Graduate Certificate in Cinema Studies

The Graduate Certificate in Cinema Studies at the University of Pennsylvania is aimed at graduate students and graduate departments with growing interests in film and media studies. Already many Ph.D. students integrate topics related to cinema studies into their dissertations and teaching, and programs in humanities programs around the country often seek job candidates from traditional fields who can also demonstrate pedagogical and scholarly strengths in cinema studies. Responding to these intellectual and professional currents, Penn's Graduate Certificate in Cinema Studies aims to prepare students with the skills to research and teach film in order to advance their own work in the field and to provide them with clear evidence of their training and abilities when they seek positions at other universities. If you would like to discuss a program of graduate study in Cinema Studies, please contact the program director, Karen Beckman. To sign up for the graduate certificate, please contact Nicola M. Gentili.

Requirements

Each student applying for the certificate will develop a program of study in conjunction with the director of Cinema Studies. To complete the Graduate Certificate, students would fulfill the following requirements over the course of their Ph.D. work:

1) A pro-seminar (600-level course) in Cinema Studies. These seminars will introduce students to the major issues and debates in film studies. (They will be listed as a Cinema Studies offering and cross-listed with other SAS departments.)

2) Whenever possible, certificate students should gain direct experience as teaching assistants in CINE 101, CINE 102, or other undergraduate film courses. Teaching assistants, supergraders, and graders for these courses will be mentored by faculty in areas of film scholarship and pedagogy. Please contact Nicola M. Gentili to join our roster of teaching assistants and graders.

3) Three additional graduate courses in Cinema Studies. These courses will be available through various departments, with approximately three offered each year on a range of topics.

4) Attendance at six Penn Cinema Studies Colloquia over the course of graduate study. Colloquia are offered throughout the year, with papers by a film scholar from Penn or elsewhere.

5) Attendance at two of the Film and Pedagogy Workshops. These are offered regularly in March.

6) A research paper overseen by a faculty member affiliated with Cinema Studies. Normally this paper would develop out of work in a graduate seminar. It might also be a version of a chapter of a dissertation.

Current and Recently Offered Graduate Courses Related to Cinema Studies:

CINE 680.401: French Cinema
CINE 500.640 – (MLA film seminar) Food and Film
CINE 793.401 - Race, Sex and Gender in Early Cinema
ARTH 593/FILM 593: Proseminar in Contemporary Film Theory
ARTH 793/FILM 793: Cinema and Photography
COMM 543: Media and Popular Culture
COMM 545: Children and Media
COMM 550: Mass Media Industry
COMM 562: Visual Communications
COML 506: Modernism and Avant-Garde
COML 513/FILM 513: House of Mirrors
FNAR 539: Visual Communication and Present
FNAR 565: Digital Imaging FNAR 567: Animation
FNAR 568: Multi-Media
FNAR 589: Mixed Media Animation
FNAR 661: Film/Video I
FNAR 662: Film/Video II
FNAR 663: Documentary Video
FNAR 664: Interactive Video
ENGL 591/FILM 592: The Essay Film
ENGL .../FILM ...: Graduate Seminar in Film History (06A)
GRMN 550: Topics in Film
FREN 680: French Cinema
SPAN 687: The Spanish Avant-Garde
SPAN 694/FILM 694: Mexican Cinema
WSTD 503/FILM 503: Love, Politics and Myth in Popular Cinema