The Directed Studies Film Series is a biannual mini-film festival that takes place around the time of Reading Period each semester; it is designed to complement a handful of the texts assigned that semester for the Directed Studies academic program. The films that comprise each semester's series are selected by the Directed Studies Film Committee, formed in collaboration with the Cinema at the Whitney (which sponsors the screenings, along with the Directed Studies program) and open to all Yale students—all DS students are invited to submit any suggestions they might have to david.pratt-robson@yale.edu. The films, which unless otherwise noted are in 35mm, can play any number of roles in relation to the texts: some may be direct adaptations, others may display a similar thematic sensibility, and still others may directly challenge the arguments of a DS text. Directed Studies films, then, may parallel the DS texts, provide counterpoints to them, or match their accomplishments—in short, consistently providing yet another lens through which we might view the Western Canon.
Fall 2008
DS FILM SERIES
Monday, December 8th, 8:00 PM
Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946)
A sprawling, visually stunning western about forbidden love, starring Gregory Peck.
Tuesday, December 9th, 8:00 PM
The Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975)
Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky directs a hypnotizing masterpiece centered around a rarely seen narrator, who struggles to understand his relationships with his family, his wife, and the world around him.
Wednesday, December 10th, 8:00 PM
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
Often named as the best film of its decade, Martin Scorcese's searing and deeply personal portrait of brutish boxer Jake LaMotta earned Robert DeNiro a Best Actor Oscar.
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Past series have run as follows:
Spring 2008
The Thin Red Line (USA, 1998) 170 min. Dir. Terrence Malick
Pickpocket (France, 1959) 75 min. Dir. Robert Bresson
Abraham's Valley (Portugal, 1993) 187 min. Dir. Manoel de Oliveira
Fall 2007
Spartacus (USA, 1960, 198 min. Dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Day of Wrath (Denmark, 1943, 97 min. Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Hail Mary (France, 1985, 107 min. Dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
Spring 2007
RoboCop (USA, 1987, 102 min., Dir. Paul Verhoeven)
Ran (Japan, 1985, 160 min. Dir. Akira Kurosawa)
Fall 2006
Sign of the Cross (1932, 125 min, Cecil B. DeMille)
The Life of Brian (1979, 94 min., dir. Terry Jones)
The Death of Empedocles (1987, 132 min, dir. Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966, 95 min, Robert Bresson)
Spring 2006
Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955, 16mm)
Madame Bovary (Claude Chabrol, 1991)
Love and Death (Woody Allen, 1975)
Pierrot Le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
Fall 2005
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, 1988)
Lost Lost Lost (Jonas Mekas, 1976)