We think of great directors as having singular and original visions, yet American films became a potent force in the world thanks to genres such as the Western, the Screwball Comedy, Film Noir, the Thriller, the Epic, and the Musical. These films got made as a set of agreements between filmmakers and audiences.
Originality would seem to be beside the point in these films, yet many of our greatest filmmakers such as Howard Hawks, John Ford, Frank Capra, Orson Welles, and Alfred Hitchcock worked brilliantly in different genres and managed to stamp them with their signatures. These Director Focus courses look at some of the great examples of genre that these towering figures brought to the screen in spite of, or perhaps because of, the constrictions of the form.

Our Genre courses examine exclusively a single genre of the film canon, from musicals to westerns to science fiction and beyond.

Below are links to some of our upcoming Director Focus and also Genre courses.