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Emphasizing interpretation, theory, history, and cultures of film across the world, this program is a perfect complement for Film/Video or other majors who want to develop a critical understanding of cinema.

grid image of artwork from a short film

The Cinema Studies Minor is for students who want to gain an understanding of film from a humanities perspective. Emphasizing interpretation, theory, history, and cultures of film across the world, it’s a perfect complement for Film/Video majors or other majors who want to develop a critical understanding of cinema, including its relation to new screen and moving image cultures in a global context. The minor involves a required course (Intensive Film Theory) and four electives. It may be declared at any time. 


Minor Coordinator
Chris Vitale
cvitale@pratt.edu
718.636.3600

students gathered around a picnic table, on campus
@hmspratt
Humanities & Media Studies at Pratt Institute

@hmspratt

  • Documentary Image. Prof. Melissa Eidson.
Wednesdays, 2:00 PM - 4:50 PM
  • Queer Archives. Prof. Dalia Davoudi.
Thursdays, 2:00 - 4:50pm.
  • HMS 404A: Democratic Vistas
Prof. Steven Doloff
W 2:00 - 4:50pm
  • HMS 330A: Freud and Lacan
Prof. Suzanne Verderber
Thursday, 2:00 PM - 4:50 PM
  • HMS 208A: Medieval Lit and Culture, Fall 2025. Prof. 
Suzanne Verderber
Thursday, 9:30 AM - 12:20 PM
  • Introduction to French I, Fall 2025, Prof. Katherine Billingsley, 2 sections: MW 9:30 to 10:50 am and MW  11:00 am to 12:20 pm.
  • On Tuesday, 3/25, Karin Shankar’s Introduction to Performance Studies class went to watch “Sumo” at The Public Theater, a play by Lisa Sanaye Dring, co-produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Ralph B. Peña. The play presented a range of themes and questions central to Prof. Shankar’s class this semester. These themes included: sport, ritual, Non-Western performance traditions, performance and nation, and performances of masculinity. The play was a visually stunning piece of theatre, including live demonstrations of Sumo, Taiko drumming, multimedia projections, and stage combat: https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2425/sumo/
  • Karin Shankar’s “Postcoloniality and Aesthetics” class went on a field trip to watch Pulitzer Prize-winning play “English” by Iranian-American playwright Sanaz Toosi, at the Todd Haimes Theatre. The play deals with the politics of foreign language learning, translation, accented English, exile, displacement, and being strangers (and friends) in a strange language. The production was directed by Knud Adams.
  • Thursday, March 13, 5pm, ARC-E02, Pratt Brooklyn Campus

On behalf of the Cultural Research and Practice Lab, Dalia Davoudi and Shayla Lawz invite you to a talk by Shirine Saad on the Poethics of Dissonance and Disorder in Feminist and Queer Arab* Art.
 
Please register via the QR code.

Poethics of decolonial resistance are a potent attack on Western systems of knowledge and power, a deployment of anarchic tactics targeting all dominant forms. In a decolonial, feminist, queer global solidarity movement, glitch, noise and failure echo the terror of necropolitics, recycle remnants from the wreckage, and alchemize waste into “other ways of knowing and doing, existing otherwise” (Denise Ferreira da Silva) , demanding the return of everything. The breakdown is a feminist, queer tool of rebellion and experimentation, a new rhythm of life amidst total violence. We will look at various forms of resistance in interdisciplinary feminist and queer cultural movements from the Arab* world and diaspora to trace the interconnected maps of struggle and insurgence infiltrating empire, articulating demands from the frontlines of the uprisings, deploying the cyborg poet and “queer ballistic body” (Jasbir Puar ) as a disassemblage, a movement of disorder and upheaval. These poethics mess up lethal Western ontology, phenomenology, metaphysics, and epistemologies, upsetting time and space in a reclaiming of alternative cycles and ecologies after the end of the world. As technodystopias ravage the living, the poet and martyr stands on the edge, chanting, steadfast and defiant, forever rooted into the land.   

