Credits. A fully qualified candidate is required to fulfill 90 credits. The requirements are: 18 credits of coursework, 6 credits in the form of one comprehensive examination and one synthesis examination (3 credits each), 6 credits of thesis proposal, and 60 credits of research and thesis.
Residency. The minimum required residence requirement is six consecutive terms full-time study, or the equivalent in part-time study.
Language. International students whose first language is not English must meet a minimum score of 80 for TOEFL iBT (paper-based TOEFL score 550) in English to be admitted to the program. While English is the dominant language for activities in the School of Cinema, applicants must demonstrate a level of competence that would allow them to read technical material in French (or another pertinent language with regards to their research). Students may write reports, examinations, and theses in English or French, as they choose.
Examinations. The synthesis examination (3 credits) consists of an essay in which the candidate situates his/her work within the context of fields pertinent to training received in the School of Cinema. The essay is evaluated by three faculty members, including the student’s supervisor. The written comprehensive examination (3 credits) pertains to the candidate’s major field of research and is based on a reading list (along with an appropriate and relevant filmography) prepared by the student with the assistance of his/her supervisor. The reading list (and filmography) will be approved by the doctoral program sub-committee who may suggest some changes. The reading list will fall within one of these headings:
Thesis Proposal. Once the examinations are completed students are eligible to submit their thesis proposal (it must be submitted no later than the second week of September of the third year into the program). The thesis proposal consists of a 40 to 60 page document outlining the object of study of the thesis, its objectives, the research hypothesis and the methodology that will be used or developed. A detailed bibliography will accompany the document as well as a preliminary table of contents. The thesis proposal must be defended orally before a jury consisting of the student’s supervisor and two faculty members.
Research and Thesis. A major portion of the doctoral program is the planning and execution of innovative and original research under the direction of a supervisor. The student’s research will be presented in a written thesis (length: average of 300 pages) and defended orally in conformity with the regulations outlined in Concordia University’s Graduate Calendar. The candidate will submit his/her doctoral thesis to an examining committee consisting of at least five faculty members: the candidate’s supervisor, two faculty members from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, a faculty member from another department within Concordia (external-to-program examiner), and an external-to-University faculty member.
Course work (18 credits). It is expected that students will, on average, complete 12 credits of coursework during the first year and 6 credits during the second year. On a yearly basis a minimum of 12 credits of core graduate coursework will be offered for doctoral students only the by the School of Cinema. This includes the 6-credit Proseminar. A detailed description of the course requirements is as follows:
Examinations (6 credits). Synthesis and comprehensive examinations will be conducted during the second year of residency (no later than the second week of February for the synthesis examination and the second week of April for the comprehensive examination). Comprehensive examination: Four months after the reading list is approved students will receive a list of four questions. They will have two weeks to produce an essay to answer the questions. The essay will be evaluated by a jury of three faculty members, including the student’s supervisor.
Thesis proposal (6 credits). To be submitted after successful completion of the synthesis and comprehensive examinations.
Each year the program offers a core course and two cluster courses.
FMST 800 Proseminar (6 credits)
The Proseminar is designed to give students a broad introduction to advanced film and moving image research by putting different periods, research methodologies, theories, or genres into dynamic relation. Written assignments will be required as well as an oral presentation.
The specific content of the seminars in each of the four topics clusters will be decided by the doctoral program joint committee on a yearly basis, based on course proposals made by accredited faculty.
Cluster A:
FMST 801 Seminar in Film and Moving Image History (3 credits)
Advanced study and research in problems and issues related to film and moving image history and historiography. Topics for seminars in this cluster may include: Methods in Film Historiography; Methodological Aspects of Film-Archival Research; History of Film Technology; History of Film Institutions; History of Pre-Cinema and Early Cinema; History of Silent Cinema; History of Film Movements; History of Documentary Film; History of New Media.
Cluster B:
FMST 802 Seminar in Film and Moving Image Aesthetics (3 credits)
Advanced study and research in problems and issues of film aesthetics. Students examine the style associated with certain films, directors, genres, and national cinemas, or investigate film criticism and taste cultures. Topics for seminars in this cluster may include: Topics in Film Style and Form; Topics in Film Criticism; Film and the Other Arts: Topics in Aesthetic Theory; Topics in Directors; Topics in Moving Image and New Media Art: New Media Aesthetics; Performance.
