Course detail

The Art of Interpreting Film

FaVU-TAIFAcad. year: 2019/2020

1. Neorealism in Italy
2. French New Wave
3. Hollywood classical cinema of the 1950s
4. British social film of the 1960s
5. Hollywood Rennaissance of 1970s
6. 1960s in Czechoslowakia
7. 1970s in Poland
Rather than a survey, this course will provide sapmples of films from the mentioned periods and geographical locations.
We wil also read texts which will help students contextualite the developments of the national cinemas.

Language of instruction

English

Number of ECTS credits

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

Department

Department of Art History and Theory (KTDU)

Offered to foreign students

Of all faculties

Learning outcomes of the course unit

Students will improve their language and communication skills.
By studying theoretical articles about films they will be aware of the variety of interpretaion tools and strategies.
Students will widen their horizons in a discipline which is not customarily taught at a fine art faculty.
The course will cultivate students' critical and analytical abilities.
Students will be trained to understand the essential points of academic texts, but will at the same time learn to coherently voice their opinions and interpretations of a particular film/text in written form.
During the semester, students will write several short tests checking their reading progress.

Prerequisites

Students have to be able to read academic texts in English - the minimul recommened level is upper-intermediate and higher.

Co-requisites

Not applicable.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Film screenings, discussions, reading academic texts, tests.

Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes

Continuous assessment. Students will reflect the assigned reading and films in a written form of short, in-class response papers and a subsequent group discussion.

Course curriculum

1. Italian Neorealism
2. Hitchcock and Hollywood
3. French New Wave and Godard - new film language, the auter, film as a political pamphlet
4. French New Wave - Agnes Varda
5. Czechoslovak New Wave and Chytilová - film as a metaphor
5. Antonioni and the aesthetics of estrangement
7. Ingmar Bergman - Persona
8. American experimental film, body politics: Maya Deren, Kenneth Anger, Barbara Hammer
9. French experimental film: Chantal Ackerman
10 - 11. Guest lectures: TV shows and Hollywood through queer reading

Work placements

Not applicable.

Aims

Students will be encouraged to improve their analytical and critical skills on the material of mostly european film classics from the 1950s - 1070s. Students should understand better the visual aspects of film - camera work, editing, the narrative subject vs the spectator, the open or hidden ideology behind the film, etc.

Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences

Seminar. Attendance sheet. Two absences are allowed.

Recommended optional programme components

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Bordwell and Thompson - Film History (EN)
Laura Mulvey - Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (EN)
Bordwell and Thompson: Film Art: An Introduction (EN)
Robin Wood: Hitchcok's Films Revisited (EN)
Alexander Dotty: Making Things Perfectly Queer (EN)

Type of course unit

Lecture

26 hours, optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. et MgA. Barbora Lungová

VUT

Faculties

University Institutes

Parts

The Art of Interpreting Film

Type of course unit