Fall 2025
Screenwriting and Human Rights. This course is at full capacity and is no longer accepting applications.
Dates: September 02, 2025 - December 09, 2025Day/Time: Tuesday 9:00 AM - 11:20 AM EDT
Level: 200-Level
Certificate: Human Rights
Instructor: Lisa Katzman, Bard College
Human rights, whether individual, collective, or geo-political, are the underpinning of much human conflict, struggle, and aspiration. Across vastly different global cultures, the contestation of human rights is reflected in dramatic arts—in song, plays, and film.
In “Screenwriting and Human Rights,” students will write a short screenplay related to a human rights issue of their choosing. In this course, we will study films and screenplays that relate to a range of global human rights issues. Most of the films we will consider in this course are not films produced by Hollywood studios; they are from India, Iran, Senegal, and will also include independent American cinema.
Designed, in part, as a writing workshop, each student in the course will have the opportunity to present a first and second draft of their screenplay during the semester; class members will provide feedback.
Credits: 4 US / 8 ECTS