Cluster C:
FMST 803 Seminar in Film and Moving Image Theory (3 credits)
Seminars in this cluster offer an in-depth investigation of a theory or a theoretical tradition in Film and Moving Image Studies. The course may focus on the work of a single theorist, or a particular approach or methodology. Topics for seminars in this cluster include: Interpretation and Hermeneutics; Reception Theory Narrative Theory; Topics in Classical Film Theory; Topics in Contemporary Film Theory; Topics in Film and Philosophy; Psychoanalysis and Film; Genre Theory; Semiotics; Topics in Cognitive Theory; Textual Analysis.
Cluster D:
FMST 804 Seminar in Film, Moving Image and Cultural Theory (3 credits)
Seminars in this cluster investigate film and the moving image from social and cultural perspectives. Topics for seminars in this cluster may include: Cinema and Modernity; Postmodernity and Globalization; Film, New Media, and Visual Culture, Queer Theory; Feminist Theory; Post-colonial Theory; Topics in Social and Political Theory; Topics in Cultural Studies, Film in the Context of Television and Consumer Culture.
Students will take a maximum of 9 credits of elective coursework. Students will be entitled to enrol in PhD seminars that are cross-listed with MA seminars, provided they will not repeat seminars taken at Concordia during their MA degree. (Doctoral students registered in these courses will be expected to perform at PhD level).
Note: The focus of any given topics course on a given year will determine the cluster to which it will belong. For example, “Topics in Cinéma Québécois” may belong to Cluster A when the focus is on historiography or it may belong to Cluster B when the course centers on aesthetic issues in Québec cinema.
FMST 805/FMST 605 Topics in English Canadian Cinema (3 credits)
This seminar explores the spectrum of Canadian cinema and video produced in English, and features screenings of historical and contemporary works within fiction, documentary and experimental areas, and in some instances, video and television as well. The culture, political and institutional contexts of production and reception are emphasized, with textural analysis at the core. Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 605 may not take that same topic under FMST 805 for credit.
FMST 810/FMST 610 Topics in Cinema Québécois (3 credits)
The course explores Québécois cinema culture. Emphasis is placed on the cultural and political contexts of production and reception. Topics may include the structure of the film industry in Québec, the role of the NFB and other institutions, avenues of distribution and exhibition, also particular groups of films, such as cinema direct, or on specific time periods, or the work of specific filmmakers. Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 610 may not take that same topic under FMST 810 for credit.
FMST 815/FMST 615 Topics in European Cinema (3 credits)
This course covers topics in Russian, German, French, Italian, British, Spanish and Eastern European Cinemas. Questions of national culture, patterns of film production, distribution and reception, and aesthetic histories are covered. The course incorporates future experimental and documentary films as well as readings in specific cultural histories.
Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 615 may not take that same topic under FMST 815 for credit.
FMST 820/FMST 620 Topics in Non-European Cinema (3 credits)
This course focuses on Asian, African and South American filmmaking, film cultures and film industries, and comparative studies of issues pertinent to more than one of these cultures.
Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 620 may not take that same topic under FMST 820 for credit.
FMST 825/FMST 625 Topics in Film History (3 credits)
This course explores specific problems and methods of film historiography, and examines the practices associated with one or more of these methods. Course topics emphasize various historiographic methods and theories, problems of methodology and analysis.
Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 625 may not take that same topic under FMST 825 for credit.
FMST 830/FMST 630 Topics in Film Theory (3 credits)
This course is devoted to close readings of key tests in film theory, examining their background, intellectual histories, and analyzing their significance. Topics may concentrate on historical developments in film theory, or they may address a given method or approach.
Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 630 may not take that same topic under FMST 830 for credit.
FMST 835/FMST 635 Topics in Aesthetics and Cultural Theory (3 credits)
This course examines the broader cultural and aesthetic histories relevant to film theory and practice. These theories are studied in depth, beyond the limits of film studies, in order to situate film history and theory within other interdisciplinary perspectives. Topics may include postmodernism, modernism, philosophical aesthetics, sexual representation, Frankfurt School theory, postcolonialism, Marxism, deconstruction, and psychoanalysis.
Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 635 may not take that same topic under FMST 835 for credit.
