2019 Summer Film Viewing Assignment!

Hello future students! Here's a video message from Mr. Weintraub, your possible film studies teacher. (Note that in the video I say "Film Studies 2015-2016", but that's only because I made the video a few years ago...it's just as applicable to "Film Studies 2019-2020"!)



BACKGROUND: Welcome to Film Studies. For some of you, this will be your first time immersing yourself in the world of film; for others, you've lived here for quite some time. If you're taking ACP Film Studies, your first assignment of the year, which I'd like you to complete this summer, asks you to watch THREE movies that you've never seen before; if you're taking Honors, I'd like you to watch SIX (two from each era); and then blog about them in the comments section of this website!

ASSIGNMENT: As stated above, please watch THREE movies (or SIX, if taking Honors), one (or two) from each of the three periods listed below. Then, by Tuesday, September 3rd, write ONE blog post where you share your thoughts about the films. Please don't write more than 100 words about each film; and you can choose whichever of the movies to write about (you don't need to write about all of them). Please don't write more than 400 words, total.

In your entry, please feel free to respond to the films as you like, but if you need more specific questions, here are some:

1. What did you notice about the film that you felt was important to its style and meaning?
2. What other films does this film remind you of? Why?
3. What did you like about the movie? What did you dislike? Why?
4. What do you think the filmmakers are trying to do and say in this film? How do they accomplish that goal?
5. What do you not yet understand about the film(s)? What questions do you still have?

FILM LIST:

FORMATIVE PERIOD (1900-1930)

DW Griffith (US, Historical Drama)

Charlie Chaplin (US, Comedy)

Buster Keaton (US, Comedy)

Fritz Lang (Germany, Crime/Sci-Fi)

FW Murnau (Germany, Horror/Drama)

Sergei Eisenstein (USSR, Political Agitprop)

CLASSICAL PERIOD (1930-1980)

Alfred Hitchcock (UK/US, Suspense/Horror)

Jean Renoir (France, Comedy/Drama)

Vittorio De Sica (Italy, Social Realist Drama)

Orson Welles (US, Great American Stories)

Roberto Rossellini (Italy, War/Drama)

John Ford (US, Westerns/War)

Sam Peckinpah (US, Westerns)

Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, Metaphysical Horror/Drama)

Nicholas Ray (US, Melodrama)

Luis Bunuel (Mexico/Spain/France, Surrealist Comedy/Horror)

Ousmane Sembene (Senegal, Poltical Drama/Comedy)

Satyajit Ray (India, Realist Drama)

Akira Kurosawa (Japan, Historical Epics)

Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan, Domestic Dramas)

King Hu (China, Martial Arts)

Andrei Tarkovsky (USSR, Philosophical Sci-Fi)

Jean-Luc Godard (France, Philosophical Crime/Comedy/Drama)

Michaelangelo Antonioni (Italy/UK, Moody Mysteries)

Francois Truffaut (France, Sentimental Comedy)

Agnes Varda (France, Feminist Melodrama)

Werner Herzog (Germany, Masculine Epics/Total Weirdness)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Germany, Sci-Fi/Melodrama/Political Crime Films)

Martin Scorsese (US, Crime)

Robert Altman (US, Westerns/Musicals/War)

Lindsay Anderson (UK, Satirical Surreal Comedy)

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD (1980-today)

Wong Kar Wai (Hong Kong, Romance/Martial Arts)

Jim Jarmusch (US, Hipster Comedy/Crime/Drama)

Claire Denis (France, Meditative Feminist Drama/Horror)

John Woo (Hong Kong, Hyperkinetic Action)

Joel and Ethan Coen (US, Sardonic Crime/Comedy)

David Lynch (US, Surrealist Americana)

Kathryn Bigelow (US, Action/War)

Michael Haneke (Austria/France, Crime/Horror)

Spike Lee (US, Comedy/Action/Political Drama)

Wes Anderson (US, Quirky Comedy)

Paul Thomas Anderson (US, Crime/Mystery/Epic)

David Fincher (US, Crime/Thriller)

Andrea Arnold (UK, Social Realist Drama)

Bong Joon-Ho (South Korea/US, Monster Movies/Family Dramas)
Richard Linklater (US, Indie Comedy/Drama)

Park Chan-Wook (South Korea/US, Revenge Thrillers)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand, Philosophical Drama)

Kelly Reichardt (US, Quiet, Meditative Dramas)

Jia Zhangke (China, Social Satire/Realist Drama)
Sofia Coppola (US, Satirical Drama/Comedy)
Ava DuVernay (US, Fantasy/Historical Drama)
Dee Rees (US, Contemporary/Historical Drama)
Lynne Ramsay (UK, Suspense)
Maren Ade (Germany, Satirical Comedy)
Ryan Coogler (US, Realist Drama (and Black Panther))

I am so excited to get started...and to meet all of you, too. Happy viewing. Please let us know if you have questions:

Mr. Weintraub: david_weintraub@newton.k12.ma.us
Ms. Shorey: cara_shorey@newton.k12.ma.us

Have fun!

Learn something!