New! Reading History Through Films- China and the World
Spring 2026 Registration is Now Open!
Classes Starts the Week of April 13, 2026.
Register by March 10, 2026 to receive $30 off tuition!
Course Objectives:
This 7-week in-person course explores six Chinese films and one Italian classic, all with English subtitles. A careful examination, based on an analytical approach of semiology, will reveal how meanings are considerably enriched through cinematic signs, verbal and non-verbal alike.
Rooted in rich historical contexts, these films invite an interdisciplinary approach that connects cinema with history and culture. Through close reading and comparative discussion—especially between Italian film, exemplified by Cinema Paradiso, and Zhang Yimou’s Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles—students will explore how different cultures use film to engage with memory, emotion, and social change, moving from comparative cinema toward comparative culture and history.
Course Contents:
The course combines guided discussion and close analysis of the seven feature films. No prior background in film studies, Chinese history, or the Chinese language is required. Students are expected to watch each film at home in advance of the corresponding class session in order to allow ample time for in-depth discussion. Before the course begins, participants will receive a complete list of YouTube links to all seven films, which can be viewed online free of charge. In class, the instructor will guide detailed discussion of the seven films and, when necessary, there will be a shot-by-shot analyses of certain important sequences, helping students learn how camera movement, framing, editing, sound, and symbolism work together to construct meaning. Students are encouraged to bring their own questions, observations, and interpretations to each session. The seven films covered are: Zhang Yimou’s To Live, The Road Home, Hero, and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles; Zhou Xiaowen’s Ermo; Lü Yue’s Foliage; and Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso.
Films for Discussion During the Seven Weeks (Tentative):
- Week 1, Zhang Yimou’s To Live, 1994, 活着
- Week 2, Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home, 1999, 我的父亲母亲
- Week 3, Zhang Yimou’s Hero, 2002, 英雄
- Week 4, Zhou Xiaowen’s Ermo, 1994, 二嫫
- Week 5, Lü Yue’s Foliage, 2004, 美人草
- Week 6, Zhang Yimou’s Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, 2005, 千里走单骑
- Week 7, Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso, 1988, 天堂电影院
Fees
7 sessions (14 lecture hours)
$385 member /$425 non-member
(plus a $30 non-refundable registration fee)
*This class will be taught in English.
Instructor
Jim Zhang
Jim Zhang is a film scholar, critic, calligrapher, and photographer with more than four decades of experience across cinema and the visual arts. He came from China to the United States in 1981 and earned a bachelor’s degree in Film Production from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1983, followed by a master’s degree in Cinema Studies from New York University in 1985. After graduating from NYU, Zhang began contributing film reviews to both Chinese- and English-language publications in the United States, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, including Film Quarterly. From 2002 to 2025, he taught film courses at Queens College in New York. Since 1990, he has also been teaching Chinese calligraphy at China Institute, New York. Over the past thirty years, Zhang has worked as a freelance calligrapher and photographer. His work has been recognized in One Hundred New York Photographers (2009) and One Hundred New York Calligraphers (2015).
