Sign up on HOMER for a 1 credit FLEFF mini course. Courses start March 16th (Block II). Students in each of these courses attend films and participate in events offered by the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival. FLEFF is sponsored by Ithaca College. More info about the Festival is available at https://www.ithaca.edu/fleff/ The festival runs from April 6-12, 2015. Course descriptions are below.
FLEFF: Global Habitats, National Cinema in the Era of Globalization
44039 - GCOM 11400 - 01
In an era dominated by free markets and globalization, national discourse is in crisis. This mini-course explores the different ways present-day “national cinemas” are affected by the influencing force of the global market. How can we define national cinemas in today's global era? How does the overwhelming number of co-productions challenge the idea of national cinemas? Students will examine these issues through supplementary readings and films in this FLEFF mini-course. Enrique Gonzalez-Conty
Tuesday (3/24) 3-6:00pm
Tuesday (3/31) 3-6:00pm
Festival Week (4 Hours TBA)
Tuesday (4/14) 3-6:00pm
Political Habitats: Narrative Film as Activism 43968 - GCOM 10900 - 01
Narrative films are often political, but how does a fictional film depict protest and serve as a form of active social engagement? This seminar focuses on the ways that films model activism and protest through immersing spectators in a political habitat that prompts the production of political subjects. Students will explore how a film’s aesthetics and depiction of political transformation model a political habitat and how films affect spectators and promote political action. Matt Holtmeier
Gannett 110
Wednesday, 3/18, 3-6pm
Wednesday, 4/1, 3-6pm
Festival 4/9-4/10 7-9 pm
Wednesday, 4/15, 3-6pm
A Choice of Words is A Choice of Worlds: Projected Fears and American Culture 43967 - GCOM 10800 - 01
Are Ebola and HIV/AIDS pandemics? Is it “global warming” or “climate change”? Is “fracking” harmful to the environment? Are we responding to these events or creating them by framing them as “crisis” and “devastations” that demand responses? This course examines how rhetoric is reality! Events are meaningful to us only through the words, images, and sounds we use to describe them. Analyzing words and images in media often reveal the deepest fears of a given culture. In this course students will write reflections on required readings and films and attend FLEEF screenings. Chris House
T-Th 4-5:15 Gannett 110 Block II
Where on Earth?!
Geographies of Space and Place in Environmental Film 43970 - GCOM 11200 - 01
Sometimes we watch movies for transportation. Film can transport us to places (physical or metaphoric) that are different from our own, where we might find fun, perspective, knowledge, relief, or even enlightenment. This course uses environmental film as a launch pad for analyzing our geographic relationship with our home environment, or “habitat.” Geographic concepts of space and place will help us critically analyze our own habitat, as well as the habitats of other people, plants, animals, and other beings. Jake Brenner, Environmental Studies and Sciences
9:25-10:40 Tuesdays and Thursdays Block II Center for Natural Sciences 1C
(minus a few selected cancellations, plus a few festival events)
FLEFF: Human Domination of Nature 43971 - GCOM 11300 - 01
How do you relate to the natural world? In “Human Domination of Nature” we investigate some controversial questions that sit at the core of the human connection with nature. Do we inherently dominate the natural world? Why do humans have moral status and other animals do not? How do other living things perceive the world? Where is our place? Asking these questions will give us a better understanding of who we are as individuals and as a human species. We will reflect on how we value, prioritize, and make decisions. Rebecca Brenner
4-6 pm T Block II
Center for Natural Sciences 1B
Locked-Up: Prison as Habitat in Film and Television 43969 - GCOM 11000 - 01
Are all prison films created equal? In this mini-course we will look at how the prison experience is reflected in our media culture. Examining both narrative and documentary films we'll explore how filmmakers employ the idea of incarceration for dramatic, comedic or political effect. We'll define the prison genre and how accurate is depiction of the prison experience. Prisons are known as habitats that breed hatred and violence, but is that all that is possible? Can they also be habitats for hope and change? Given an incredibly high incarceration rate, what can we take away from the prison experience depicted on film and television? We will dissect these questions in this FLEFF mini-course. Andy Watts
Tuesdays from 6 to 8:30 Gannett 110 Block II
FLEFF: Habitats: Geography is Health Destiny - 42589 - HLTH 39902 - 01
The course explores the intersections of health and geography. Where we are born and the places we inhabit contribute to our physical and emotional states and determine our overall health status. It is more than a cliché to state that “geography is health destiny.” As part of FLEFF, the course will study this topic through films, videos, readings, and guest speakers. Students will also participate in the FLEFF films and activities. Stewart Auyash
MW 4:00 pm - 5:15 pm Block II
Hill Center G10
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20150227093511976