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FI940-30 Contemporary Latin American Cinema

Department
SCAPVC - Film & Television Studies
Level
Taught Postgraduate Level
Module leader
Tiago de Luca
Credit value
30
Module duration
9 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Introductory description

n/a

Module aims

This module will offer an exploration of contemporary Latin American cinemas through a detailed focus on a selection of national contexts (which may include Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, for example). By charting the industrial, financial, aesthetic and cultural specificities of these cinemas since the early 2000s, the module will explore the way in which they fluctuate between the poles of the national and the transnational, and the local and the global. In so doing, the module will utilise such cinemas as a way of unpacking and reflecting on a wide range of questions and ideas, including:
representations of national history and contemporary issues, transnational modes of funding and address, global
circuits of distribution and exhibition, and questions of national and regional (i.e. Latin American) identity. Films
studied will encompass a range of traditions, genres and styles, including popular film, art cinema and documentaries.

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.

Indicative screenings: City of God (Cidade de Deus, Fernando Meirelles & Katia Lund, 2002); The Second Mother
(Que horas ela volta?, Anna Muylaert, 2015); Nannies (Consuelo Lins, 2010); Battle in Heaven (Batalla en el cielo,
Carlos Reygadas, 2004); Roma (Alfonso Cuáron, 2018); La ciénaga (Lucrecia Martel, 2001); XXY (Lucía Puenzo,
2008); Wild Tales (Ralatos salvajes, Damián Szifron, 2014).

Learning outcomes

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

  • situate the contemporary cinemas of the case studies within their respective national contexts as related to the socio-political, cultural and cinematic histories of the selected countries.
  • situate the contemporary cinemas of the case studies within a regional (i.e. Latin American) and international frame of reference, including global film trends and culture.
  • understand how national and transnational modes of funding currently interact with each other and have an impact on film form and aesthetics.
  • describe and analyse contemporary Latin American cinemas in terms of their cultural, political, thematic and aesthetic resonances.
  • offer critical, in-depth and contextually-informed textual analyses of the films explored on the module.
  • develop independent critical thinking and the capacity to analyse related films and themes beyond those studied on the module.

Indicative reading list

  • Cynthia Tompkins (2013) Experimental Latin American Cinema: History and Aesthetics. Austin: University of Texas
    Press. • Deborah Shaw (2003) Contemporary Cinema of Latin America: Ten Key Films. New York and London:
    Continuum. . • Lisa Shaw and Stephanie Dennison, (2007) Brazilian National Cinema. Abingdon and New York:
    Routledge. • Lúcia Nagib (2007) Brazil on Screen: Cinema Novo, New Cinema, Utopia (London and New York: I. B.
    Tauris). • Stephanie Dennison and Lisa Shaw, Popular Cinema in Brazil (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
  1. • Deborah Martin & Deborah Shaw (2017) ‘Introduction’ in Deborah Martin and Deborah Shaw (eds) Latin
    American Women Filmmakers (London/New York: I.B. Tauris). Maria M. Delgado et al. (eds, 2017) A Companion to
    Latin American Cinema (Chichester: Wiley and Sons). • Luisela Alvaray (2017) ‘Transnational Networks of Financing
    and Distribution’ in Marvin D’Lugo, Ana M. López & Laura Podalsky (eds) The Routledge Companion to Latin
    American Cinema, pp. 251-265. • Tatiana Signorelli Heise (2012) Remaking Brazil: Contested National Identities in
    Contemporary Brazilian Cinema. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. • Juan Poblete (2004), ‘New National Cinemas in
    a Transnational Age’, Discourse 26.1&2. • Debora Shaw (2013), The Three Amigos: The Transnational Filmmaking of
    Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñarritú and Alfonso Cuáron (Manchester: Manchester University Press). •
    Dolores Tierney (2018) New Transnationalisms in Contemporary Latin American Cinemas (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
    University Press). • Gonzalo Aguilar (2008), New Argentine Film: Other Worlds (New York: Palgrave) • Joanna Page
    (2009) Crisis and Capitalism in Contemporary Argentine Cinema (Durham and London: Duke University Press).

Research element

Students will have to write an essay that will involve research into concepts, contexts and texts.

Subject specific skills

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

Transferable skills

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

Study time

Type Required
Lectures 9 sessions of 1 hour (3%)
Seminars 9 sessions of 1 hour (3%)
Other activity 27 hours (9%)
Private study 255 hours (85%)
Total 300 hours

Private study description

Reading, viewing, seminar preparation, essay preparation and writing.

Other activity description

Screenings

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
6000 word essay 100% Yes (extension)

This essay is designed to enable students to demonstrate the skills that they have developed in
textual analysis and the critical reading of film texts during the module. It is an exercise in
combining research, reading and textual analysis and any essay should attend to all three
aspects in a meaningful and balanced way.

Reassessment component is the same
Feedback on assessment

Detailed written feedback will be given on the essay, along with individual tutorials before submission and after
grading.

There is currently no information about the courses for which this module is core or optional.