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The compact course Post-Cinema explores the current state of US American cinema and its relations to and differences from 20th-century film. We focus on the recent shift from analog to digital and algorithmic media in order to think about the larger stakes of theorizing moving images as technological and cultural media. We consider the impact of digital technologies on film, think about the cultural contexts and aesthetic practices of contemporary motion pictures, and try to understand the experiential dimensions of spectatorship in today's altered viewing conditions.

In addition to viewing a range of recent and contemporary films and artworks, we also engage more directly and materially with post-cinematic moving images: we experiment with scholarly and experimental uses of non-linear video editing for the purposes of film analysis, cinemetrics, and a variety of academic and creative responses to moving image media.

The course addresses key issues in recent film and media theory and, especially in its hands-on components, encourages experimentation with methods of digital humanities, computational media art, and other creative practices.

Prof. Denson has written a book on the very topic of the course he will be teaching in Frankfurt: Post-Cinema: Theorizing 21st-Century Film (2016). He is also the author and editor of Post-Cinematic Bodies (2023), Discorrelated Images (2020), Transnational Perspectives on Graphic Narratives (2013), and Postnaturalism: Frankenstein, Film, and the Anthropotechnical Interface (2014). 
His websites are https://shanedenson.com/ and https://art.stanford.edu/people/shane-denson

If you are interested in taking this class, please register by May 2 by sending an email to paula.hoehn@stud.uni-frankfurt.de, the student assistant of Prof. Heike Schaefer. Please put the course title Post-Cinema in the email's subject line. Please list your name, course of study, semester, and matriculation number in the email. You will receive an email that confirms your enrollment and provides more information about the course after the registration deadline.

Please note that BA students who wish to enroll in this course must have completed the Basisphase (first and second semester) of their studies and should have an affinity for theory-driven class discussions.

Have a good start into the semester! 

Best wishes,
Heike Schaefer