This is a seminar course examining a variety of theories and critical approaches, focusing on two–three contemporary cinema auteurs. The course includes in-depth study of directors such as Scorsese, J. Coen & E. Coen, Kubrick, Schrader, and Eastwood, their connections to film history, theoretical constructs and critical stances, as well as common and divergent themes in their films and what they say about the human condition.