Film Studies

Minor

How We Work

1. We watch a ridiculous number of films. Our students are hungry to watch and better understand film, so naturally our courses are designed to show films that offer an intense breadth of vision. In giving our students so much raw material, we’ve found that our classroom discussions are engaging on so many levels intellectually and emotionally.

2. We think from every angle. Film studies faculty members come from many academic disciplines, and as a result, our students learn to approach films in countless ways. Students learn from professors of English literature, creative writing, Gender and Women’s Studies, psychology, modern languages, and Asian Studies, just to name a few. Our professors cultivate not just academic, but personal interest in the study of film, and students feel this passion in the classroom. 

3. We believe films are a point of access to cultural traditions outside our own. Many of the films we study aren’t produced in English-speaking countries. By prioritizing a fuller scape of film, we have found that our students are uniquely gifted in analyzing films that appreciate a multitude of lives and challenge influences imposed on the filmmakers of today. 

4. We are ambitious learners. Our program attracts students that are prepared to take on material that they may not understand at first—that they might not even agree with or like—and we find these interactions with film are some of the most intriguing in our studies. We believe you can learn as much about film by watching something you hate as you can from watching something you love. And that in wrestling with that material, you may end up changing your mind entirely. In the hands of this community of learners, we look for films that work as complex, masterful windows into new territories of understanding.

5. Our alumni become accomplished screenwriters, producers, and directors. You’ll find Knox alumni working in both mainstream and independent film. Like Jakub Dulak ’17, who is a casting assistant at Planet Muzick TV, or Rachel Abarbanell ’02, who completed a post-baccalaureate fellowship in film studies at Knox and is now vice president of production at A Very Good Production, Ellen Degeneres’s production company. Film editor Chris Murrie ’95 worked on the Academy Award-nominated animated short Kubo and the Two Strings.