Fall 2025 Courses

Any course on this list may count as an elective for the Global Cinema Minor or the Film Studies concentration in English and Comparative Literature. Some of these courses, however, will not automatically count, and in those cases you will need to request a Tar Heel Tracker adjustment.

Also keep in mind that some restrictions may apply to production courses. Be sure to check Connect Carolina for specifications by the department offering the course.

For those following the Film Studies Concentration

Foundations

ENGL 142 Film Analysis (Flaxman)

Methods

ENGL 680 Film Theory (Flaxman)

Survey II

Literature & Cinema (Veggian)

Depth

ENGL 251 Film Performance & Stardom (Tinnin-Gadson)

CMPL 262 Film & Politics (Tinnin-Gadson)

CMPL 280 Film Genres (Warner)

ENGL 389 Major Film Directors (Johnson)

Writing-Intensive

ENGL 346 U.S.  Literature on Page and Screen (Thrailkill)

ENGL 381 Literature & Cinema (Veggian)

ENGL 389 Major Film Directors (Johnson)

ENGL 391 Storytelling in Film and TV (Cohen)

ENGL 394 Misbehaving Bodies: Dis/ease, Dis/order, & Dys/topia in Latinx Fiction and Film (Irizarry)

Research-Intensive

ENGL 494 Research Methods in Film Studies (Johnson)

ENGL 680 Film Theory (Flaxman) (may require Tar Heel Tracker adjustment)

ENGLISH AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

ENGL 57 First-Year Seminar: Future Perfect: Science Fictions and Social Form

MoWe 4:40PM – 5:55PM

David Baker

This class will investigate the forms and cultural functions of science fiction using films, books, and computer-based fictional spaces (Internet, video games, etc).

ENGL 86 First-Year Seminar: The Cities of Modernism 

TuTh 9:30AM – 10:45AM

Shinjini Chattopadhyay

This course is a cross-cultural and intermedial exploration of the imagery of the Great City in  modernist works of literature, art, and film.

ENGL 142 Film Analysis (LEC)

MoWe 4:40PM – 5:30PM

Gregory Flaxman 

This course offers an introduction to the technical, formal, and narrative elements of the cinema.

ENGL 143 Film and Culture

TuTh 11:00AM – 12:15PM

Nicole Berland

Examines the ways culture shapes and is shaped by film. This course uses comparative methods to contrast films as historic or contemporary, mainstream or cutting-edge, in English or a foreign language, etc.

ENGL 251 Film Performance and Stardom 

MoWeFr 12:20PM – 1:10PM

Daelena Tinnin-Gadson

This course focuses on performances in cinema, as well as the concept of stardom. This course surveys a diverse range of performances across cinema history, through a variety of different genres and production modes. Close attention is paid to actorly expression, and to the creation of star images in media.

ENGL 346 U.S.  Literature on Page and Screen

MoWe 8:00AM – 9:55AM

Jane Thrailkill

Prerequisite, ENGL 105 or ENGL 105I. This course pairs selected canonical works of U.S. literature (short stories, poems, essays, and short novels) with films that adapt or translate the original text for cinema. Works range from westerns and war movies to psychological thrillers, biopics, and comedies. By comparing text and film, the course deepens students’ understanding of both aesthetic forms and traces the sometimes conflicting  ideals, myths, and narratives that gave shape to different historical versions of American national identity.

ENGL 381 Literature and Cinema

MoWeFri 1:25 – 2:15

Henry Veggian

ENGL 389 Major Film Directors (will focus on Women Directors)

TuTh 12:30PM – 1:45PM

Martin Johnson

In this class, we will consider eight women directors—Dorothy Arzner, Greta Gerwig, Agnès Varda, Shirley Clarke, Chantal Akerman, Julie Dash, Mira Nair, and Lucrecia Martel—who collectively encourage us to think about film in new ways. In this screening intensive class, we will consider the collective work of these directors and place their films in historical and social context. In addition, students will have the opportunity to research, write, and present on a woman filmmaker of their choice. This class meets the FC-AESTH and FC-KNOWING requirements in the IDEAs in Action curriculum. 