CRP Lab centers work within the fields of Cultural Studies, including Black Studies, Queer Studies, and Media Studies. Our programming aims to generate cross-disciplinary conversations among artists and researchers, highlighting work at the intersection of creative and scholarly practice.
Documentary Image. Prof. Melissa Eidson.
Wednesdays, 2:00 PM - 4:50 PM
Documentary Image. Prof. Melissa Eidson. Wednesdays, 2:00 PM - 4:50 PM
12 hours ago
View on Instagram |
1/9
Queer Archives. Prof. Dalia Davoudi.
Thursdays, 2:00 - 4:50pm.
Queer Archives. Prof. Dalia Davoudi. Thursdays, 2:00 - 4:50pm.
2 days ago
View on Instagram |
2/9
HMS 404A: Democratic Vistas
Prof. Steven Doloff
W 2:00 - 4:50pm
HMS 404A: Democratic Vistas Prof. Steven Doloff W 2:00 - 4:50pm
2 days ago
View on Instagram |
3/9
HMS 330A: Freud and Lacan
Prof. Suzanne Verderber
Thursday, 2:00 PM - 4:50 PM
HMS 330A: Freud and Lacan Prof. Suzanne Verderber Thursday, 2:00 PM - 4:50 PM
3 days ago
View on Instagram |
4/9
HMS 208A: Medieval Lit and Culture, Fall 2025. Prof. 
Suzanne Verderber
Thursday, 9:30 AM - 12:20 PM
HMS 208A: Medieval Lit and Culture, Fall 2025. Prof. Suzanne Verderber Thursday, 9:30 AM - 12:20 PM
4 days ago
View on Instagram |
5/9
Introduction to French I, Fall 2025, Prof. Katherine Billingsley, 2 sections: MW 9:30 to 10:50 am and MW  11:00 am to 12:20 pm.
Introduction to French I, Fall 2025, Prof. Katherine Billingsley, 2 sections: MW 9:30 to 10:50 am and MW  11:00 am to 12:20 pm.
Introduction to French I, Fall 2025, Prof. Katherine Billingsley, 2 sections: MW 9:30 to 10:50 am and MW 11:00 am to 12:20 pm.
4 days ago
View on Instagram |
6/9
On Tuesday, 3/25, Karin Shankar’s Introduction to Performance Studies class went to watch “Sumo” at The Public Theater, a play by Lisa Sanaye Dring, co-produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Ralph B. Peña. The play presented a range of themes and questions central to Prof. Shankar’s class this semester. These themes included: sport, ritual, Non-Western performance traditions, performance and nation, and performances of masculinity. The play was a visually stunning piece of theatre, including live demonstrations of Sumo, Taiko drumming, multimedia projections, and stage combat: https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2425/sumo/
On Tuesday, 3/25, Karin Shankar’s Introduction to Performance Studies class went to watch “Sumo” at The Public Theater, a play by Lisa Sanaye Dring, co-produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Ralph B. Peña. The play presented a range of themes and questions central to Prof. Shankar’s class this semester. These themes included: sport, ritual, Non-Western performance traditions, performance and nation, and performances of masculinity. The play was a visually stunning piece of theatre, including live demonstrations of Sumo, Taiko drumming, multimedia projections, and stage combat: https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2425/sumo/
On Tuesday, 3/25, Karin Shankar’s Introduction to Performance Studies class went to watch “Sumo” at The Public Theater, a play by Lisa Sanaye Dring, co-produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Ralph B. Peña. The play presented a range of themes and questions central to Prof. Shankar’s class this semester. These themes included: sport, ritual, Non-Western performance traditions, performance and nation, and performances of masculinity. The play was a visually stunning piece of theatre, including live demonstrations of Sumo, Taiko drumming, multimedia projections, and stage combat: https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2425/sumo/
On Tuesday, 3/25, Karin Shankar’s Introduction to Performance Studies class went to watch “Sumo” at The Public Theater, a play by Lisa Sanaye Dring, co-produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Ralph B. Peña. The play presented a range of themes and questions central to Prof. Shankar’s class this semester. These themes included: sport, ritual, Non-Western performance traditions, performance and nation, and performances of masculinity. The play was a visually stunning piece of theatre, including live demonstrations of Sumo, Taiko drumming, multimedia projections, and stage combat: https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2425/sumo/
1 month ago
View on Instagram |
7/9
Karin Shankar’s “Postcoloniality and Aesthetics” class went on a field trip to watch Pulitzer Prize-winning play “English” by Iranian-American playwright Sanaz Toosi, at the Todd Haimes Theatre. The play deals with the politics of foreign language learning, translation, accented English, exile, displacement, and being strangers (and friends) in a strange language. The production was directed by Knud Adams.
Karin Shankar’s “Postcoloniality and Aesthetics” class went on a field trip to watch Pulitzer Prize-winning play “English” by Iranian-American playwright Sanaz Toosi, at the Todd Haimes Theatre. The play deals with the politics of foreign language learning, translation, accented English, exile, displacement, and being strangers (and friends) in a strange language. The production was directed by Knud Adams.
1 month ago
View on Instagram |
8/9
Thursday, March 13, 5pm, ARC-E02, Pratt Brooklyn Campus

