Take Two: Filmmaking in the Movies Class

Five Wednesdays, May 6 to June 3, from 6:15pm to approx. 9:15pm
Movies have long been sites of self-reflection and meta-commentary for filmmakers, who have historically used the moving image to critically and playfully consider the complexities of film production, the inner workings of the movie business, and the power of the medium itself.
Similarly, this five-week Coolidge Education course will offer students space to turn their critical attention to the varied ways films about filmmaking have offered us new, incisive, and subversive ways of thinking about and experiencing the movies (and the people, industries, and technologies that make it all possible). From satirical comedy to innovative horror, our course will explore fictional cinematic representations of Hollywood, the French film industry, independent and amateur filmmaking, student documentary and found footage practices, and the struggles of directors, actors, and writers trying to "make it" in the biz.
About the Instructor:
Alex Svensson is Affiliated Faculty at Emerson College in their School of Film, Television, and Media Arts; he has also been a Lecturer of film and media studies at MIT, and has previously taught a course on found footage horror with Coolidge Education. His research primarily focuses on genre cinema, horror media, media controversies, and promotional culture. Alex's work can be found in the book Jordan Peele’s Get Out: Political Horror (ed. Dawn Keetley), as well as in New Review of Film and Television Studies, Monstrum, Horror Homeroom, in media res, and Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies.
This Coolidge Education Class is embedded within our May rep series “Take Two: Filmmaking in the Movies” and includes all Wednesday night screenings in that series. Each class begins with a half-hour introduction in our Education and Community Engagement Space (ECEC), followed by a break to transition to the 7 PM film screening in one of our main houses (where seats are reserved for class participants).
Class concludes with a post-screening discussion in the ECEC. Discussion length may vary due to film runtimes. Classes are only available for purchase as a package, not as individual sessions.