Cinema Studies Lecture by Akira Mizuta Lippit (University of Southern California)

University of Southern California professor Akira Mizuta Lippit taught an intensive course on Cinema Studies, July 3-7. His sociological analysis referencing “ghosts” focused on David Cronenburg’s Dead Ringers, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire, Ken McMullen’s Ghost Dance, Alfred Hitchock’s Vertigo, Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark and Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist. His lecture included observations on the historical background of films and cinema semiotics, drawing on Jacque Derrida’s thesis “Cinema plus Psychoanalysis equals the Science of Ghosts” and Freud’s ideas on “The Uncanny.”