Stanley Kubrick – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Tom McSorley
• DESCRIPTION: This course offers a detailed and thorough examination of the entire body of work by legendary American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999). One of the most acclaimed and controversial American film artists (cited as a seminal influence by dozens of contemporary directors such as Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Yorgos Lanthimos, and the Coen Brothers), Kubrick’s films were often critically lauded, commercially successful, and controversial. Following his entire career chronologically, we will investigate the principal thematic preoccupations, stylistic strategies, and broader cultural contexts of Kubrick’s work, while examining the various conditions of production in which that work was made. Questions of representation, genre, gender, sexuality, psychology, technology, alienation, desire, and myth will be raised, as all of Kubrick’s work offers complex and multi-faceted explorations of these ideas.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Participation/Attendance: 10%
  Film Analysis (500-750 words): 20%
  Essay (1500-1800 words): 40%
  Final Examination: 30%
• READINGS: Required readings will be posted on Brightspace

FILM 2606A History of World Cinema – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Gunnar Iversen
• DESCRIPTION: This course provides a historical survey of the development of cinema around the globe, beginning with the invention of the medium in the late 19th century until 1945. We will study the most significant film movements from around the world in an effort to explore changing cinematic cultures from both a national as well as a transnational perspective. We will pay careful attention the development of film form and style in this course as it pertains to a variety of film movements and categorizations such as the ‘cinema of attractions’, Soviet Montage, German Expressionism, French Poetic Realism and Japanese studio filmmaking. We will also study the most significant technological shifts of this historical period, including the coming of sound and colour.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Essays
• READINGS: Textbook: Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell: Film History: An Introduction, Fifth Edition. (Macmillan). Additional readings will be available on Brightspace.

FILM 2607B History of World Cinema II – Winter Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Malini Guha
• DESCRIPTION: The objective of this course is to study some of the most salient developments in the history of world cinema from 1945 to the present day. We will examine cinema from around the world as a set of complex and overlapping circulatory practices that often remain grounded within a national context while also exceeding the nation state as a result of the inherently global nature of film production, distribution and exhibition.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA
• READINGS: This course will use the same textbook used in FILM 2601 (, with additional readings posted on Brightspace.
• CROSS-LISTED WITH: CLDM 6902

FILM 2809A The Video Game – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Aubrey Anable
• DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to the study of video games as a popular media form, an emerging aesthetic, and a social and cultural practice. This course is designed to help you develop an understanding of the key concepts and terminology used in film and media studies to describe and analyze video games. We will also learn ways to situate video games within a broader socio-historical context. Topics include: the history of video games, game form, narrative and meaning, art and design, and theories of
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: point-based, contract grading scheme
• READINGS: Textbook: Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction
  Fifth Edition by Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Jonas Heide Smith, and Susana Parajes Tosca (Routledge, 2024)

Third Year

FILM 3301A Analyzing Cinema, Gender, and Sexuality – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Laura Horak
• DESCRIPTION: How do moving images participate in the production of gender and sexuality? In what ways is this process inflected by race, ethnicity, class, and national identity? This course will investigate the crucial role of normative and “deviant” genders and sexualities in the history of cinema production, distribution, and reception. We will investigate the way audiovisual texts use formal means to make gender visible and the display of gender difference pleasurable. We will also consider the gendered politics of labor in film industries and the ways that genre systems (like the romantic comedy) produce gendered meanings and forms of address. The course will also investigate the ways that feminist, Indigenous, transgender, and queer filmmakers have inventively rethought cinema and video for poetic and political ends. In this course, students will write an accessible, well-researched entry for Wikipedia, bringing information about notable cis women and transgender media workers to a global readership
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Wikipedia Project (50%), Final Essay (50%)
• READINGS: Online readings
• CROSS-LISTED WITH: WGST 3812F/DIGH3700A

FILM 3506B Special Topics in Film Theory: Editing – Winter Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Marc Furstenau
• DESCRIPTION: Editing is arguably a technique unique to the cinema, distinguishing film as an art. In this course we will consider the history of editing style and some of the most significant theoretical accounts of editing, in light of the various technological changes to the editing apparatus, up to computerized or digital editing and, most recently, artificial intelligence.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Choice of various optional assignments: Reading Memos (10%); Reading Reports (20%); or Essay (40%).
• READINGS: Various on-line readings — book chapters and essays.

