Introductory description

In this module you will study key moments and questions in the history of cinema. You will think about film texts within their broader industrial, cultural, social and political contexts and consider the different forms of historical work that they have inspired. The scope of this module is broad and you might find yourself considering cinema’s place as a medium of mass entertainment, thinking about the ways in which cinema represents the past, exploring the history of race, class and gender representation, or thinking about the links between cinema and politics.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

WEEK 1: ITALIAN NEOREALISM
Screenings: Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)/ Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, 1952)
WEEK 2: FRENCH NEW WAVE
Screenings: Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1961)/ Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda, 1962)
WEEK 3: DIRECT CINEMA
Screening: Primary (Robert Drew, 1960) & Titicut Follies (Fredric Wiseman, 1967)
WEEK 4: CZECH NEW WAVE
Screening: Daisies (Věra Chytiolvá, 1966)
WEEK 5: CINEMA NOVO
Screening: Black God, White Devil (Glauber Rocha, 1963)
WEEK 6: READING AND VIEWING WEEK
WEEK 7: NEW GERMAN CINEMA
Screenings: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972)/ All that Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955)
WEEK 8: TAIWAN NEW CINEMA
Screenings: Vive l’amour (Tsai Ming-liang, 1994)/ What Time Is It There? (Tsai Ming-liang, 2001)
WEEK 9: DOGMA 95
Screenings: Festen (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)
WEEK 10: MEXICAN NEW CINEMA
Screening: Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2000)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Students will acquire introductory knowledge of the history of cinema and learn to analyse film texts in relation to the contexts in which they were produced, exhibited and understood. They will be introduced to film historiography and will explore the critical debates which have arisen around specific module texts.

Indicative reading list

ON NEW CINEMAS AND NEW WAVES

Catherine Russell (1995), Narrative Mortality: Death, Closure and New Wave Cinemas
Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (2008), Making Waves: New Cinemas of the 1960s
James Tweedie (2013), The Age of New Waves: Art Cinema and the Staging of Globalization
Peter Cowie (2004), Revolution!: The Explosion of World Cinema in the 60s
Sean Martin (2013), New Waves in Cinema

ON FILM HISTORIES

Aristides Gazetas (2008), An Introduction to World Cinema
Douglas Gomery and Robert C. Allen (1985) Film History: Theory and Practice
George Nowell-Smith (ed.) The Oxford History of World Cinema
Karl Schoonover & Rosalind Galt, eds. (2010), Global Art Cinema
Kristin Thompson & David Bordwell (2003) Film History: An Introduction.
Mark Cousins (2009) The Story of Film, esp. Chapter 7, pp. 266-327
James Chapman (2013) Film and History
Paul Grainge et al. (eds) (2011) Film Histories: An Introduction and Reader
Pam Cook (2007) The Cinema Book. London: BFI.
Robert Sklar (2002) A World History of Film., esp. Part V.
Robert A. Rosenstone (2006) History on Film/Film on History

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

This module develops skills of audio-visual literacy, through close textual and/or contextual analysis in relation to the moving image and sound. It may also develops understandings of historical, theoretical and conceptual frameworks relevant to screen arts and cultures.

Transferable skills

• critical and analytical thinking in relation
• independent research skills
• team work
• clarity and effectiveness of communication, oral and written
• accurate, concise and persuasive writing
• audio-visual literacy