Filmmaking for Change

The art of cinema has the potential to reach audiences not only aesthetically but also at the level of ideas and moral principles. Filmmakers have the power to raise questions, challenge the status quo, mobilize dissent; they can bear witness, hold up a revealing mirror to reality and sometimes catalyze real change in the world. How can cinema perform these tasks while upholding its artistic value and not sliding into propaganda, didacticism or ideological advocacy? In this class we will watch and discuss films such as Z/ (Costa Gavras, 1968), /All the Presidents’ Men (Alan J Pakula, 1976), Dekalog (K. Kieslowski 1989). Each student will write and produce/direct a short film with a theme about which they want to raise consciousness and stir debate. (FMMC 105, or FMMC 0106, or instructor approval). 3hrs sem, 3 hrs screen.