Choosing “Contemporary Cinema” as my elective subject may have been the best decision I have ever made. Now, this may seem hyperbolic, but how hyperbolic can I be if I am willing to wake up for every 9AM 2-hour Wednesday morning lecture solely for this one course?
As an indecisive first year student, choosing an elective for the two semesters at the start of the academic year had me perplexed with all the options we were given. I had ended up changing my elective choices 2-3 times, but “Contemporary Cinema” remained throughout, acting as a backup elective that I can find enjoyable. Nevertheless, my expectations of the subject soon died down after my experience of the Semester 1 elective that I had chosen, which will remain unnamed to keep the suspense. I then developed a mindset of dread toward “Contemporary Cinema” in Semester 2, and that it may not be what I expected it to be and instead be full of utter boredom.
To my surprise, but to no one else’s, I was completely wrong.
The first introduction that I had to the elective was the first screening, American Honey (2016), and I am proud to say that I rated the beautiful film 5/5 on Letterboxd. It moved me! And it moved me how everyone was quick to discuss the film when walking outside the Gordon Aikman lecture theatre. In lectures and tutorials, it’s apparent that the lecturers are passionate about their subject, to the extent that these sessions feel more like open-class discussions on films we are captivated by rather than a formal lecture. We investigate the movies through an entirely different lens than what is typically expected, opening my mind to new ways I can analyse films I watch in the future.
One of the opening main discussion points that has stuck with me since January is the question of, as cinema audiences, do we tend to analyse the film whilst watching it, or fully engross ourselves in the film to enjoy and analyse what you’ve witnessed post-film screening? Divergences in audience reception exemplified itself during this moment of discussion, with everyone pointing out the similarities and differences between our points of view.
The elective is itself composed of a variety of films (selected across from the last 15 years), including infamous cinephile movies like Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022), Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017) (may I add that this received an applause from the back of the lecture theatre after the film had finished), and Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018). However, the subject has also opened a new spotlight on international cinema, with some now being my newfound favourites like American Honey (Andrea Arnold, 2016) and Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2018). The entire listing for this semester, which I am eagerly anticipating to watch, simultaneously includes:
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing (Martin McDonagh, 2017)
- Varda by Agnés (Agnés Varda, 2019)
- The Island of Hungry Ghosts (Gabrielle Brady, 2018)
- Alcarràs (Carla Simón, 2022)
All these films are shown weekly every Monday, to which I refer to this as a ‘free ticket to the cinema’, being able to watch all these new films and fully engross myself in the cinemascope, as intended.
Overall, I fully recommend “Contemporary Cinema” as an elective subject. I am unsure of what films will be shown for the next academic year, but I am certain on the fact that it will be a great selection of films – in a very biased viewpoint, I am yet to dislike any of the films that have been shown this semester.
Whether you are a self-proclaimed cinephile or a newbie to cinema entirely, “Contemporary Cinema” is a great way to ignite passions for films in a new light, surrounded by like-minded people (who are just as much as a film nerd as you are!)
“McEwan Hall roof from National Museum of Scotland” by GB_1984 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.