Course Description
Discover and discuss masterpieces of American cinema in this class for intermediate and advanced English speakers. You’ll watch a film at home on streaming, or borrow the DVD from your local library, before a lively and engaging discussion in class. You’ll be assigned one scene to watch at least three times! Every month you’ll view a film from an influential director so you’ll come to know the stylistic hallmarks of favorite genres and filmmakers.
If you love the movies, this course is an enjoyable way to increase vocabulary, get comfortable with idiomatic expressions, improve your conversational skills, and deepen your understanding of American culture and cinema.
Films for the Autumn 2025 trimester:
We know all about the (male) “Buddy Films” in the United States—just think of the adventures of two men in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But where are the woman buddy films? This trimester, we'll be discussing three films about women friendships.
Girlfriends, 1978, by Claudia Weill, with Melanie Mayron (Susan Weinblatt), Anita Skinner (Anne Munroe), and Eli Wallach (Rabbi Gold). Girlfriends was a ground-breaking, influential independent film, made in in New York City in the early years of second wave feminism. It shows a complicated friendship in the context of its time, with twists and turns and ups and downs. The film is described by one critic as “intelligently written and beautifully acted, [capturing] the rhythms of female friendship -- and late '70s New York -- with a deftly assured hand.” It can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, among others.
Tootsie, 1982, by Sidney Pollack, with Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, and Teri Garr.
A chronically unemployed actor finally hits it big when he presents himself as a woman... but his personal life quickly gets out of hand.
Thelma and Louise, 1991, by Ridley Scott, with Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, and Brad Pitt.
Two friends set out for a weekend road trip which leads them into complex and unforeseen circumstances. A commercially and critically successful film that, deservedly or not, became a feminist classic
About the instructor:
Ellen Feldman grew up in Philadelphia and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She holds a Ph.D. in cinema studies from New York University and has taught film studies at the State University of New York, Geneseo campus, and Brooklyn College.