FILM 3608B Chinese Film Histories – Winter Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Katherine Morrow
• DESCRIPTION: This course surveys filmmaking in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to examine the three distinct but intertwined industries from aesthetic, cultural, and political perspectives through a comparative and historical approach. Lectures and readings will familiarize students with the films’ historical context and engage with theories of film aesthetics and social meaning. Students will come away with an understanding of the diverse constructions of “Chineseness” across Chinese film history and be able to compare films’ stylistic and rhetorical techniques, with an understanding of the historical and cultural context in which they emerged
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: in-class activities (15%), response papers (15%), midterm exam (30%), final paper/project (40%)
• READINGS: All course readings will be available online

FILM 3609B African Cinema – Cross-listed with: AFRI 3609-Winter Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Aboubakar Sanogo
• DESCRIPTION: There has seldom been a better time to study African cinema. Indeed, cinema and media practices across the continent have been experiencing a tremendous growth and expansion in recent years. African films are winning major awards at major film festivals (Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, Toronto, FESPACO, etc.). Nollywood is now a ubiquitous presence around the world, securing 3rd place on Netflix global charts with over 20 million views across the world. The streamer is actively courting African filmmakers across the continent and across linguistic lines, creating its “Made in Africa Collection” with the tagline “Made in Africa, Streaming to the World.” The Criterion Collection has been releasing restored classics of African cinema through its partnership with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation and the African Film Heritage Project. African banks and African States are increasingly investing seriously in film and media. According to a recent UNESCO report, the African film industry is worth at least 5 billion dollars. In short, there is something akin to a profound reconfiguration and renaissance in African cinema in the present moment.
  The project of this course is to seek to understand and explain these contemporary transformations by introducing students to African cinema through its history, some of its major and emerging filmmakers, its film movements, films and institutions, its political economy, its ecology, its key debates and challenges as well as its potential futures.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA.
• READINGS: TBA

FILM 3901A Digital Media Production for Emerging Arts Professionals – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Paul Jasen
• DESCRIPTION: This course is designed for emerging arts (and design) professionals in any field. Our focus is on developing fundamental skills in digital media production that will be of use to students planning careers in the arts sector or related industries. Through lessons, case studies, workshopping and collaborative production sessions, students will gain experience in the following areas: website design and development, image editing, audio recording and podcasting, digital photography, streaming video, designing for print, social media integration and writing for the web. Students will leave this course having developed a multi-faceted portfolio project related to their field, as well as confidence and demonstrated proficiency using current media production tools and platforms.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: In-class workshopping activities; small, skills-building assignments; production of a multi-part media project on a topic related to your field or creative practice.
• READINGS: TBA
• CROSS-LISTED WITH: MUSI 3201A/ARTH3501A

FILM 3901B Special Topics in Film Studies: Ecocinema – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Kester Dyer
• DESCRIPTION: This course offers a survey of a range of approaches and texts that have shaped the vital and dynamic field known as ecocinema. The course examines questions of ethics, aesthetics, and politics that surround this area of inquiry. It deploys a critical ecological lens through which to explore key cinematic texts that explicitly or implicitly address environmental concerns. In so doing, the course initiates students to works from across the globe, as well as Hollywood productions, which either privilege the environment as a central theme or can be read ecocritically to inform crucial environmental issues. The course examines subgenres like eco-documentary, eco-horror, cli-fi, wildlife film, eco-animation, and others. Drawing on paradigmatic texts in ecocinema scholarship, it considers important historical developments in this field, self-reflexive debates on the ecological footprint of filmmaking itself, and specific sociopolitical and geographical contexts
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA
• READINGS: All readings for this course will be made available electronically at no cost to the students via the Library’s ARES Reserves platform through Brightspace

Fourth Year

FILM 4001A Research and Critical Methodologies – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Kester Dyer
• DESCRIPTION: In this course, students will learn about a range of different methodological approaches in film studies. They will critically examine individual methods, identify their particular advantages and limitations, and consider how the deployment of different methods yields different research outcomes. Students will revisit close formal analysis as a way of reading and writing about film and reflect on the possible combination of complementary entry points into a subject. Other approaches discussed in this course include auteurism, historical analysis, exhibition and reception, socio-politically-driven readings, ideology critique, industry-based analyses, as well as critical standpoints focussed on race, gender, and decoloniality. Throughout the course, students will learn to deploy various methods in their own work and hone their skills in scholarly research, communication, and writing about film.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA
• READINGS: All readings will be made available electronically at no cost to the students via the Library’s ARES Reserves platform in Brightspace.

