COLL151: French Film Festival

This half-credit College Course (COLL 151) is offered each spring and coincides with the annual French and Francophone Film Festival. Each year the week-long festival, April in Paris, will focus on a theme, genre, or the works of a French or Francophone director. A variety of classic and recent films is the basis for the course. The course provides an excellent opportunity for students interested in film studies to enrich and broaden their cinematic knowledge.

By focusing on a particular genre, students can sharpen their understanding of cinema as an art form and as a visual language that varies according to the distinctive genius and creative vision of the filmmaker.

Students taking this course are required to:

  1. View all of the films and write critical responses
  2. Attend two (mandatory) supplemental workshops and participate in all interactive discussions about each screening
  3. Write a final paper analyzing the films in relation to the discussions, students' impressions, and pertinent readings on cinema
An introductory workshop will be on the Friday preceding the screenings, which will take place Friday, April 9 from 4-6 p.m. A concluding workshop will integrate the different segments of the course on Monday, April 19 from 4-6 p.m. Both sessions will be held in Seabury N-130 and will be team-taught by Professor Jean-Marc Kehres and Professor Karen Humphreys. Students taking this course for credit in French will be required to do all written work in French and to attend the two workshops in French. (For these students, the workshops will also be given in French.) FREN 241 (or permission from instructor) is a pre-requisite for students enrolled for credit in French.

The two workshops for the 2010 festival will meet as noted here:

  • Friday, April 9, 4-6 p.m.
  • Monday, April 19, 4-6 p.m.

You can view the syllabus here in PDF format.