Students can now sign up on Homer for one credit mini courses held in conjunction with the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF). The courses begin right after spring break.
Students in the mini-courses attend screenings and other FLEFF events, keep journals, write short papers, or contribute to a festival blog, etc. The course work varies with the instructor. All mini-courses are pass/fail. There are no prerequisites. Sign up using HomerConnect (https://homerconnect.ithaca.edu).
We Have Issues: Exploring the Environmental Context Behind Films
[ENVS-10300]
Explore the underlying environmental issues in five films from a scientific, cultural, ethical, historical, and political perspective. Emphasis will be placed on how environmental issues are portrayed in the films.
Team taught by the environmental science faculty
Food, Politics, and Health
[HPS 39902-01]
Examine the relationships between the politics of food, the food industry, what we consume, and the public’s health. During FLEFF, students will be expected to attend a minimum of 10 films and events that focus on the issues in the course.
Stewart Auyash, Associate Professor
Sustainability and Business Decision Making
[BINT 19500-01]
While public policy makers may be viewed as stewards of environmental sustainability, we explore how the many day-to-day decisions made within the business world have profound consequences for the environment and the people who inhabit that environment.
James Hagen, Instructor
Understanding Documentaries: A Survey of FLEFF Films
[GCOM 29206-01]
This mini course will enable non-film majors to see the Festival films with a more informed perspective. The course will examine from both a practical and theoretical basis documentary making as a form of story telling. Students will examine their own experiences for content but learn to think in visual terms and to examine how sound and lighting work in harmony while complementing the story line.
Gossa Tsegaye, Assistant Professor
Water = Life
[GCOM 29207-01]
In this class, we will explore questions such as: Why do all ancient cultures have flood stories? Why is water important in many religious rituals? Why is water considered Blue Gold? This course will develop insight about this essential element and its sustainability from the perspectives of the arts, humanities and sciences, with a focus on the global politics of drinking water.
Mara Alper, Associate Professor
Playing God: Interactivity in Video Games and Film
[RLST 17700-01]
This course will look at how we interact with video games and film. We'll ask questions about violence, ritual, how narratives work, and about how we learn through experience. We will explore who "plays God," the film-makers, the viewer, the video-game designer, or the player? Students will be invited to play brief samples of a few games and also to apply their new skills of analysis to films and to consider how they derive meaning, "religious" or not.
Rachel Wagner, Assistant Professor
Cultural Ecology
[MUNM 25200 – 01]
Examine the philosophic, sociological and artistic issues surrounding the transmission and assimilation of cultures. Through the prisms of film, music and dance, we will question the relationship between cultural diversity, sustainability, assimilation, artistic integrity, authenticity & creativity.
Peter Rothbart, Professor
