21st Century European Art Cinema: History, Myths and Migrations

compulsory

Course aims:

- introduction to the selected phenomena representative of the latest achievements of European art film (authors of European cinema and the mythological tradition of antiquity, historical cinema of Central and Eastern Europe, European diasporic and migrant cinema);

- development of students' skills in analysing and interpreting feature films in their respective artistic, cultural, historical, social and political contexts;

- reflection on the significance of film images for the construction of European identity and cultural memory, and on the depiction in cinema of social problems and important cultural phenomena.

Interactive lecture, discussions, text-based work, case study work, sound and/or video demonstration, group work, short student speeches (up to 15 minutes).

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Course learning content:

- studies of films referring to the mythological tradition of antiquity and to European cultural heritage made by selected European filmmakers (Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino, Andrei Zwiagintsew, Lars von Trier, Cristian Mungiu),

- studies of contemporary historical cinema from the Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans in the context of the 20th-century history of the region,

- studies of selected examples of contemporary European migrant and diasporic cinema in the context of contemporary migratory movements,

- introduction of the the most important concepts (such as: shot, scene, mise-en-scène, dramaturgy, plot, etc.) and methods of film analysis and their relationship with literary studies,

- student presentations on a selected issue based on the suitable literature deepening reflection on the analysed films.

Reading list:

a) obligatory reading (in chronological order):

Simor Eszter, David Sorfa, Irony, sexism and magic in Paolo Sorrentino’s films, „Studies in European Cinema” 2017, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 200–215.

Sarah Cooper, Narcissus and The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015), “Studies in European Cinema” 2016, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 163–176.

Jennifer Friedlander, Melancholia and the Real of the Illusion, [in:] Real Deceptions: The Contemporary Reinvention of Realism, 2017.

Elżbieta Ostrowska, "I will wash it out": Holocaust Reconciliation in Agnieszka Holland's 2011 Film "In Darkness", "Holocaust and Genocide Studies" 2015, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 57-75.

Claudiu Turcuş, Paradigms of Rememoration in Postcommunist Romanian Cinema, [in:] Cultural Studies Approaches in the Study of Eastern European Cinema. Spaces, Bodies, Memories, ed. by A. Virginás, Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2016, s. 216–244.

Nancy Condee, Aleksei Balabanov: The Metropole’s Death Drive, [in:] The Imperial Trace: Recent Russian Cinema, New York: Oxford University Press 2009.

Yosefa Loshitzky, Screening Strangers. Migration and Diaspora in Contemporary European Cinema, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 2010, pp. 61–76.

Polona Petek, Enabling collisions: Re-thinking multiculturalism through Fatih Akin’s ‘Gegen die Wand’/’Head On’, “Studies in European Cinema” 2007, Vol. 4, No. 3., Pp. 177-186.

Raphaëlle Moine, Stereotypes of class, ethnicity and gender in contemporary French popular comedy: from Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (2008) and Intouchables (2011) to Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu ? (2014), “Studies in French Cinema” 2018, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 35–51.

b) optional reading (in chronological order):

Elena del Río, La Grande Bellezza: Adventures in transindividuality, https://necsus-ejms.org/la-grande-bellezza-adventures-in-transindividuality/

Angelos Koutsourakis, Cinema of the Body: The Politics of Performativity in Lars von Trier’s Dogville and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth, “Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image” 2012, no. 3, pp. 84–108.

Nancy Condee, Knowledge (Imperfective): Andrei Zviagintsev and Contemporary Cinema, [in:] A Companion to Russian Cinema, ed. by Birgit Beumers, West Sussex 2016.

Birgit Beumers, Tarkovsky’s Return, or Zviagintsev’s Vozvrashchenie, [in:] The Russian Cinema Reader: Volume II, ed. by Rimgaila Salys, Academic Studies Press 2013.

Francisco A. Zurian, La piel que habito: A Story of Imposed Gender and the Struggle for Identity, [in:] A Companion to Pedro Almodóvar, Ed. by Marvin D’Lugo and Kathleen M. Vernon, Wiley-Blackwell 2013.

On successful completion of this course, a student will be able to:

- know the methods of film analysis and basic concepts in the field of film studies and understand their relationship with literary and cultural studies on Central Europe and the Balkans,

- know the methods of analysing contemporary historical and migrant cinema, in particular from the countries of Central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula,

- understand the relationship between contemporary film art and European cultural, especially ancient, heritage; know the mythologically rooted interpretations of films by such authors as: László Nemes, Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino, Lars von Trier, Cristian Mungiu,

- analyse the meaning of film images of the past and the present in the context of literary and cultural discourses on history and collective identity, as well as problems of representation and cultural memory,

- prepare and make an oral presentation in English on a selected issue in the field of film studies based on the suitable literature,

- appreciate the importance of film studies on contemporary European cinema and their role in deepening the understanding and promotion of the cultural heritage of Central Europe and the Balkans.

Assessment criteria:

very good (bdb; 5,0): student knows the issues related to European art cinema in the twenty-first century very well, is able to make an advanced analysis and interpretation of selected feature films and very well presents an independently work-out issue in the field of film studies.

good plus (+db; 4,5): student knows the issues related to European art cinema in the twenty-first century very well, is able to make an analysis and interpretation of selected feature films and very well presents an independently work-out issue in the field of film studies.

good (db; 4,0): student knows the issues related to European art cinema in the twenty-first century well, is able to make an analysis and interpretation of selected feature films and well presents an independently work-out issue in the field of film studies.

satisfactory plus (+dst; 3,5): student knows the issues related to European art cinema in the twenty-first century well, is able to make a simple analysis and interpretation of selected feature films and sufficiently presents an independently work-out issue in the field of film studies.

satisfactory (dst; 3,0): student knows the issues related to European art cinema in the twenty-first century sufficiently, is able to make a simple analysis and interpretation of selected feature films and sufficiently presents an independently work-out issue in the field of film studies.

unsatisfactory (ndst; 2,0): student doesn’t know the issues related to European art cinema in the twenty-first century sufficiently, is not able to make a simple analysis and interpretation of selected feature films nor sufficiently presents an independently work-out issue in the field of film studies.