WorkingSyllabus for Global Film Travel Study – Spring 2013
Instructor:Jeff Renye Office: Olney 224
E-mail: (0 = zero)
WORKING STATEMENT OF COURSE GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS
NOTE: No knowledge of a foreign language is required.
There are various broad themes that stand as choices for thecourse’s content and our travel locations, with related films listed in the last section of this document. The nature of the course is such that it is capable of incorporating and expanding upon multiple of the following categories:
- World Cinema: classic and contemporary films from some of the great directors of Italy, France, Japan, Mexico, Hong Kong, Brazil, Iran, the Balkans, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
- World Cinema as seen in European Film, with the last part of the film schedule putting our focus on the rich film industryin Central Europe and the influences of Central European Culture.
- The Female Artist, Performer, and Cinematographer: the focus will be on international star Marlene Dietrich and the groundbreaking and controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl
The class will engage students with the visual medium of film and provide them with a critical appreciation of World Cinema.
Structured assignments and student-led discussion will assist in gaining an understanding of:
- The rich history of moviemaking and the art, entertainment, and business of movies.
- International varieties of film medium’s expression of cultural mores and social conditions
The travel component will bring the students into contact with the places that are part of the films that we watch together – the studios, filming locations, and sites of historical and cultural influence on the cinematic experiences that we’ll share.
CLASS SCHEDULE
*Viewing order is not set, but these titles will give you a sense of the actual course content
**First film listed under each heading is the one to be viewed and discussed by the class, and the second film listed is the one to be used for presentations, papers, and student projects
French Film and the New Wave
Elevator to the Gallows (France, 1958, Louis Malle)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (French New Wave, 1962, dir. AgnèsVarda)
Italian Film and Neo-Realism
Amarcord (Italy, 1973, dir. Federico Fellini)
Rome, Open City (Italy, 1945, dir. Roberto Rossellini)
Spanish Film:
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spain, 1988, dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
The Others (Spain, 2001, dir. Alejandro Amenábar)
Brazilian Film: Cinema Novo
Central Station (Brazil, 1998, dir. Walter Salles)
City of God (Brazil, 2002, dir. Fernando Meirelles)
Mexican New Wave Cinema:
Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico, 2006, dir. Guillermo del Toro)
Children of Men (British-American, 2006, dir. Alfonso Cuarón)
Hong Kong Contemporary Film:
In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong, 2001, dir. Wong Kar-wai)
Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong, 2002, dir. Andrew Lau and Alan Mak)
Japan, Classic and Contemporary Film:
High and Low (Japan, 1963, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
A Country Doctor (Japan, 2007, dir. Koji Yamamura)
Iran Contemporary Film:
Border Cafe (also known as Café Transit - Iran, 2005, dir. KambuziaPartovi)
Taste of Cherry (Iran, 2007, Abbas Kiarostami)
Balkan Film:
No Man's Land (Bosnia, 2001, DanisTanović)
Time of the Gypsies (Yugoslavia, 19 , dir. Emir Kusturica)
Women Artists and International Film:
Part 1: LeniRiefensthal
Triumph of the Will (Germany, 1935, dir. LeniRiefensthal)
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of LeniRiefenstahl (Germany, 1993, dir. )
Part 2: Marelene Dietrich
Blue Angel (Germany, 1927, dir. Joseph von Stroheim)
A Foreign Affair (USA, 1948, dir. Billy Wilder)
German Expressionism and Berlin Babelsberg Studios:
Where the Horror Came From:
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Germany, 1920, dir. Robert Wiene)
M (Germany, 1931, Fritz Lang)
East Germany:
The Murderers Are Among Us (East Germany 1946, dir. Wolfgang Becker)
Goodbye Lenin! (Germany 2003, dir. Wolfgang Becker)
Czech New Wave and PragueBarrandov Film Studios:
Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia,1966, dir.JiríMenzel)
Little Otík (also known as Greedy Guts; Czech Republich, Jan Svankmajer, dir. 2000)
British Film about Austria:
The Third Man (UK/Austria, 1948, Carrol Reed)
The New Europe: Migrant and Diasporic Cinema
The Edge of Heaven (Turkey, 2007, dir. Fatih Akin)