This seminar will survey the major developments in contemporary film theory (1960-present), addressing how filmmaking practices and Cinema Studies have been influenced by semiotics, psychoanalysis, marxism, decolonization, feminism, queer theory, critical race theory, post-modernism and the emergence of new media. After surveying the historical trends within film theory, the course will then examine the role of theory in the study of film today. Are we, as some critics have recently claimed, "after Theory"? What stake does Cinema Studies have in fighting for, or against, the continuation of film theory as an essential component of the discipline? Attendance at weekly screenings is required.