St. Mary's College of Maryland
Sunset over the River Grass

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Phone: 240-895-3007
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Anthony Guzman
Coordinator, Office of Lifelong Learning & Professional Programs

Robin Bates Film Course
Spring 2013

The Lives of Others

As Alfred Hitchcock understood better than anyone, film is essentially a voyeuristic medium, one that gives us permission to peer into other people's lives and listen in on their conversations. Therefore films that are explicitly about overheard conversations often give us insight into the nature of film itself. In this semester's film course, we will look at four interesting films that feature characters listening in or looking in on the lives of others.

The films will be shown at 7:00 pm in Cole Cinema at the Campus Center.  Dr. Robin Bates, Professor of English, will introduce each film and lead a discussion afterwards.  The cost of the course is $10.

January 29

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, U.S., 1954, 112 mins.) – Hitchcock’s masterful thriller is about a bored photographer with a broken leg who tracks the lives of his neighbors.

February 26

The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, U.S., 1974, 113 mins.) – Shaken by the Watergate break-in, Coppola insisted that he be allowed to make this film in return for directing a sequel to The Godfather

March 26

Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieślowski, Poland, 1994, 99 mins.) – One of Kieślowski’s famed Red, White and Blue Trilogy, Red treats the subject of eavesdropping, including a judge who listens in on the lives of his neighbors.

April 30

The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany, 2006, 137 mins.) – Winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar, Lives of Others is a remarkable study about how an eavesdropper can be changed by the lives he listens in on.

Click here for a listing of films featured in previous editions of the Film Course


Aerial view of St. Mary's College of Maryland campus

St. Mary's College of Maryland
18952 E. Fisher Rd
St. Mary's City, MD 20686-3001
240-895-2000