New for Summer 2010:
Great Books Goes to the Movies!
Enrollment is open to students
currently in grades 8-12
Only at Amherst College July 25 – 31
Great Films has an exciting week planned for its inaugural session. Watch Hollywood classics, as well as cutting edge new films, and explore the philosophical questions and ideas that are raised through daily themes and class discussions. Led by Ilan Stavans, Great Films will take the Shared Inquiry method that we utilize in Great Books to hone our critical thinking and apply it to the medium of film.
Students will enjoy spending a week watching important movies, reading screenplays and underlying short stories. We have a great lineup planned featuring some Hollywood classics like Citizen Kane and Apocalypse Now as well as some cutting edge new work like Our Disappeared by Juan Mandelbaum. Reading selections will include Shakespeare, Joseph Conrad and Thoreau among others. Students will analyze how their classic texts have been adapted in film. Each day Great Films will have a theme to explore through movies and texts. One day students will be discussing war and then another day they move onto civic responsibility. Documentaries, foreign films and animated movies will all be used to give students different perspectives and have them watch movies in a whole new way.
Great Films is offered for only one session at Amherst and is the perfect program for students to expand their critical thinking skills. Enrollment is open to students currently in grades 8-12. Join professors and industry professionals to explore cinema as a source of big ideas and deep discussion about timeless issues. Enrollment is limited, so don’t miss your chance to take part in the inaugural session!
* A Note on Applying: To Register for Great Films, on page 2 of the application choose the Senior Program at Amherst College and then select the Great Films Program. Use the drop down box to choose the one, two or three week program of your choice - just remember that you must choose July 25 - 31 as a part of your selection to be able to take part in Great Films.