CET Academic
Programs in Prague
Jewish/Central
European Studies Program
CZECH/CENTRAL EUROPEAN CINEMA
(CE 310)
Professor: Petra Dominková, PhD
Email: petra.dominkova@gmail.com
Mondays 3 – 6 p.m.
Spring 2016
Prerequisites:
Willingness to read, think, speak, write and learn about Czech
cinematography and Czech cultural critique are the only prerequisites.
Course Description:
The aim
of the course is to show the most important
trends and movements in the history of Czech and Central European cinematography
and also to put the films within their historical (political and cultural)
context.
Course Learning Objectives:
By the
end of the course the student will be able to:
–
explain
the most powerful forms of the Czech/Central European (CE) cinematography;
–
define
the Czech New Wave, Polish Cinema of Moral Concern and other movements;
–
explain
which genres are typical for Czech/CE cinematography and why;
–
analyze
a Czech/CE film of interest in its socio-cultural context;
–
apply
the theoretical thoughts to the writing about film
–
understand
the most important terms from the film theory
Course Requirements:
Class
Attendance and Participation: I expect students to attend all classes.
Students will read the texts required for each lesson and discuss them in the class. Lively
discussion is expected. Students should ask anything that is not clear enough,
bring their own ideas, and participate actively in the program of the course.
Participation and contribution to class discussion will be taken into account
in the final grade. Excessive unexcused
absences result in lowering of the final grade!
Presentation: A presentation based on a film seen for the class
and the required reading. Sudent will prepare PWP and/or handout. Presentation should
last at least 60 minutes and should include at least 5 discussion questions. Send me your presentation ahead – until
Sunday evening – to I can provide you with the feedback.
Midterm essay (4 pages
minimum, i.e. 1.400 words): An essay about
chosen Czech/Slovak/Hungarian/Polish film(s). Due: Mar-14
Final
essay (6 pages minimum, i.e.
2.100 words):
On a chosen topic that corresponds to the material covered in the course; the
usage of one obligatory reading and/or application of your own background is
expected; the presentation of a final project (May-02) creates 10% of the final
essay grade. Due: May-06
Grading Table
|
Grade
|
percent
|
1000 points
|
250 points
|
|
A +
|
100-98
|
1000-980
|
250-245
|
|
A
|
96-93
|
969-930
|
244-233
|
|
A –
|
92-90
|
929-900
|
232-225
|
|
B +
|
89-87
|
899-870
|
224-217
|
|
B
|
86-83
|
869-830
|
216-208
|
|
B –
|
82-80
|
829-800
|
207-200
|
|
C +
|
79-77
|
799-770
|
199-192
|
|
C
|
76-73
|
769-730
|
191-183
|
|
C –
|
72-70
|
729-700
|
182-175
|
|
D+
|
69-67
|
699-670
|
174-167
|
|
D
|
66-63
|
669-630
|
166-158
|
|
D –
|
62-60
|
629-600
|
157-150
|
|
F
|
59-0
|
599-0
|
149-0
|
Assessment and final grade:
The
course grade will be calculated as follows:
Class
Participation (25%) = 250 points
Presentation
(25%) = 250 points
Midterm essay (25%) = 250 points
Final essay (25%) = 250 points
altogether: 100% = 1000 points
Attendance Policy:
Two unexcused absences will result in an
automatic grade decrease. It is the
student’s responsibility to find out what they missed in their classes by
communicating with the professor.
Students will be able to make-up a maximum of two absences for classes
that meet twice per week and one absence for classes that meet one per
week. In the event of an illness, the
participation grade will not be lowered if the work is made up or a doctor’s
note is produced.
Make-up classes: Students will write 3 – 5
pages essay. Students should notify the professor and the academic director of
their intention to make-up the class prior to
submitting the work. All make-up work
should be submitted both to Petra Dominková (petra.dominkova@gmail.com) and Kim Strozewski,
the CET Academic Director: cetprague@fhs.cuni.cz
REQUIRED READING:
Czech/CE Cinema Reader (available in the
office):
* Bordwell, David and Kristin
Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction.
[Film Art]The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2010, 118-140, 142-146. [MISE-EN-SCENE]
* Hillman,
Roger, “Goodbye Lenin (2003): History in the Subjunctive.” Rethinking
History 10, No. 2 (June 2006) , pp. 221-237.
