Film Studies

Interdisciplinary Studies

"The Awaiting" - Filip Condeescu '02, dance major

We frame film study within an interdisciplinary perspective because we believe films should contain ideas about the world, reflections on the human experience. While we might argue that you can't really know the contemporary world without understanding something about film practice, we are even more firmly convinced that you can't know film without understanding something about the larger world reflected on the screen. A liberal arts education encourages students to explore new intellectual terrain, develop critical thinking skills, cultivate their minds and grow as human beings.

Our film studies offerings are limited by choice. We want our students to be engaged with life, not locked away inside the theater or the editing room. We make no claim to offer a film education in the sort of depth a student would experience in a conservatory-style film program. Instead, by placing film study within a larger context, we aim to give film scholars deeper reasons to care about the films they study, and give filmmakers ideas of what to make films about. In short, we want our graduates to have something to say.

"To Live" - Jeremy Make '05, Self-Designed Interdisciplinary Major (SDIM)

Connecticut College offers students an unusually wide range of opportunities to explore a topic, issue or problem using the conceptual framework and tools of more than one academic discipline. Students may choose an established interdisciplinary major or pursue a film-related major in consultation with faculty advisers and the Committee on Student-Designed Interdisciplinary Majors (SDIM). This allows students to more easily combine Film and another area of study, or develop a particular focus that crosses disciplinary boundaries. For example, students might create a major in Dance and Film, Film and Literary Adaptation, Comedy in Film, Theater and Literature, Documentary Film and Social Movement Politics, or many other combinations.

Film Studies students may also earn a certificate from one of the College's innovative interdisciplinary centers. Requirements for the certificate programs include a challenging combination of coursework, in-depth research and a funded summer internship in the U.S. or abroad.