Syllabus A
Sample Syllabi For Use With World On Film: An Introduction
Syllabus A: A Survey of (Inter)national Film Cultures
A broad-brush, but vivid, survey course of the fundamentals of the film cultures of France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan, and India, capped by a "coming attractions" week of discussing the next step: postnational film.
For a 15-week semester:
WEEK I
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL FILM
READING:
"Introduction to Part I," pp. 2–22
SCREENING:
Cleo From 5 to 7 (Dir. Agnes Varda, 1962)
WEEK II
FRANCE
READING:
Chapter 1, "France: French Revolutions at the Movies," pp. 23–44.Show clips from L''Atalante (Dir. Jean Vigo, 1934) and Children of Paradise aka Les enfants du paradis (dir. Marcel Carne, 1945)
SCREENING:
Rules of the Game aka La Rèegle du Jeu (Dir. Jean Renoir, 1939)
WEEK III
FRANCE contd.
READING:
Chapter 1, "France: French Revolutions at the Movies," pp. 45–69.Show clips from Orpheus (Dir. Jean Cocteau, 1950) and Jules and Jim aka Jules et Jim (Dir. François Truffaut, 1962)
SCREENING:
Breathless aka A bout de souffle (Dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
WEEK IV
FRANCE contd.
SCREENINGS:
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (Dir. Alain Resnais, 1959)
Beau Travail aka Good Job (Dir. Claire Denis, 1999)
Beau Travail aka Good Job (Dir. Claire Denis, 1999)
WEEK V
RUSSIA
READING:
Chapter 2, Russia: Utopia and Dystopia, pp. 70–92. Show clips from Bed and Sofa aka Tretya Meschchanskaia (Dir. Abram Room, 1927) and The Man with a Movie Camera aka Chelovek s kino-apparatum (Dir. Dziga Vertov, 1929)
SCREENING:
Battleship Potemkin (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
WEEK VI
RUSSIA contd.
READING:
Chapter 2, "Russia: Utopia and Dystopia," pp. 93–107.
Show selected clips of Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears aka Moskva slezan ne verit (Dir. Vladimir Menshov, 1980) and Moloch (dir. Alesandr Sokurov, 1999)
Show selected clips of Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears aka Moskva slezan ne verit (Dir. Vladimir Menshov, 1980) and Moloch (dir. Alesandr Sokurov, 1999)
SCREENING:
Solaris aka Solyaris (Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1962)
WEEK VII
GERMANY
READING:
Chapter 3, "Germany: From Darkness toward Light," pp. 108–24.
Show selected clips from Nosferatu aka Nosferatu, eine Symphone des Grauens (Dir. F. W. Murnau, 1922) and Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927)
Show selected clips from Nosferatu aka Nosferatu, eine Symphone des Grauens (Dir. F. W. Murnau, 1922) and Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927)
SCREENING:
The Blue Angel aka Der blaue Engel (Dir. Josef Von Sternberg)
WEEK VIII
GERMANY contd
READING:
Chapter 3, "Germany: From Darkness toward Light," pp. 124–49.
Show selected clips from Triumph of the Will (Dir. Leni Riefenstahl, 1935) and The Marriage of Maria Braun aka Die Ehe der Maria Braun (Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)
Show selected clips from Triumph of the Will (Dir. Leni Riefenstahl, 1935) and The Marriage of Maria Braun aka Die Ehe der Maria Braun (Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)
SCREENING:
Nosferatu The Vampyre aka Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (dir. Werner Herzog, 1979)
WEEK IX
ITALY
READING:
Chapter 4, "Italy: The Myth of History, Neorealism, and Beyond," pp. 150–74.
Show selected clips from La terra trema: Episodio del mare aka The Earth Will Tremble: Episode of the sea (Dir. Luchino Visconti, 1948) and The Bicycle Thief aka Ladri di biciclette (Dir. Vittorio DeSica, 1948)
Show selected clips from La terra trema: Episodio del mare aka The Earth Will Tremble: Episode of the sea (Dir. Luchino Visconti, 1948) and The Bicycle Thief aka Ladri di biciclette (Dir. Vittorio DeSica, 1948)
SCREENING:
Open City aka Roma cittá aperta (Dir. Roberto Rossellini, 1945)
WEEK X
ITALY contd.
READING:
Chapter 4, "Italy: The Myth of History, Neorealism, and Beyond," pp. 174–94. Show selected clips from Divorce Italian Style aka Divorzio all''Italiana (Dir. Pietro Germi, 1962) and L''avventura aka The Adventure (Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
SCREENING:
8 1/2 (Dir. Federico Fellini, 1963)
WEEK XI
JAPAN
READING:
Chapter 5, "Japan: Screening Feudalism and Modernism." pp. 195–225.Show clips from The Tokyo Story aka Tokyo monogatari (Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) and Ugetsu aka Ugetsu monogatari (Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)
SCREENING:
The Seven Samurai aka Shichinin no samurai (Dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
WEEK XII
JAPAN contd.
READING:
Chapter 5, Japan: Screening Feudalism and Modernism, pp. 225–36. Show selected clips from Double Suicide aka Shinju: ten no amijima (Dir. Shinoda Masahiro, 1969) and Spirited Away aka Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
SCREENING:
Ran (Dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
WEEK XIII
INDIA
READING:
Chapter 6, "India: Cinema of Combination and Contradiction," pp. 237–58. Show selected clips from Mother India aka Bharat Mata (Dir. Mehboob Khan, 1957) and Aparajito aka The Unvanquished (Dir. Satyajit Ray, 1956)
SCREENING:
Awaara aka The Vagabond (Dir. Raj Kapoor, 1951)
WEEK XIV
INDIA contd.
READING:
Chapter 6, "India: Cinema of Combination and Contradiction," pp. 258–77. Show selected clips from Umraao Jaan (Dir. Muzzafar Ali, 1981) and Sholay aka Flames (Dir. Ramesh Sippy, 1975)
SCREENING:
Company (Dir. Ram Gopal Varma, 2002)
WEEK XV
SUMMARY: Toward Postnational Film
READING:
Introduction to Part II, pp. 282–93. Show selected clips from The Seventh Seal aka Det sjunde inseglet (Dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1957); The Milky Way aka La voie lactée (Dir. Luis Buñuel, 1969); In the Mood for Love aka Fa yeung nin wa (Dir. Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
SUMMARY contd.
Show selected clips from Xala aka Impotence (Dir. Ousmane Sembène, 1975); Moolaade (Dir. Ousmane Sembène, 2004); The World aka Shijie (Dir. Jia Zhangke, 2004); Still Life aka Sanxia haoren (Dir. Jia Zhangke, 2006)
Syllabus A: A Survey of (Inter)national Film Cultures
Syllabus B: Compass Points Of International Film: France, Italy, Japan, And India
Syllabus C: World Cinema And Propaganda