Film Steven Spielberg Film Curating Essay

Prompt for Program Notes

• Imagine you are organizing a film retrospective and putting together the brochure (program notes) for the public to generate attendance
• Curate a 10-15 film retrospective of any one specific national cinema, film movement, genre, studio, auteur, or theme.
• YOU CANNOT CURATE a retrospective for a movement, director, national cinema, etc. we have covered in class.
• CREATE the program notes/brochure for your retrospective. This must include:
  • Write a 500-word minimum introduction to your series (including relevant historical context and an explanation of your thematic rubric) and
  • a 100-200 word description for each of your films, identifying each film’s significance.

The majority of the films included should be between 1930-present, but a limited number of films beyond that period may be included for continuity and context.

Guidelines

This is a RESEARCH PROJECT, meaning that you are going to have to engage work outside the textbook and assigned .pdf readings to complete the assignment

• you are NOT required to watch every one of your selected movies; not enough time!!!

to explain and articulate their significance, this is where the RESEARCH comes in. What have people said HISTORICALLY about the films? You may think about their historical significance as related to our three areas of focus within the class:

• Industrial & Economic Significance
• Politics & Cultural Context
• Aesthetics & Narrative Significance

Citation Guidelines

this is a RESEARCH PROJECT, meaning the information you get about your selected films must be cited.

• Use MLA standards and include a works cited, bibliography attached to the end of the document
• Information on MLA standards can be found at OWL Purdue (Links to an external site.)
• Can use either parenthetical or footnote citations

Rubric

The assignment will be graded first on your ability to meet minimum expectations (i.e. word limit, number of films, etc.) Beyond that, your grade will depend upon:

• the strength in which you articulate your theme in the introduction, including explaining key attributes of your movement, director, genre, etc.
• how your explain that theme as it runs throughout your selection descriptions
• your attention to how the particular movement, director, genre, etc. fits into a large film history context

Sample Retrospectives

EXAMPLES:

Film Society of Lincoln Center: (https://www.filmlinc.org/films-series/ (Links to an external site.))

Museum of Modern Art: (https://www.moma.org/calendar/film (Links to an external site.))

American Museum of the Moving Image: (http://www.movingimage.us/programs/ (Links to an external site.))

Metrograph: (http://metrograph.com/series/ (Links to an external site.))

Film Forum: (https://filmforum.org/ (Links to an external site.))

Anthology Film Archives: (http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screenings/programs (Links to an external site.))

American Cinematheque: (https://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/ (Links to an external site.))

British Film Institute:

(https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=seasons (Links to an external site.))

Cineteca Nacíonal de Mexico: (https://www.cinetecanacional.net/ (Links to an external site.))

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