A line drawing on warm cream of a film projector on a tripod at the left, throwing a wide gold beam across the room onto a pull-down screen at the right. On the screen, a half-lit moon hangs over two dark hills; underneath it runs a line of subtitles written in an invented script. Three people watch from seats in the foreground, one holding popcorn

Screenings

All 11 compulsory screenings, in the order they are used in the course.

Watching each film is compulsory. The lecture is taught on the assumption that you have seen the film, and the workshop on the assumption that you have been to the lecture. The Weekly Build Log then asks what the film changed in your language. You do not have to attend the Monday screening, but you do have to watch the film before the lecture.

  1. Theatrical poster. The title in gold serif caps across the top; Frodo in a green cloak at the centre front with Gandalf and the rest of the company ranged behind him in two columns, and a line of mounted riders silhouetted along the foot

    The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Week 1 · 22 February 2027 · design brief

    Starting with the language, not the story

  2. Theatrical poster. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner above a dark lens-shaped craft hanging over a misted field, Forest Whitaker in uniform below them and military helicopters off to the left; ARRIVAL letterspaced along the foot

    Arrival (2016)

    Week 2 · 1 March 2027 · phonology · screened twice

    The sound inventory

  3. Theatrical poster. "The battle for peace has begun" across the top, the Enterprise streaking diagonally through a starfield with a Klingon face looming behind it, and an orange starburst at the foot behind the logo

    Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

    Week 3 · 8 March 2027 · morphology

    Words that carry their own grammar

  4. Series poster. The Iron Throne in near-darkness, its blades fanned out behind the seat, with the letters GOT set large and pale across the middle

    Game of Thrones, season 1 (2011)

    Week 4 · 15 March 2027 · syntax

    Word order is a decision

  5. Theatrical poster. A close crop of a blue Na'vi face, one yellow eye wide, faint luminous flecks across the skin; "James Cameron's AVATAR" in white beneath it

    Avatar (2009)

    Week 5 · 22 March 2027 · phonotactics

    Which sounds can sit together

  6. Theatrical poster. Almost entirely black, with the curved limb of a sun burning orange down the right-hand side; DUNE letterspaced in thin caps across the middle and PART ONE below it

    Dune (2021)

    Week 6 · 29 March 2027 · lexicon

    Where words come from

  7. Theatrical poster for the Final Cut. A painted montage — Harrison Ford's face large at the upper right, a woman with red lips below him, other faces and a neon-lit street filling the lower half

    Blade Runner (1982)

    Week 7 · 5 April 2027 · sociolinguistics

    Variation and register

  8. Theatrical poster. Aragorn raising a sword at the top with Gandalf behind him, Arwen, Frodo, Sam and Gollum in the lower half, and the title in gold at the foot above the line "The journey ends"

    The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

    Week 8 · 12 April 2027 · orthography

    Writing it down

  9. Theatrical poster. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner above a dark lens-shaped craft hanging over a misted field, Forest Whitaker in uniform below them and military helicopters off to the left; ARRIVAL letterspaced along the foot

    Arrival (2016)

    Week 9 · 19 April 2027 · semantics · screened twice

    Language and thought

  10. Theatrical poster. A longship silhouetted on dark water beneath a huge orange sun with an eye set into it; Antonio Banderas billed above the title and the line "Fear reigns" below it

    The 13th Warrior (1999)

    Week 10 · 26 April 2027 · acquisition

    Learning it from strangers

  11. Illustrated poster. Picard and Dathon standing back to back in front of a purple silhouette of the horned beast, under the words DARMOK AND JALAD AT TANAGRA, with the episode's other phrases listed beneath them

    Star Trek: The Next Generation — "Darmok" (1991)

    Week 11 · 3 May 2027 · pragmatics

    Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

Week 12 has no film. It is the crit: you read your text aloud at speaking pace, and then someone who has never seen your orthography reads a sentence of it back.