CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT: Associate Professor Allen
DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES: Assistant Professor Kahana

The Department of Cinema Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts holds a preeminent place among cinema studies programs in the country. Its approach to cinema focuses on the processes of understanding film and the moving image in its multiple cultural and interdisciplinary contexts. The undergraduate program treats the study of cinema both as an art form and as a form of mass culture. The study of film, as an art, is concerned with the relationships among film style, narrative form, and the material practices that shape the medium. The study of film as mass culture explores how film reflects societal values and processes of social change. The department offers courses in the history, theory, aesthetics, and criticism of film, as well as film genres and techniques. Certain film courses given in the College of Arts and Science may also be approved for the major or minor. Most of the Tisch courses include extensive film screenings and are supplemented by a weekly cinémathèque. Students also have access to extensive film and film-related resources in the department’s George Amberg Study Center. The video collection in the Bobst Library’s Avery Fisher Center for Music and Media provides additional resources. Finally, various New York City institutions make this an extraordinary environment for cinema studies.

Faculty

Professor Emeritus:
Michelson

Professors:
Besser, Polan, Sklar, Stam

Associate Professors:
Allen, Guerrero, Lant, Simon, Straayer, Streible, Weiss

Assistant Professors:
Choi, Kahana, McCarthy, Zhen

Affiliated Faculty:
Diawara (Comparative Literature and Africana Studies), Ginsburg (Anthropology), Stoney (Film and Television)