UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

129 HERTER ANNEX, 161 PRESIDENTS DRIVE, AMHERST, MA 01003-9274

TEL (413)545-3659 FAX (413)545-0014 www.umass.edu/film

-- Fall 2009 --

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN FILM STUDIES: Program Description

The Graduate Certificate in Film Studies offers graduate students the opportunity to have their work and interest in film studies formally acknowledged as an important part of their graduate training. Certificate students have the opportunity to benefit from advanced study in a growing field, mentored by internationally-renowned, award-winning faculty specialists in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Academic institutions often seek candidates from traditional fields who can also demonstrate pedagogical and scholarly strengths in cinema studies. This certificate program responds to these intellectual and professional currents, providing a clear but flexible curriculum for graduate students whose work intersects with film studies, preparing students with skills and knowledge to research and teach film in order to advance their own work in the field. The Graduate Certificate in Film Studies, as part of a graduate degree, acknowledges and formalizes this specialty area, providing clear evidence of training, ability, and knowledge for those seeking academic positions and developing related careers.

Beginning with the assumption that the moving image is ubiquitous in contemporary discourse across cultures and disciplines, the Graduate Certificate trains future scholars, teachers, researchers and other film studies professionals in historical, theoretical, methodological and critical perspectives. In addition, courses in production focus on the relationships between theory and practice. Ranging from the silent era to new media, courses include documentary film; French, Maghrebi and Francophone cinemas; Central and East European film; German and Scandinavian film, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian film, Middle East and pan-Asian cinemas; African and African diasporic cinemas; Hollywood and American independent cinema; Latin American cinemas; emerging and Third Cinemas; melodrama and film noir; gender and representational studies; digital media; photography; visual anthropology; film theory; and curatorial studies.

Students acquire critical skills and knowledge of Film Studies as both a discrete discipline with its own methodology as well as perspectives on Film Studies from the disciplines in which they are matriculated. This exceptional intellectual and cultural environment provides an ideal setting for the next generation of visionary educators, scholars, artists, curators, administrators, business leaders, and policy makers. Coursework is complemented by colloquia, collaborative research and publishing projects, community service learning and volunteer opportunities, academic exchange, invited lectures and annual film festivals including the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival, Arab Cinema Panorama, Youth Film Showcase, New Asia Cinema, the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, and the Northampton Independent Film Festival, and film series from the DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Graduate Film Studies Certificate Program students are defined as those students matriculated for the Master’s or doctoral candidates in any graduate program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst whose application for admission has been approved by the Graduate Film Certificate Program and who are pursuing the requirements for the Certificate.


REQUIREMENTS:

1. An application submitted to the Graduate Film Certificate Program, containing a completed application form, transcript, and personal statement of interest in and qualifications for undertaking the Graduate Certificate, which can only be earned in conjunction with a film-focused Master’s thesis, doctoral dissertation, or approved final project and terminal graduate degree in a UMASS Amherst program.

2. Students must complete 15 credits of approved graduate film courses, selected from a list of courses to be determined by the Graduate Film Certificate Program, to include the following:

a. one course in introductory film theory (3 credits)

b. a minimum of 2 courses (six credits) taken outside the degree-granting department and college

c. a minimum of 2 courses (six credits) with an international and/or intercultural focus

3. Upon completion of coursework, Graduate Certificate students must submit an updated transcript and a written statement to the Graduate Film Certificate Program demonstrating the ways in which their coursework constitutes an integrated, interdisciplinary film studies concentration. If a student’s comprehensive exams are Certificate-related, a written statement must be submitted to the Graduate Film Certificate Program.

4. The Graduate Film Certificate Program must approve film-oriented Master’s theses or doctoral dissertations at the prospectus stage and upon filing the completed thesis or dissertation with the Graduate School, students must submit to the Graduate Film Certificate Program a copy of the abstract, table of contents, and signatory pages.

5. The Graduate Certificate will be awarded only upon completion of these requirements and by approval of the Advisory Committee at the time the student receives his or her terminal graduate degree.

Restrictions:

1. A maximum of two 3-credit independent study courses may be applied to the Certificate requirement

2. A minimum of three approved graduate film courses, of at least 3 credits each, must be taken at UMass Amherst

3. Students may appeal to the Graduate Film Certificate Program for course substitutions up to 6 credits for work undertaken elsewhere, such as augmented upper-level Five College courses and graduate courses from other accredited academic institutions

Please visit the Film Studies website www.umass.edu/film for information about application deadlines, course listings, and related topics.

Prof. Anne Ciecko, Graduate Program Coordinator,

Prof. Catherine Portuges, Director, Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies,

Nancy Inouye, Advisor, Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies,

Participating Faculty:

Catherine Portuges (Dir., Film Studies; Comparative Literature) 545 3659,

Barton Byg (German & Scandinavian Studies) 545 6671,

Anne Ciecko (Communication) 545-6348,

Laszlo Dienes (Comparative Literature) 545 5618,

Susan Jahoda (Art/Photography) 545 6038,

Don Levine (Comparative Literature) 545 5810, no email

Patrick Mensah (French and Italian) 545 6548,

Martin Norden (Communication) 545–0598,

Demetria Shabazz (Communication), 545- 5770,

Shawn Shimpach (Communication) 545-2341,

Jacqueline Urla (Anthropology) 545 2869,