ENGL 391 Storytelling in Film and TV

MoWeFr 2:30PM – 3:20PM

Marc Cohen 

This course is dedicated to the study of key concepts of storytelling through theoretical readings and the media of film and TV. To learn the concepts, students will engage in analyses of filmed scenes and screenplays, and they will write scripted scenes. At the end of the semester, students will have written three 5-page analytical essays, an outline for a 4-scene act, and four contiguous screenplay scenes that, together, make up an act. For the final exam, students will present their revised four-scene act as a portfolio and will read an excerpt to the class.

ENGL 394 Misbehaving Bodies: Dis/ease, Dis/order, & Dys/topia in Latinx Fiction and Film

TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM

Ylce Irizarry

This course explores how Latinx fiction and film portray diasporic ”misbehaving” bodies. We will explore how bodies not conforming to desired ”norms” are treated both within global society and within their own multi-ethno-racial diasporic communities. The ”norms” Latinx individuals and communities navigate are often invisible but clearly defined through language, policy/policing, social structure, and cultural production. The Latinx diaspora includes the United States, the Caribbean Basin, and other sites beyond the North Atlantic region.

ENGL 494 Research Methods in Film Studies

TuTh 9:30AM – 10:45AM

Martin Johnson

How should we study films? For many scholars, close analysis—studying the content and form of the film itself—is the preferred approach, allowing them to draw meaning from a film’s mise en scene, editing patterns, and camera angles. But increasingly scholars are using other methods to study film that go beyond close analysis. What can we learn about a film from focusing on its production? What does a film’s financing, filming locations, and struggles on the set tell us about the film? What about its circulation? How do films change when we see them in different places, environments, and formats, from movie theaters to video tapes to streaming services? What do popular film reviews, whether written by professional movie critics or enthusiastic amateurs, tell us about how a film is received and understood by audiences?

In the first half of this class, we will consider these questions through a study of one of the most visible artifacts of film culture—the film poster.  In addition to considering scholarship on film posters, we will spend time at Wilson Library viewing a recently acquired collection of movie posters from films that were made in North Carolina. Our class will also interact with film studies students at King’s College London as part of UNC’s COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) initiative, sharing our research on how films are advertised in and outside of movie theaters. In the second half of the class students will conduct a research project on a film studies topic of their choice, and we will receive extensive feedback as they develop their research paper. Students considering writing an honor’s thesis are highly encouraged to take this class.

This class counts for FC-AESTH and FC-KNOWING as well as the RESEARCH requirement in the IDEAs in Action Curriculum.

ENGL 680 Film Theory 

Mo 6:00PM – 9:00PM

Gregory Flaxman 

This course provides  a rigorous introduction to various theories (aesthetic, narrative, historical, political, psychological, philosophical) inspired by cinema.

CMPL 144 Engaging Film and Media (LEC): FILMS OF THE 1990S

MoWe 10:10AM – 11:00AM

Rick Warner 

As an academic version of a “film club,” this wide-ranging course will consider both American and international films of the 1990s. We will explore a variety of genres, including the crime film, teen/coming-of-age film, biopic, horror, action, comedy, science fiction, melodrama, musical/romance, and animation. Among the topics we will address are the explosion of independent cinema, the advent of digital technology and computer-generated imagery, the portrayal of race, characteristic attitudes of Generation X, postmodern pastiche and parody, debates about screen violence, and questions of gender, class and sexuality. Films likely to be shown: Goodfellas (Scorsese), Pulp Fiction (Tarantino), Scream (Craven), Malcolm X (Spike Lee), The Matrix (Wachowskis), The Virgin Suicides (Coppola), The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan), Fight Club (Fincher), The Birdcage (Nichols), Jurassic Park (Spielberg), Thelma & Louise (Scott), Magnolia (Anderson), Chungking Express (Wong), La Haine (Kassovitz), Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang), Ring (Nakata), and Drunken Master II (Lau). Join us for a survey of one of the most pivotal decades in the history of both American and international cinema!

