When was the last time you went to the movies? What did you watch and how did it feel to sit, in the dark, with a group of people? Is group viewing a recipe for distraction or are you more tuned in to the film playing in front of you?
In this experience, we will spend collective time planning off-campus, group viewing trips to various theater spaces and film festivals around the Twin Cities. Students will expand their definition of “cinema” to include archives, curated festivals, and independent theater spaces while reflecting on a couple of assigned key readings regarding the potential political action films and film viewing (especially in theaters) might inspire.
As a group, we will explore multiple festival offerings curated by the MSP Film Society, watch independent and classic films projected from 35mm prints at the Trylon Cinema, listen to The Heights Theater’s mighty Wurlitzer before a film, and spend an afternoon curating our own viewing from over 300 titles at the Bentson Mediatheque which houses the Moving Image Archives Collection at Walker Art Center. The schedule includes 2 days a month discussing readings, our viewings, and planning trips and 1-2 monthly group trips out to screenings (10-12 meetings total).
This experience is open to any honors students interested in cinema, whether experienced film scholars, self-proclaimed cinephiles, or folks simply intrigued by the topic.