Comparative Literature 313: Contemporary Cinema
11225 A 5 credits; W credit

Contemporary Cinema
and the International Film Festival Circuit

The course explores the cinematographic, industrial, and ideological conditions of recent filmmaking, with an emphasis on transnational trends, diasporic cinema, the role of international film festivals, and the conscious revision of generic conventions and cinematic traditions.

During the first eight weeks, class will meet for four meetings every week—two for screenings (up to 2 hours) and two for lectures (90 minutes). Beginning in the ninth week, students will be required to attend SIFF screenings (at least 13).

This is a core course in the film studies track. Students are expected to be familiar with basic terms in film history and criticism.

TIME AND PLACE:	M T W Th 3:30-5:20 JHN 111
Instructor:	Yomi Braester
	office: C-504 Padelford
	office hours: by appointment
	e-mail: yomi@u.washington.edu
	course website: http://faculty.washington.edu/yomi/clit313-07.html

Assignments
Policies and Procedures
Class Schedule

Assignments

Readings and film viewings:
All readings must be completed on time. Students are required to attend the screenings.

In-class presentations:
Students, in groups of 3, will prepare questions on the day’s readings and initiate the discussion on the readings and on the film screened in conjunction with them.

Written assignments:
Reading reports: Eleven 200-word reports, summarizing the respective readings.
Film reports: 24 critical reviews, each 200 words long, each on a different film watched in class (11) or at SIFF (13) (students will choose the films based on their preferences, as long as they write on at least two films from each of five different regional or generic designated groups). Submission of at least 20 reports is a condition for passing the course

Best film reports and best reading reports: the ten film reports and four reading reports you deem best should be resubmitted at the end of the term. These reports need to be well thought out and argued.

Paper #1: Due on May 3.; 750-1,000 words long; the paper should introduce a particular field--either a national cinema or a genre that has acquired particular characteristics in the past 17 years (documentary / martial arts / gangster ...). The paper should identify at least three scholarly sources that discuss the subject and raise an argument that will be developed in paper #2
Paper #2: Due during exam week. Integrating course themes and the issues raised in the short paper together with two films watched at SIFF. 1,000-1,250 words; collaborative papers may be written with prior permission by instructor.

Bonus report: on Hamid Naficy's lecture (5/11): 450-550 words long, summarizing the main points of the lecture and tying them to issued discussed in class.

Grading:
Reading reports 11 x 1 points = 11 points
Film reports 24 x 0.75 point (P/F basis for each; 20 a prerequisite for passing the course) = 18 points

Best film reports 10 x 2 = 20 points

Best reading reports 5 x 2 = 10 points

Paper#1 = 20 points
Paper#2 = 23 points
(TOTAL 100 POINTS)

Bonus report = 5 points

Failure to submit 20 film reports on time will result in an F grade for the course

Policies and Procedures

Late submissions must be pre-approved by the instructor or they will not be accepted. Extensions for reading responses, make-up classes, and extra screenings will be available only in very special cases, where the students can demonstrate circumstances beyond their control.

All assignments, except in-class commentary, must be typed. To ensure a standard length, please make sure to use Times New Roman font, size 12, double-spaced, with page margins not exceeding 1.25 inches on each side.

The course strictly adheres to UW’s rules on plagiarism.

Students with disabilities are encouraged to inform the instructor, who will do his best to provide the relevant accommodations.

CLASS SCHEDULE (subject to change)

NOTE: Readings are available on electronic reserve, at https://eres.lib.washington.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=5491

week 1

The films they don’t let us see (and who "they" are)

3/26 Mon	Seminar: Introduction
3/27 Tue	Film screening: Patrice Leconte, The Man on the Train (2002) (90 mins) Reading 1.1: Lisa Downing, Patrice Leconte, chapter 1 (pp. 8-27)
3/28 Wed	Seminar Presentation: group #1 (Yasi, Jennifer, Alex) prepares questions on The Man on the Train

