An in depth exploration of the evolution and forms of a specific national or regional cinema in terms of stylistic, socio-political, economic, and technical dimensions.

Topics rotate and most recently have included:

Italian Cinema

This course will explore key "moments" in Italian cinema, with the goal of understanding neorealist film practice as an alternative to CHC "realism";
the importance of Italian cinema to realist film theory; the importance of Italian cinema as a model for a cinema of political engagement and social criticism;the cultural and intellectual context out of which Italian cinema was produced (and viewed).
The course will focus primarily on neorealist films and "the art film" of the post-1960 period, but we will also look at popular forms such as the commedia all 'Italiana," the spaghetti Western, the "Supercolossi," and the horror genre. Films will include Bicycle Thieves, Ossessione, La Terra Trema, Voyage to Italy, The Easy Life, L'Eclisse, Teorema, Padre Padrone, and others.

British Cinema

This course examines the significant role played by the motion picture in 20th-Century British cultural life as well as the aesthetic contributions made to the art of film by British directors, actors, writers, cinematographers, special effects artists, and various studio complexes. The survey of British cinema begins with early innovation (the Brighton Group, Cecil Hepworth) and ranges from 1920s/1930s Hitchcock and Korda, to Olivier and the Ealing Studios, Carol Reed and into the "kitchen-sink realism" of the 50s and 60s. Joseph Losey, David Lean, and Ken Russell lead into the course’s contemporary period which includes analysis of works by directors such as Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, John Schlesinger, and Kenneth Branagh.

New German Cinema

The "New German Cinema," the West german film movement that extended from the late 1960s to the late 1980, is one of the most self-conscious cinemas, both in terms of politics and film style. This course examines key films and authors of the period in light of the political and cultural background of West germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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