FILM STUDIES MINOR NOW AVAILABLE TO AUBG STUDENTS By Daniel Penev The American University in Bulgaria has launched a new minor, film studies, which it hopes is attractive to both current and prospective students. Sean Homer, associate professor of arts, language and literature at AUBG, contemplated the idea a few years ago. He had long had a pronounced interest in film. He had taught “History, Memory and Narrative in Contemporary Balkan Cinema,” and he was planning to bring the “Film Criticism” class back after its absence for the past several semesters. At the same time, Melody Gilbert, the then chair of the journalism and mass communication department and a prominent documentary filmmaker, was teaching “History of Documentary Film” and “Documentary Filmmaking.” Eager to instill in AUBG students a love for documentary cinema, Gilbert founded the AUBG Documentary Movie Club, which has steadily grown in popularity since its inception in January 2012. Homer said he noticed “that there was strong student interest in film and that we already had enough courses for the minor.” A student interest survey 2013 confirmed Homer’s perception. After a long and arduous preparation period, the new interdisciplinary minor that cuts across arts, languages and literature, and journalism and mass communication was born. Given that film is among the most prominent and visible forms of art today, it should, according to Homer, be featured as a separate program at AUBG. “The [film studies] minor fits into the existing structure of the majors we offer - it is a natural growth area as far as I can see,” Homer said. “I personally would hope to develop a major in film studies in the future but this will depend on the wishes and interests of my colleagues.” By bringing together the film theory and criticism classes and the more practical journalism classes, Homer said, “we aim to teach students both rigorous
academic skills of film analysis as well as hands-on production.” While the minor is new, film theory and production have played a prominent role on campus for several years. AUBG students have shot their own documentaries as part of journalism classes, Capstone projects or individual projects. Some of these documentaries have been screened at film festivals in Europe and the USA. Two film-related events have now become traditional on campus: the 48-Hour Documentary Challenge and the AUBG International Student Film Festival. AUBG students enrolled in Gilbert’s documentary classes and members of the AUBG Documentary Movie Club have also visited the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Sofia International Film Festival, and the So Independent Film Festival. “Since the announcement [of the Film Studies minor], I have seen a lot of excitement among current students on Twitter and Facebook,” said Lynnette Leonard, professor of journalism and the new chair of the journalism and mass communication department starting in the fall 2015 semester. The film studies minor is just one example of the way in which the administration, professors and students engage in an open dialogue in an effort to maintain AUBG’s focus of hands-on learning and innovation.
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ISSUE 53