Counts for IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH or FC-KNOWING; Making Connections: VP, GL

Students should also register for a recitation section.

CMPL 262 Film and Politics

MoWeFr 11:15AM – 12:05PM

Daelena Tinnin-Gadson 

This course investigates the complex relations between cinema and politics in particular national and/or global contexts. Examining not merely films with narratives about politically charged themes but also the political and ideological nature of filmic representation itself, this course focuses on questions that link politics and aesthetics.

CMPL 280 Film Genres: Horror, Thriller, and Dark Comedy 

MoWeFr 1:25PM – 2:15PM

Rick Warner 

Thiis course focuses on horror, thriller, and dark comedy in cinema. Though film genres tend to be defined on the basis of recurring narrative conventions, we will consider our three genres mainly in terms of their emotional, psychological, visceral, and ideological impact. What are the different kinds of fear and anxiety that imbue our viewing experience? How is it that we enjoy frightening and eerie situations? How do these genres make use of multi-sensory atmospheres? Why do we sometimes laugh at events that are deeply unsettling? Why do conflicting dramatic tones mingle within the same film, often in ironic ways? And how do these genres provoke discussion around matters of gender, sexuality, and race? Films likely to be screened: American Psycho, The Thing, Don’t Look Now, Night of the Living Dead, The Hunger, Alien, The Shining, Get Out, Candyman, The Wicker Man, Halloween, Rosemary’s Baby, Videodrome, Barton Fink, Memories of Murder, Jennifer’s Body, Se7en, Network, Uncut Gems, Cure, Carrie, The House of the Devil, The Great Dictator, Shiva Baby. Be advised: the films we will examine necessarily feature disturbing scenes.

Counts for IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH or FC-KNOWING; Making Connections: VP, GL

CMPL 388 History of French Cinema I: 1895-1950*

TuTh 3:30PM – 4:45PM

Hassan Melehy 

Study of French cinema from 1895 through 1950, including early French film, silent cinema, surrealism, poetic realism, and postwar cinema. Concepts and vocabulary for film criticism. Conducted in English. Recommended preparation: FREN 260 or CMPL 143 or the equivalent.

*Combined section with FREN 388

CMPL 535 The Cinemas of the Middle East and North Africa*

TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM

Yaron Shemer 

This course explores the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts in which films are made and exhibited and focuses on shared intra-regional cinematic trends pertaining to discourse, aesthetics, and production.

*Combined section with ASIA 435 and PWAD 435

GENERAL COURSE LIST

AAAD 250  The African American in Motion Pictures: 1900 to the Present

Mo 3:30PM – 6:20PM

Charlene Regester 

This course will analyze the role of the African American in motion pictures, explore the development of stereotypical portrayals, and investigate the efforts of African American actors and actresses to overcome these portrayals.

AAAD 389 The Caribbean Anticolonial: Caribbean Literature, Film, Aesthetics, and Politics

TuTh 12:30PM – 1:45PM

Petal Samuel 

This course will examine literature, film, art, and music from the Caribbean that illustrates and critiques the past and present impacts of colonial rule in the region. What role has anticolonial Caribbean literature and art played in shaping the region’s present and future, and in shaping global anticolonial politics?

AAAD 486 Africa in the American Imagination* 

MoWeFr 11:15AM – 12:05PM

Carol Magee

Examines the ways African art appears in United States popular culture (advertisements, magazines, toys, films, art) to generate meanings about Africa. Addresses intersecting issues of nationalism, multiculturalism, imperialism, nostalgia, and race. Restricted to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

ARTS 353 Phantasmagoria: Haunted Art, History, and Installation 

TuTh 11:00AM – 1:45PM

Roxana Perez-Mendez

This course will be organized around four art making/art building projects, culminating in a class presentation of a multimedia phantasmagoria. Students will research early light/shadow, pre-cinema techniques, hauntings/horror and artists whose work is influenced by these tropes. We will work with Maker’s Spaces to produce components for this course. Previously offered as ARTS 253.