FMST 840/FMST 640 Gender Issues in Film (3 credits)
This course provides an opportunity to contextualize a range of historical and theoretical feminist positions, and women’s film practices. Sample course topics include pornography, experimental feminist praxis, gender and race, or constructions of gender in specific historical periods or countries.
Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 640 may not take that same topic under FMST 840 for credit.
FMST 845/FMST 645 Topics in Film Genres (3 credits)
This course explores specific narrative film genres, such as the musical, the western, comedy, horror, melodrama and film noir. In each case, the history of the genre and its socio-historical dimensions is explored. Questions of genre transformation, popular mythology, cultural sources and parallel media, institutional analysis (studio practices) and spectatorship are addressed. Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 645 may not take that same topic under FMST 845 for credit.
FMST 850/FMST 650 Topics in Experimental Film and Video (3 credits)
This course examines the history, aesthetics, theory and practice of experimental/avant-garde film and video, and may be organized around specific bodies of work, or theoretical issues such as the politics of representation, pure cinema, poetic structures, reflexivity, or documentary representation. Questions of medium specificity, modernism/postmodernism, performance art and theory, exhibition, distribution, canonization and criticism are addressed. Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 650 may not take that same topic under FMST 850 for credit.
FMST 855 (PhD)/FMST 655 (MA) Topics in Documentary (3 credits)
Documentary history, aesthetics and theory are addressed in this course Questions of ideology, narrative and style in the context of specific groups of films are studied. Topics may relate to specific countries, histories, methods, institutions and cultural issues and methodological and theoretical problems arising from the concomitant evolution of television journalism, rapidly evolving technology, and changing patterns of exhibition and reception are examined. Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 655 may not take that same topic under FMST 855 for credit.
FMST 860 (PhD)/FMST 660 Topics in Film Directors (3 credits)
This course examines the work of one or more specific directors from stylistic, aesthetic, cultural and historical perspectives. Directors that may be studied include Welles, Dreyer, Eisenstein, Hitchcock, Lang, Pasolini, Godard, Von Sternberg, Akermann and Arzmer, have been the foundation of extensive film studies scholarship. Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 660 may not take that same topic under FMST 860 for credit.
FMST 865/FMST 665 Topics in Film Studies (3 credits)
From time to time, courses in topics that do not fit into any of the topics courses listed above are offered. These courses may include technical studies such as film acting, or special topics related to an instructor’s research project. Note: Students who have received credit for a topic in FMST 665 may not take that same topic under FMST 865 for credit.
FMST 870 Independent Study (3 credits)
Independent Study courses offer students opportunities to research and write about particular topics in film studies that are not covered in the courses offered in a given year. Students must propose a topic to a full-time faculty member, under whose supervision they complete the course.
FMST 880 Research Seminar (3 credits)
Film Studies faculty in the School of Cinema may organize seminars on a current research project.
FMST 885 Thesis Proposal (6 credits)
Once the examinations are completed students are eligible to submit their thesis proposal (it must be submitted no later than the second week of September or the third year into the program). The thesis proposal consists of a 40 to 60 page document outlining the object of study of the thesis, its objectives, the research hypothesis and the methodology that will be used or developed. A detailed bibliography will accompany the document as well as a preliminary table of contents. The thesis proposal must be defended orally before a jury consisting of the student’s supervisor and two faculty members.
FMST 886 Synthesis Exam (3 credits)
A synthesis examination which will consist of a 40 to 60 page essay in which the candidate situates his/her work within the context of fields pertinent to training received in the School of Cinema.
FMST 887 Comprehensive Exam (3 credits)
A written comprehensive examination pertains to the candidate’s major field of research. A reading list of approximately 50 books and essays along with an appropriate and relevant filmography will be prepared by the student with the assistance of his/her supervisor.
FMST 890 Research and Thesis (60 credits)
A major portion of the doctoral program is the planning and execution of innovative and original research under the direction of a supervisor. The doctoral thesis defence will be an oral examination conducted by a chair who shall be the Dean of Graduate Studies or a delegate.
Page Title: Curriculum - Concordia University - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Page URL:http://cinema.concordia.ca/programs/graduate/phd-in-film-and-moving-image-s...index.php
Date Printed: Wed May 16, 2012