* https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/mise-en-scene-2/
Will be dicussed with Goodbye
Lenin February 08
* Film Art, pp. 186-212. [FRAMING]
* Grimes
Topping, Christine, “The world is out of control: Nimrod Antal's Kontroll
(2003) as a socio-political critique of powerless individuals in a postmodern
world.” Studies in
European Cinema 7, No. 3 (December 2010) , pp. 235-245.
* Jobbitt, Steve, “Subterranean Dreaming:
Hungarian Fantasies of Integration and Redemption” Available
at http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/7/kontroll.shtml
Will be dicussed with Control February 15
* Hirsch, Joshua Francis: Afterimage: Film, Trauma, and the Holocaust. Blackwell PublisTemple University Press, 2004, pp. 1–27.
Will be dicussed with Ida February 22
* Caputo,
Davide: Polanski and Perception: The Psychology of Seeing and the Cinema of Roman Polanski. Intellect Books, 2012, pp. 145–164.
Will be dicussed with The Tenant February 29
* Film Art,
pp. 78-86, 90-97, 100-101. [NARRATION]
* Shaviro,
Steven: “Body Horror and Post-Socialist cinema: György Pálfi’s Taxidermia”. In:
Aniko Imré, ed., A Companion to Eastern European Cinemas.
Blackwell Publishing, 2012. Available at http://www.shaviro.com/Othertexts/Taxidermia.pdf
Will be dicussed with Taxidermia March 07
* Schofield,
Adam: “A Black Pearl of the Deep: Juraj Herz’s Cremator”. Available at http://sensesofcinema.com/2007/feature-articles/cremator-juraj-herz/
Will be dicussed with Cremator March 14
* Mulvey, Laura, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In Issues in Feminist Film Criticism,
edited by Patricia Erens, 28-40. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
* Smelik,
Anneke, Feminist Film Theory. In: Pam Cook and Mieke Bernink, (eds), The
Cinema Book, second edition. London: British Film Institute, 1999, pp
353–365. Available at http://www.annekesmelik.nl/TheCinemaBook.pdf
Will be dicussed with Loves of a Blonde April 04
* Film Art,
pp. 223-255. [EDITING]
* Lim,
Bliss Cua. “Dolls in Fragments: Daisies as
Feminist Allegory,” Camera Obscura. 16, no. 2: 36-77.
* Hatherley, Owen.
“Decadent Action”. Available at http://themeasurestaken.blogspot.cz/2006/01/decadent-action.html
Will be dicussed with Daisies April 11
* Owen, Jonathan: “Slovak bohemians: revolution,
counterculture and the end of the sixties in Juraj Jakubisko’s films.“ Studies in Eastern European Cinema 1,
no. 1, 2010, pp. 17-28.
Will be dicussed with Birds, Orphans, and Fools April 11
* Film Art,
pp. 269-285, 288-298. [SOUND]
Will be dicussed with Conspirators of Pleasure April 18
* Imre,
Anikó: “Play in the Ghetto: Global Entertainment and the European ‘Roma Problem’.“ Third
Text 20, no. 6 (November 2006), pp.
659–670
Will be dicussed with District April 25
Weekly schedule:
Week
1 [Mon, Feb-01]
Theme: Introduction +
Chronology / MISE-EN-SCENE
- course introduction: course objectives, reading,
assignments, approach, etc.
- chronology of the Czech / Central European Cinema
- common history / common topics
- What is mise-en-scene and how it can influence the
perception of a movie?
Week
2 [Mon, Feb-08]
Theme:
Theme: Contemporary Central European Cinema / FRAMING
- “Velvet” (and other) revolutions and the changes they
brought about in the cinema.
- What is framing and how is it important in the movies?
Discussion: Goodbye Lenin (Wolfgang Becker, Germany, 2003, 121’,
color)
Reading: Hillman + Film Art, 118-140, 142-146 (MISE-EN-SCENE) + * https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/mise-en-scene-2/
Week
3 [Mon, Feb -15]
Theme:
Workshop: How to write an essay / EDITING
- Do’s and dont’s:
what to avoid in writing an essay.
- (dis)continuity editing
Discussion: Control (Kontroll, Hungary, Nimród Antal, 2003, 105’, color)
Reading: Film Art, 186-212
(FRAMING) + https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/cinematography/
+ Jobbitt http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/7/kontroll.shtml
+ Grimmes Toping.
Topics for midterm essay (deadline March 17)
Week
4 [Mon, Feb -22]
Theme:
WWII and Holocaust in the movies / NARRATION
- WWII and Holocaust
in the Central European Cinema
- narration and narrator / plot vs. story
Discussion: Ida, dir. Pawel
Pawlikowski (Poland, 2013, 82’)
Reading: Hirsch, Joshua Francis: Afterimage:
Film, Trauma, and the Holocaust. Blackwell
PublisTemple University Press, 2004, pp. 1–27.