ASIA 358 Religion and Tradition in Israeli Cinema, TV, and Literature*

TuTh 11:00AM – 12:15PM

Yaron Shemer

This research-intensive course focuses on the ways religion and religious practices are represented in Israeli literature and media. The greater part of the semester will explore the variety of religious traditions in Israel within the framework of Zionist thought, gender and sexuality issues, and ethnic differences.

*Combined section with JWST 358

ASIA 435 The Cinemas of the Middle East and North Africa* 

TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM

Yaron Shemer 

This course explores the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts in which films are made and exhibited and focuses on shared intra-regional cinematic trends pertaining to discourse, aesthetics, and production.

*Combined Section with PWAD 435 and CMPL 535

ASIA 770 The Moving Imagination 

TuTh 12:30PM – 1:45PM

Afroz Taj

This graduate seminar investigates competing concepts of modernity in South Asia as imagined in film and television media.  We begin by exploring how notions of modernity have emerged in South Asia, and how film and television have imagined a “modern” society.  Particular topics covered include social justice, gender, nation, globalization, and cosmopolitanism.  We will also engage with critiques of films, television programs, and Internet-based videos with respect to social justice, environment, and technology.

CHIN 346 History as Fiction or Fiction as History? Early Chinese History in Film and Literature

TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM

Uffe Bergeton

Through analysis of the role movies play in the formation of popular perceptions of the past, this course provides an introduction to the history of the Qin and Han dynasties.

COMM 68 First-Year Seminar: Paying Attention: The Art of Documentary 

TuTh 12:30PM – 1:45PM

Julia Haslett

Attention fuels our curiosity, deepens our empathy, and invites us to step outside of ourselves. Re-presenting what we pay attention to is the art and practice of documentary. We will use video/sound, photography, and creative writing to document and then represent the people, behaviors, environments, and living species that co-exist alongside us. Students will strengthen their attention-paying capacities, develop research skills, and learn how to refine their chosen methods of documentation. Class discussion, readings, film screenings, creative assignments, site visits, and in-class exercises will provide an opportunity to experiment, ask questions, and collaborate with peers.

COMM 130 Introduction to Media Production (LEC)

Mo 12:20PM – 1:35PM

Gabrielle von Bradsky

Permission of the instructor for nonmajors. Prerequisite for all production courses. Introduces students to basic tools, techniques, and conventions of production in audio, video, and film.

COMM 130 Introduction to Media Production (403-LAB)

Fr 11:15AM – 12:30PM

Gabrielle von Bradsky

Permission of the instructor for nonmajors. Prerequisite for all production courses. Introduces students to basic tools, techniques, and conventions of production in audio, video, and film.

COMM 330 Introduction to Writing for Film and Television  

TuTh 12:30PM – 1:45PM

Joy Goodwin 

An introduction to screenwriting for film and television with strong emphasis on the scene.

COMM 330 Introduction to Writing for Film and Television  

MoWe 11:15AM – 12:30PM

Michael Acosta

An introduction to screenwriting for film and television with strong emphasis on the scene.

COMM 330 Introduction to Writing for Film and Television  

MoWe 11:15AM – 12:30PM

Robert Bowman 

An introduction to screenwriting for film and television with strong emphasis on the scene.

COMM 330 Introduction to Writing for Film and Television  

MoWe 1:25PM – 2:40PM

Michael Acosta 

An introduction to screenwriting for film and television with strong emphasis on the scene.

FREN 388 History of French Cinema I: 1895-1950*

TuTh 3:30PM – 4:45PM

Hassan Melehy

Study of French cinema from 1895 through 1950, including early French film, silent cinema, surrealism, poetic realism, and postwar cinema. Concepts and vocabulary for film criticism. Conducted in English. Recommended preparation: FREN 260 or CMPL 143 or the equivalent.

*Combined section with CMPL 388

HIST 66  First-Year Seminar: Film and History in Europe and the United States, 1908-1968

TuTh 5:00PM – 6:15PM

Donald Reid 

This course will examine major films in Europe and America from 1908 to 1968 in terms of how they shaped the medium and reflected important social trends.

