FACULTY: Dr. Amresh Sinha
film theorist
As a film teacher, I feel that my fundamental responsibility to students is to make them aware that watching film is neither a spectator sport nor an exercise in casting judgment by raising one’s thumb up or putting it down. To make them understand a film, or to put it better, to make them understand the discourse of a film, my primary responsibility is to guide students out of the habitual framework of limiting their critical assessment to either “it sucked” or it was “awesome.”
My approach to pedagogy is mediated through a desire to cultivate and instill in students both a sense of high competence and a sincere pleasure regarding the textual materials we engage together in the classroom. In my teaching, I emphasize the process of viewing film as crucial to understanding the text. My philosophy of teaching is to make sure that we avoid passive consumption of film. I try to navigate the course of discussion in a manner that encourages students to bring in their personal contributions to the discussion within the range of our given readings that structure the logic of such participation.
M. A., Ph.D.
International Cinema
The Language of Film