Especially in the American context, film is largely considered a commercial medium – polished pieces of visual culture created by teams of professionals for prestige and profit. However, the bright lights of Hollywood tend to obscure a more fundamental form of filmmaking: one pursued for the sake of curiosity and the love of the craft. In this course, we will explore the ways that avant-garde and amateur filmmakers have leveraged the limitations and potentials of cinematic technologies to create, record, and modify moving images in their own distinctive styles and for their own non-commercial ends. In addition to analyzing, discussing, and writing about films in their various historical and theoretical contexts, students will have a chance to put their criticism into practice by devising cinematic experiments of their own!
T/R 12:30-1:45; In-person
Spring 2026
Dr. John Sanders
Image of course flyer, which has the same information as the post.