HIST 124  United States History through Film (LEC)

TuTh 3:30PM – 4:45PM

W Brundage 

Explores the history of the United States through films made about various historical eras. For each film, the instructor will lecture on the time period(s), the class will read relevant primary and secondary sources, and then the class will watch and discuss the film.

ITAL 335 Themes in Italian Film (LEC)

TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM

Danila Cannamela 

Themes in Italian cinema: literary adaptation, neorealism, a single auteur or period, representations of fascism, the city, the country, industrialization, social space, north/south difference, regionalism, gender, and sexuality.

JAPN 482 Embodying Japan: The Cultures of Beauty, Sports, and Medicine in Japan

MoWeFr 12:20PM – 1:10PM

Dwayne Dixon

Explores Japanese culture and society through investigating changing concepts of the human body. Sources include anthropological and history materials, science fiction, and film.

MUSC 63  First-Year Seminar: Music on Stage and Screen

TuTh 3:30PM – 4:45PM

Anne MacNeil

Offers tools and techniques for understanding multimedia, staged musical works like opera, musical theater, and film. The goal of the seminar is to develop students’ analytical skills in verbal and nonverbal media and to encourage their visualization of the potential and implications of artistic forms and structures.

MUSC 361 Advanced Vocal Production 

TuTh 11:00AM – 12:15PM

Pablo Vega 

Prerequisite, MUSC 161 or permission of the instructor. An in-depth study of recording, editing, mixing, and producing vocals with widespread applications for commercial and media projects. The course will cover vocal production for podcasts, radio, audition tapes, voice overs/ADR, animation/TV/film, and commercial single/EP/album releases. The collective projects throughout the semester will be the start of a professional portfolio for students interested in pursuing a career in audio production. The course will ensure students have knowledge and experience producing their own professional recordings in a workforce where media and self-promotion is prevalent.

MUSC 366 Scoring for Film and Video Games 

TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM

Lee Weisert 

Prerequisite, MUSC 166 (Introduction to Composition) or permission of instructor. Practical, hands-on training in the art of composing music for film and video games. In addition to analyzing and discussing influential film/game music, the course develops skills such as orchestration, underscoring, musical narrative, and thematic development. Students enrolled in the course are expected to have some prior experience composing and notating music for a variety of instruments and ensembles.

JWST 358 Religion and Tradition in Israeli Cinema, TV, and Literature*

TuTh 11:00AM – 12:15PM

Yaron Shemer

This research-intensive course focuses on the ways religion and religious practices are represented in Israeli literature and media. The greater part of the semester will explore the variety of religious traditions in Israel within the framework of Zionist thought, gender and sexuality issues, and ethnic differences.

*Combined section with ASIA 348

PHIL 381 Philosophy and Film 

TuTh 12:30PM – 1:45PM

Rory Hanlon 

Prerequisite, one previous PHIL course. An examination of how philosophical issues are explored in the medium of film.

PORT 388 Portuguese, Brazilian, and African Identity in Film

MoWeFr 12:20PM – 1:10PM

Pedro Lopes de Almeida

Study of the literary and cultural film production of the Portuguese-speaking world on three continents. Films in Portuguese with English subtitles.

PWAD 435 The Cinemas of the Middle East and North Africa*

TuTh 2:00PM – 3:15PM

Yaron Shemer

This course explores the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts in which films are made and exhibited and focuses on shared intra-regional cinematic trends pertaining to discourse, aesthetics, and production.

*Combined section with ASIA 435 and CMPL 535

RUSS 280 Russian Villains, Western Screens: Ethno-Cultural Stereotypes on Page and Stage, in Movies and Minds

MoWeFr 11:15AM – 12:05PM

Stanislav Shvabrin

A survey of fascinating history of Hollywood stereotypes of Russian villainy from Elizabethan England to Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, Ivan Drago, and Xenia Onnatop. What do these theatrical buffoons, cartoon-movie monsters, and cinematic seductresses tell us about Russia — and about ourselves as consumers of stereotypes? Readings and discussions in English.