movies that I watched in film class

In order to fulfill a few credits for my degree, I decided to broaden my horizons by taking FILM 301, aka Film History. I thought it would be super awesome and easy - you just get to watch fun movies, right? Half-true. Some of the movies really are interesting...but man, people used to watch some boring movies! Here are 12 films that I watched in film class that were actually interesting.

Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) 
Director: Georges Méliès
Year: 1902
Fun fact: One of the first films ever made. Also, Georges Méliès is the grandfather of the girl in Hugo, which tells a bit about his career.

True Heart Susie 
Director: D.W. Griffith
Year: 1919
Fun fact: All the individual film panes were dyed by hand.

Battleship Potemkin
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Year: 1925
Fun fact: The scene of the baby carriage falling down the stairs was reproduced in The Untouchables.

Metropolis
Director: Fritz Lang
Year: 1927
Fun fact: This is reportedly one of Hitler's favorite films. The robot was the inspiration for Star Wars' C-3P0. And footage was used in the music video for "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen.

Un chien andalou
Director: Luis Buñuel
Year: 1930
Fun fact: Luis Buñuel was besties with Frederico García Lorca (poet) and Salvador Dalí (artist), who was a collaborator (hence why it is so weird).

Strangers on a Train
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year: 1951
Fun fact: Alfred Hitchcock is most famous for directing the movie Psycho.

The Spirit of the Beehive
Director: Victor Erice
Year: 1973
Fun fact: A Spanish film that compares Frankenstein to the Republicans of the Spanish Civil War (spoiler: they lost and Francisco Franco became the authoritarian dictator). One of my favorites.

3 Women
Director: Robert Altman
Year: 1977
Fun fact: Another one of my favorites, featuring Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall (both from Texas). The story is based on a dream Robert Altman had.

Chunking Express
Director: Wong Kar-wai
Year: 1994
Fun fact: This film was propelled by Quentin Tarantino to be screened in the US, so you know it has to be really awesome.

¡Y tú mamá, también! (And Your Mother, Too!)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Year: 2001
Fun fact: This is probably the most explicit film you will ever watch. You've been warned. Also, Alfonso Cuarón directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. ALSO, he's besties with Guillermo del Toro.

Hands on a Hardbody
Director: S. R. Bindler
Year: 1997
Fun fact: This was a real contest held in Longview, Texas every year up until 2005 when a contestant committed suicide after losing. It's now a Broadway musical.

Now, Forager
Director: Jason Courtland
Year: 2012
Fun fact: I actually watched this as an extra credit film for the class, but I really liked it. It's a story (not a documentary) that deals with mushroom foragers. Jason Courtland plays the male protagonist.

Now that FILM 301 is over, I feel like my film horizons have been broadened, and I now know the difference between French Impressionism and Post-Modernism, although I don't know how this will help me in life. AND, after believing all semester that I was going to make a C in the class...I made a B. :) If you're interested in taking this class, I highly suggest it, although it is quite a time commitment!

Much love,
Sydney