Current and Upcoming Courses:
January
The Language of Film II
January
Ecstatic Truth:
The Films of Werner Herzog
January - April
From Page to Screen:
Book and Film Discussion Series
January - May
Film History Discussion Series: 1939
February
Moguls, Mensches, and Nudniks:
Jews and American Cinema
Now you can take this class at BMFI or
in Center City at The Gershman Y!
February
Scorsese's Cinema of Loneliness
March
Ascending From Darkness:
The Films of Stanley Kubrick
March
Marriage, Motherhood, and Madness: The Hollywood Melodrama
Saturday, March 13
Seminar: Humor without Borders
April
Touch of Genius: Orson Welles
April
Labyrinth of Passion:
Spanish Cinema
Remember: BMFI Members receive a discount on course tuition. Click here to join.
February
Moguls, Mensches, and Nudniks: Jews and American Cinema
Taught by Andrew J. Douglas, Ph.D., Director of Education, BMFI
Class meets at BMFI:
4 Tuesdays, 10:00am to 1:00pm, February 2, 9, 16, 23
Fee: $100 for members, $125 for non-members
To register, click here or call 610-527-4008 x105.
Jewish Americans have had an enduring, substantive, and complex influence on the nation’s cinema, both behind the scenes and on screen. It began with a small group of Eastern European immigrants (with names like Zukor and Mayer) and first-generation Americans (with names like Warner and Cohn) who took the movies from being dismissed as a fad and a petty amusement to being hailed as a major art form and a mighty industry.
The course starts by discussing some of the ways in which the Jewish identity of the industry’s early, prominent moguls was a key ingredient in Hollywood’s formation and success in the first half of the 20th century. It continues by considering the work of filmmakers and actors from Jewish backgrounds, and by looking at such films as The Jazz Singer (1927) and Annie Hall (1977) to get a taste—a cinematic nosh, if you will—of their lasting contributions to the art form.
The Jazz Singer (1927)