FILM 4203A Film Festivals & World Cinema-Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Aboubakar Sanogo
• DESCRIPTION: Possibly more than studios, producers and film artists, film festivals are increasingly seen as the most important institutions through which debates, ideas and practices around what counts as cinema, how cinema is circulated, accessed, seen and discussed, get negotiated. Indeed, it has been argued that film festivals have become something akin to a “government of the cinema” as such. This course will examine and interrogate the veracity of such statements by exploring the vibrant sub-field within film studies known as film festival studies, which takes the film festival as its object of inquiry. We will thoroughly interrogate this object, its place and status, its formative and transformative role in the discourses, institutions, production, exhibition and circulation practices as well ecologies and economies of world cinema. Among other things, we will perform close readings of film festival theory, study the politics and economics of film festivals, as well as analyze curatorial, programming and award policies of various festivals through weekly case studies of such events as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, TIFF, Sundance, FESPACO, Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage, Busan, etc.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA
• READINGS: TBA

FILM 4301A Topics in Film and Philosophy: Cinematic Representation and the Problem of Depiction – Fall Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Marc Furstenau
• DESCRIPTION: We live in a world of pictures—of images, visual representations, or depictions—that are increasingly complex in form and function, combining various audio-visual components, distributed through a wide variety of means. In this course students are introduced to the concept of depiction, to the philosophical debates about the nature and effects of pictures, which can be traced back to the very beginnings of Western philosophy. The most basic debate is about the relation between the depiction and what is depicted, between the picture or image and the objects or events being represented—between visual representation and the world, image and reality. We will trace the history of these philosophical debates, considering photographic and cinematic depiction specifically, in relation to older forms such as drawing, painting, and sculpture, but also new ones, such as computer-generated images, virtual reality, and AI.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Choice of various optional assignments: Reading Memos (10%); Reading Reports (20%); or Essay (40%).
• READINGS: Various on-line readings — book chapters and essays.
• CROSS-LISTED WITH: FILM 5109F

FILM 4401B Special Topics in Film Authorship: Experimental Cinema Auteurs – Winter Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Christopher Rohde
• DESCRIPTION: This course will examine how signs of authorship can be read across the body of work of a group of prominent experimental film and video artists. Topics covered will include: how media artists adapt to and innovate with new technologies, how their work reflects and responds to events happening in the cultural, social and political landscape, the role of experimental media in feminist, LGBTQ+, Indigenous and diasporic communities, and how experimental cinema as a mode of production has a unique relationship with ideas surrounding auteur theory
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Attendance 10%, Oral Presentation 30%, Essay 30%, Final Exam 30%
• READINGS: Online readings from various sources

FILM 4901B Special Topic: The Worst Movies Ever? An Introduction to Bad Art – Winter Term

• INSTRUCTOR: Christopher Rohde
• DESCRIPTION: This course will examine the role of “bad art” in cinema as well as in the visual art world, and also more broadly in popular, commercial mass media, exploring how ideas of taste, aesthetics and artistic value are culturally constructed and regulated by both individuals and institutions. Topics will also include: the importance of ritual and taboo in cultural consumption and appreciation, the differences between kitsch and camp, outsider art and found art, the relationship between “trash” and political satire, and the history of American exploitation films, B-movies and midnight movies.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Attendance 10%, Oral Presentation 30%, Essay 30%, Final Exam 30%
• READINGS: Online readings from various sources

Previous years:

• 2024-2025 Course Listings (F/W/S)
• 2023-2024 Course Listings (F/W/S)
• 2022-2023 Course Listings (F/W/S)