Week
5 [Mon, Feb -29]
Theme: Polish Cinema / GENRE
-
chronology, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieslowski
Discussion: The Tenant (Roman Polanski, France, 1976, 126’, color)
Reading: Caputo.
Week
6 [Mon, Mar-07]
Theme: Hungarian Cinema / PRINCIPLES OF FILM FORM
- chronology
- Miklós
Jancsó / Béla Tarr
- principles of film form: function / similarity and
repetition / difference and variation / development / unity and disunity
Discusion: Taxidermia
(György Pálfi, 2006, 91’, color)
Reading: Film Art, 78-100 (NARRATION) + Shaviro. Available at http://www.shaviro.com/Othertexts/Taxidermia.pdf
Week
7 [Mon, Mar-14]
Theme: Czechoslovak New
Wave + Miloš Forman / FEMINIST FILM THEORY
- Miloš Forman a his CS and US career
- New Wave – its social and cultural roots, international
links, the inspiration
- traits of CNW: existentialism, sexuality, etc.
- the directors of “Czechoslovak New Wave”: Věra
Chytilová, Jiří Menzel, Juraj Jakubisko, etc.
- feminist film theory: its premises and goals
Discussion: Cremator (Spalovač mrtvol, Juraj Herz,
1968, 96‘,b&w)
Reading: Schofield (http://sensesofcinema.com/2007/feature-articles/cremator-juraj-herz/)
Midterm essay is due
Week
8 [Mon, Mar-21]
NO CLASS (traveling
seminar)
Week
9 [Mon, Mar-28]
NO CLASS (Easter)
Week
10 [Mon, Apr-04]
Discussion: Daisies
(Sedmikrásky, Věra Chytilová, 1966, 74’,color)
Reading: Lim, Bliss Cua.
“Dolls in Fragments: Daisies as Feminist Allegory,” Camera Obscura. 16,
no. 2: 36-77 + Hatherley (http://themeasurestaken.blogspot.cz/2006/01/decadent-action.html)+ Film Art,
pp. 223-255. [EDITING] + https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/editing/
Discussion: Birds, Orphans and
Fools (Vtáčkovia,
siroty a blázni, Juraj Jakubisko, Slovak
Republic, 1969, 78’, color)
Reading: Owen, Jonathan: “Slovak bohemians: revolution, counterculture and the end
of the sixties in Juraj Jakubisko’s films.“ Studies
in Eastern European Cinema 1, no. 1, 2010, pp. 17-28.
Topics for final essay (deadline May 15)
+ Shaviro (http://www.shaviro.com/Blog/?p=555)
Week
11 [Mon, Apr-11]
Theme: Czech Cinema in
the 1970s and 1980s / SOUND
-
obstacles of Czech New Wave directors in the
1970s and 1980s
-
similarities with the 1950s; ideology and socialistic realism
Discussion: Loves of a Blonde (Lásky jedné plavovlásky, Miloš
Forman, 1965, 88’, b&w)
Reading: Mulvey, Laura, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In Issues in Feminist Film Criticism,
edited by Patricia Erens, 28-40. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990 +
Smelik.
Week
12 [Mon, Apr-18]
Theme:
Experimental Cinema / AUTEUR
-
surrealism: Jan Švankmajer
- experimental
films
Discussion: Conspirators of Pleasure (Spiklenci slasti, Jan Švankmajer,
1996, 85‘, color)
Reading: Shera + Film
Art, 269-285, 288-298 (SOUND) + https://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/film-sound-and-music/
Week
13 [Mon, Apr -25]
Theme: Animated Cinema
- Karel
Zeman + Jiří Trnka (pioneers)
-
Michaela Pavlátová + Jiří Barta + Aurel Klimt
Discussion: District (Nyócker, Áron Gauder, Hungary, 2004, 87‘, color)
Reading: Imre.
Week
14 [Mon, May-02] - MEETING 1
Theme: The Final Essays – Presentations +
Feedback
-
presentation of the students’ final papers and class discussion (each student
will have a presentation /approx. 10-15 minutes long/, others will give him/her
feedback)
- class
discussion about the lecture (what did
you learn?, what did you miss?, what was your best experience?, etc.)
- Bingo (names / titles / years / terms)
Week
14 [Fri, May-06] – MEETING 2
Field Trip: Barrandov Studios
Final essay is due
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