On behalf of the Cultural Research and Practice Lab, Dalia Davoudi and Shayla Lawz invite you to a talk by Shirine Saad on the Poethics of Dissonance and Disorder in Feminist and Queer Arab* Art.
 
Please register via the QR code.

Poethics of decolonial resistance are a potent attack on Western systems of knowledge and power, a deployment of anarchic tactics targeting all dominant forms. In a decolonial, feminist, queer global solidarity movement, glitch, noise and failure echo the terror of necropolitics, recycle remnants from the wreckage, and alchemize waste into “other ways of knowing and doing, existing otherwise” (Denise Ferreira da Silva) , demanding the return of everything. The breakdown is a feminist, queer tool of rebellion and experimentation, a new rhythm of life amidst total violence. We will look at various forms of resistance in interdisciplinary feminist and queer cultural movements from the Arab* world and diaspora to trace the interconnected maps of struggle and insurgence infiltrating empire, articulating demands from the frontlines of the uprisings, deploying the cyborg poet and “queer ballistic body” (Jasbir Puar ) as a disassemblage, a movement of disorder and upheaval. These poethics mess up lethal Western ontology, phenomenology, metaphysics, and epistemologies, upsetting time and space in a reclaiming of alternative cycles and ecologies after the end of the world. As technodystopias ravage the living, the poet and martyr stands on the edge, chanting, steadfast and defiant, forever rooted into the land.   

CRP Lab centers work within the fields of Cultural Studies, including Black Studies, Queer Studies, and Media Studies. Our programming aims to generate cross-disciplinary conversations among artists and researchers, highlighting work at the intersection of creative and scholarly practice.
Thursday, March 13, 5pm, ARC-E02, Pratt Brooklyn Campus On behalf of the Cultural Research and Practice Lab, Dalia Davoudi and Shayla Lawz invite you to a talk by Shirine Saad on the Poethics of Dissonance and Disorder in Feminist and Queer Arab* Art. Please register via the QR code. Poethics of decolonial resistance are a potent attack on Western systems of knowledge and power, a deployment of anarchic tactics targeting all dominant forms. In a decolonial, feminist, queer global solidarity movement, glitch, noise and failure echo the terror of necropolitics, recycle remnants from the wreckage, and alchemize waste into “other ways of knowing and doing, existing otherwise” (Denise Ferreira da Silva) , demanding the return of everything. The breakdown is a feminist, queer tool of rebellion and experimentation, a new rhythm of life amidst total violence. We will look at various forms of resistance in interdisciplinary feminist and queer cultural movements from the Arab* world and diaspora to trace the interconnected maps of struggle and insurgence infiltrating empire, articulating demands from the frontlines of the uprisings, deploying the cyborg poet and “queer ballistic body” (Jasbir Puar ) as a disassemblage, a movement of disorder and upheaval. These poethics mess up lethal Western ontology, phenomenology, metaphysics, and epistemologies, upsetting time and space in a reclaiming of alternative cycles and ecologies after the end of the world. As technodystopias ravage the living, the poet and martyr stands on the edge, chanting, steadfast and defiant, forever rooted into the land.    CRP Lab centers work within the fields of Cultural Studies, including Black Studies, Queer Studies, and Media Studies. Our programming aims to generate cross-disciplinary conversations among artists and researchers, highlighting work at the intersection of creative and scholarly practice.
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
9/9