3/29 Th	Seminar Presentation: group #1 presents on Movie Wars Reading 1.2: Jonathan Rosenbaum, Movie Wars, (pp. 1-62) Assignments: Reading report #1 due
week 2	Post-socialist cinema (1)
4/2 Mon	Film screening: Emir Kusturica, Underground (1995) (167/194 mins) PART I Reading 2: Dina Iordanova, Cinema of Flames (Introduction and chapters 2, and 6); Kenneth Turan, Sundance to Sarajevo, pp. 89-108
4/3 Tue	Film screening: Emir Kusturica, Underground (1995) (167/194 mins) PART II
4/4 Wed	Seminar with Maryna Ajaja
4/5 Th	Seminar Presentation: group #2 (Leanne, Andrew, Lo) prepares questions on Underground
week 3	Post-socialist cinema (2)
4/9 Mon	Film screening: Wolfgang Becker, Good Bye Lenin (2003) (121 mins)
4/10 Tue	Film screening: Jiang Wen, In the Heat of the Sun (1994) (128 mins) (Part I) Reading 3: Yomi Braester, “Memory at a Standstill: Postsocialist China and Hooligan History”; Yingjin Zhang, "My Camera Doesn't Lie? Truth, Subjectivity, and Audience in Chinese Independent Film and Video"; Paul G. Pickowicz, "Social and Political Dynamics of Underground Filmmaking in China"
4/11 Wed	Film screening: Jiang Wen, In the Heat of the Sun (1994) (128 mins) (Part II)
4/12 Th	Seminar Presentation: group #3 (Niles, Dane, Tim, Tianyue) presents on readings and prepares questions on Good Bye, Lenin and In the Heat of the Sun Assignments: Reading report #3 + film reports on Good Bye, Lenin and In the Heat of the Sun due
week 4	New forms of realism (1)
4/16 Mon	Film screening: Lars Von Trier, Breaking the Waves (1996) (153 mins) (PART 1) Reading 4: Mette Hjort, "Dogma 95: A Small Nation's Response to Globalisation; "The Globalisation of Dogma: The Dynamics of Metaculture and Counter-Publicity" Assignments: Reading report #4 due
4/17 Tue	Film screening: Lars Von Trier, Breaking the Waves (1996) (153 mins) (PART II)
4/18 Wed	Presentation: group #4 (Yo Chung, Tran) prepares questions on Breaking the Waves Assignments: film report on Breaking the Waves due
4/19 Th	Film screening: Jia Zhangke, The World (2004) (143 mins) PART I Reading 5: Michael Berry, interview with Jia Zhangke; review Zhang and Pickowicz in Reading #3.
week 5	New forms of realism (2)
4/23 Mon	Film screening: Jia Zhangke, The World (2004) (143 mins) PART II Assignments: Reading report #5 due
4/24 Tue	Film screening: Abbas Kiarostami, Ten (2002) (94 mins) Reading 6: Hamid Naficy, "Islamisizing Film Culture in Iran: A Post-Khatami Update"; Azadeh Farahmand, "Perspectives on Recent (International Acclaim for) Iranian Cinema"
4/25 Wed	Seminar Presentation: group #6 (Sama, Justin, Joseph) presents on Iranian cinema and prepares questions on Ten and The World Assignments: Reading report #6 + film reports on Ten and The World due
4/26 Th	Writing workshop
week 6	Emergent Asian cinemas
4/30 Mon	Film screening: Jun-ik Lee, The King and the Clown (119 mins) Reading 7: Michael Robinson, "Contemporary Cultural Production in South Korea"; Darcy Paquet, "The Korean Film Industry: 1992 to the Present"; Jeeyoung Shin, "Globalization and New Korean Cinema"
5/1 Tue	Seminar Presentation: group #7 (Jillian, Anthony, Becky) presents on readings and prepares questions on The King and the Clown Assignments: Reading report #7 + film report on The King and the Clown due
5/2 Wed	Film Screening: Gore Verbinski, The Ring (2002) (115 mins) Reading 8: Toby Miller et al., Global Hollywood, pp.34-82; Gary Xu, "Remaking East Asia, Outsourcing Hollywood"
5/3 Th	Seminar Presentation: group #8 (Joel, Mike, Shawn) presents on readings and prepares questions on The Ring Assignments: Reading report #8 + film report on The Ring due
week 7	Diaspora and exile
5/4 Mon	Film screening: Elia Suleiman, Divine Intervention (2002) (92 mins)
5/5 Tue	Seminar Discussion of Divine Intervention (no group presentation today) Assignments: film report on Divine Intervention dueSeminar
5/6 Wed	Reading 10: Tom Shone, Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Summer, pp. 233-306 Presentation: group #10 (Drew, Bryan, Katelyn) presents on readings Assignments: Reading report #10 due
5/10 Th	NO CLASS PAPER #1 DUE in Yomi's box (Padelford B-536)
5/11 Fr	Lecture by Hamid Naficy (optional)
week 8	The festival circuit
5/14 Mon	Film screening: Shiyam Benegal, Mammo (1994) (124 mins) Reading 9: Background files on Shiyam Benegal; Jyotika Virdi, Nation and Its Discontents, Chapter 1
5/15 Tu	Seminar with film director Shiyam Benegal Presentation: group #9 (Parm, Jacob, Steven) presents on readings and prepares questions on Bolllywood/Hollywood Assignments: Reading report #9 + film report on Mammo due
5/16 Wed	Seminar Presentation: group #11 (Christine, Jeff) presents on readings Assignments: Reading report #11 due Reading 11: Kenneth Turan, Sundance to Sarajevo, pp. 13-48; Jonathan Rosenbaum, Movie Wars, "Trafficking in Movies," 143-162.
5/17 Th	Seminar with Kathleen Murphy
week 9	SIFF (5/24 - 6/17) NO CLASSES
week 10	SIFF (5/24 - 6/17) NO CLASSES
Exam week:	Assignments: Paper#2, best film reports, and all remaining film reports due Wednesday