Jane Young Fall 2026 Film Series: The Return of the Repressed

The BMCC English Department invites you to the the Jane Young* Film Series, Fall Semester 2026. We are delighted to host highly distinguished guests to introduce this semester's films. All students, staff and faculty are welcome. The films and discussions will be held on Zoom: https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/82851522489 Hosts: Professors Steinkoler, Klock and Odom Sunday, September 13 at 4 p.m. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Germany, 1920) dir. Robert Wiene The film is quintessential work of early German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of a hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist Cesare (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders. The film features a dark, twisted visual style, with sharp-pointed forms; oblique, curving lines; structures and landscapes that lean and twist in unusual angles; and shadows and streaks of light painted directly onto the sets. The set design is anti-realistic, claustrophobic and harsh which is coupled with feverish anxiety [that] entered the vocabulary of filmmakers and film viewers particularly during the Weimar Republic, when this film was made. Guest Speaker: Ernesto Pezzi Ernesto Pezzi is a film aficionado, independent scholar, teacher and author of The Fellini Handbook. Sunday, September 27 at 7 p.m. Mulholland Drive (USA, 2001) dir. David Lynch Mulholland Drive is a mystery film written and directed by David Lynch. Its narrative is characterized by surrealist and neo-noir elements, and follows an aspiring actress (Naomi Watts) newly arrived in Los Angeles, where she befriends a car crash victim (Laura Harring) who is suffering from amnesia. Meanwhile, a Hollywood director (Justin Theroux) must deal with interference from the criminal underworld while casting his latest film. Guest Speaker: Geoff Klock Geoff Klock has a doctorate from Oxford and is an award-winning tenured full professor at BMCC; he has been teaching at CUNY since 2006. The central work of his life involves using a kind of oneiric mental toolbox gathered from famous elite artists and thinkers (Plato, Shakespeare, Freud, Proust, David Lynch) to navigate mass culture and life. Sunday, October 4 at 7 p.m. Rebecca (USA, 1940) dir. Alfred Hitchcock (USA 1940) Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock's first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. Guest Speaker: Dexter Jeffries Dexter Jeffries has a Ph.D. in English from the CUNY Graduate Center. He has an Honorable Discharge from the United States Marine Corps and another one from the United States Army. Since 1979, he has taught English at the City University of New York and has been an Adjunct Associate Professor of the Humanities at Pratt Institute since 1992. In 1996, in conjunction with the film department of Pratt Institute, Dexter produced and directed a documentary film, What's Jazz? In 2003, Kensington Press published his autobiographical memoir, Triple Exposure: Black, Jewish, and Red in the 1950s. His one act play, White Out, a short tale of war and peace, was produced by the Gallery Theater Players, Brooklyn, 2018. Sunday, October 11 at 4 p.m. The Shining (USA, 1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film[7] produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. It is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel and stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers. The film presents the descent into insanity of a recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist who takes a job as winter caretaker for a mountain resort hotel with his wife and clairvoyant son. Guest Speaker: Francesco Clerici Francesco Adriano Clerici has a PhD in Cultural Studies from Humboldt University, in collaboration with the University of Milan. He currently lives between Barcelona and Berlin, where he teaches Italian and German. He has published essays on authors such as Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Johannes Ilmari Auerbach, Durs Grünbein, Bruno Taut, André Green, and Peter Sloterdijk. In 2018, he translated and edited the Italian edition of Sloterdijk's I figli impossibili della nuova era. His last book is the monograph Filiations of The Negative. Reading Franz Kafka and Paul Celan with André Green (Milano University Press, 2025). Sunday, October 25 at 7 p.m. Wild Strawberries (Sweden, 1957) dir. Ingmar Bergman Wild Strawberries is a 1957 Swedish road drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The original Swedish title is Smultronstället, which literally means the wild strawberry patch but idiomatically signifies a hidden gem of a place, often with personal or sentimental value, and not widely known. The cast includes Victor Sjöström in his final screen performance as an old man recalling his past, as well as Bergman regulars Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, and Gunnar Björnstrand. Max von Sydow and Gunnel Lindblom also appear in small roles. Guest Speaker: David Schoolnik While studying philosophy and classics in graduate school, David Schoolnik discovered that it was more fun to watch, think and talk about movies than write papers on Kant. He still watches, thinks and talks about movies while having switched his attention from philosophy to kinetic studies via Pilates and Gyrotonic, which makes sense, since cinema and kinesis are etymologically the same. Sunday, November 15 at 7 p.m. Parasite (South Korea, 2019) dir. Bong Joon Ho Parasite (Korean: 기생충) is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon Ho, who co-wrote the screenplay with Han Jin-won. It stars Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, and Lee Jung-eun. The film follows a poor family who infiltrate the home and life of a wealthy family. Guest Speaker: Max Shuppert Max Shuppert is an Emmy-award-winning broadcast and video editor at Media in New York City, and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Communications Design Department/School of Design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Sunday, November 22 at 3 p.m. Persona (Sweden, 1966) dir. Ingmar Bergman Persona is a 1966 Swedish avant-garde psychological drama film[n 1] written, directed, and produced by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. The story revolves around a young nurse named Alma (Andersson) and her patient, well-known stage actress Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann), who has suddenly stopped speaking. They move to a cottage, where Alma cares for Elisabet, confides in her, and begins having trouble distinguishing herself from her patient. Guest Speaker: George Bartlett George Bartlett is an Assistant Professor at ESLSCA University, Egypt, where he leads writing and directing courses in the Cinematic Studies department. He is also a Teaching Fellow at the Cairo Institute for the Liberal Arts and Sciences where he teaches psychoanalysis. Sunday, December 6 at 7 p.m. The Night of the Hunter (USA, 1955) dir. Charles Laughton The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American Southern Gothic horror-thriller film directed by Charles Laughton in his sole directorial credit and starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. The screenplay by James Agee was based on the 1953 novel by Davis Grubb. The plot is about Preacher Harry Powell (Mitchum), a serial killer who poses as a preacher and pursues two children in an attempt to get his hands on $10,000 of stolen cash hidden by their late father. Guest Speaker: Manya Steinkoler Manya Steinkoler is a Professor of English at BMCC. She has a PhD in comparative literature and trained in Paris in Lacanian psychoanalysis. She has edited and co-authored many books on psychoanalysis. She chairs the Jane Young Film Series. She is a trained opera singer who performs in NYC. * This film series was named in honor of former BMCC English Professor Jane Young, who taught composition, literature, and film for 43 years.