Elizabeth Czach
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Contact
Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts - English & Film Studies Dept
- czach@ualberta.ca
- Address
-
3-75 Humanities Centre
11121 Saskatchewan Drive NWEdmonton ABT6G 2H5
Overview
About
Before coming to the University of Alberta I was a programmer of Canadian film at the Toronto International Film Festival (1995-2005). I'm past president of the Film Studies Association of Canada and current co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Film Studies.
Research
My research can be roughly divided into three areas: film festivals, Canadian film, and amateur films and home movies. I have published widely in all three areas including a co-edited volume with André Loiselle, Cinema of Pain: On Quebec's Nostalgic Screen (2020), and a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Film Studies on 16mm in Canada (31.2, Fall 2022), co-edited with Haidee Wasson.
My interest in amateur film has led me to a long-term, archive intense, research project on women travel lecture filmmakers in North America, who were active from roughly the 1930-1980s. Tentatively titled, Your Ticket to Adventure, this project recovers the professional filmmaking careers of women working as directors of 16mm films.
I am also working on a short monograph on Quebec auteur Lea Pool's lesbian coming of age classic Emporte Moi.
Teaching
My undergraduate teaching includes introductory courses in film analysis and film history. Upper level offerings span courses on animation, the horror film, Quebec cinema, and English-Canadian cinema. I have taught fourth-year seminars on film criticism, film festivals, women and the silent screen, and the films of Wes Anderson, among others. Some of the graduate-level directed reading courses I have taught include feminist television, ethnographic film, arctic cinema, and the Canadian B movie.
Courses
FS 100 - Introduction to Film Study
Introduction to basic formal concepts in film analysis including mise-en-scène, cinematographic properties, editing, and sound, as well as narrative qualities.
FS 201 - Introduction to Film History I
A survey of world cinema from 1890 to 1950, with emphasis on major historical developments and important individual films. Prerequisite or corequisite: FS 100. Not to be taken by students with credit in FS 200.
FS 309 - Quebec Film
History and aesthetic developments in Quebec film, from 1930s to present. Prerequisite: FS 100.
FS 324 - Monsters, Slashers and Ghosts
Examines the horror genre from the silent era to the present. Prerequisite: FS 100.
FS 412 - Topics in Film Studies
A seminar-based examination of specialized topics in film. Prerequisite: FS 100.
FS 521 - Directed Reading Course I