Comparative Literature 313A: Contemporary Cinema
11359 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 postsocialist ideology and form, new forms of realism, transnational trends, the role of international film festivals, and the conscious revision of cinematic traditions.

During weeks 1-8, class will meet for four meetings every week—two for screenings and two for lectures. The last two weeks are devotd to watching films at teh Seattle International Film Festival.

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:	MTWTh 11:30-1:20 Thomson 101
Instructor:	Yomi Braester
	office: C-504 Padelford
	office hours: by appointment
	e-mail: yomi@u.washington.edu

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. Readings are available on e-reserve; efforts will be made to place all films on reserve at the Odegaard Media Center.

Assignments:
Reading reports: Fourteen 200-word reports, summarizing the respective readings. (One of the assigned 15 can be missed without penalty.) Due on the dates listed below.
Film reports: Twenty critical reviews, each 200 words long, each on a different film watched in class (12) or at SIFF (8) (students will choose the SIFF films based on their focus). Submission of at least 16 reports is a condition for passing the course. (All reports count; late reports will be accepted only with instructor's permission.) Film reports are due at the beginning of the first lecture following the in-class screening (in hard copy); SIFF film reports due June 7 (by email).

READING AND VIEWING REPORT QUESTIONS POSTED HERE

Paper #1: Due on May 3, in hard copy; at least 1,000 words long. Paper topic will be announced in class.
Paper #2: Due May 27, in hard copy; at least 1,000 words long. Paper topic will be announced in class.
SIFF report: Due June 7, by email; at least 750 words long. An explanation of the student's choice of films to view at SIFF and how expectations were/were not met.

Grading:
Reading reports 14 x 1.25 point (P/F basis for each) = 17.5 points
Film reports (12+8) x 1 point (P/F basis for each; 18 a prerequisite for passing the course) = 20 points

Paper #1 = 24 points
Paper #2 = 24 points
SIFF report = 15 points

Failure to submit 18 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. Please use Times New Roman font, size 12, double-spaced.
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/coursepage.aspx?cid=7171

week 1

3/29 Mon	Seminar: Introduction
3/30 Tue	No class meeting
3/31 Wed	Screening: Emir Kusturica, Underground (1995) (167/194 mins) PART I

4/1 Th

Screening: Emir Kusturica, Underground (1995) (167/194 mins) PART II Reading 1 (for today): Dina Iordanova, Cinema of Flames (Introduction and chapters 2 and 6); Kenneth Turan, Sundance to Sarajevo, pp. 89-108

week 2
4/5 Mon	Seminar: What is "contemporary cinema"? Reading 2 (for today): Jonathan Rosenbaum, Movie Wars, (pp. 1-62)
4/6 Tue	Screening: Jiang Wen, In the Heat of the Sun (1994) (128 mins)
4/7 Wed	End screening: Jiang Wen, In the Heat of the Sun Seminar: Scars and nostalgia Reading 3 (for today): Braester, “Memory at a Standstill: Postsocialist China and Hooligan History”
4/8 Th	Seminar: post-socialist cinema
week 3
4/12 Mon	Screening: Wolfgang Becker, Good Bye Lenin (2003) (121 mins)
4/13 Tue	End screening: Wolfgang Becker, Good Bye Lenin Seminar: The televised revolution Reading 5 (for today): Enns, "The politics of Ostalgie: post-socialist nostalgia in recent German film"
4/14 Wed	Screening: Nightwatch (2004) (114 mins)
4/15 Th	End screening: Nightwatch (2004) (114 mins) Seminar: Silent apocalypse Reading 6 (for today): Norris, "In the Gloom"; Campbell, "Five Theses"; Shone, Blockbuster (selection)
week 4
4/19 Mon	Screening: Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005) (133)
4/20 Tue	End screening: Welcome to Dongmakgol Seminar: post-socialism outside the socialist block Reading 7 (for today): 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"
4/21 Wed	Screening: Sweet Mud (2006) (90 mins)
4/22 Th	Seminar: post-socialism and post-Zionism Reading 8 (for today): Adi Ophir, "The identity of the victims and the victims of identity: a critique of Zionist ideology for a Postzionist age"
week 5
4/26 Mon	Screening: Jia Zhangke, The World (2004) (143 mins) PART I
4/27 Tue	Screening: Jia Zhangke, The World (2004) (143 mins) PART II
4/28 Wed	Seminar: The new Chinese cinemas; the post-spatial and post-cinematic Reading 9 (for today): Jason McGrath, "'Independent' Cinema"
4/29 Th	No class meeting
week 6
5/3 Mon	Screening: Mathieu Kassovitz, Hate (1995) (96 mins) Paper #1 due
5/4 Tue	Seminar: The Cinéma du cool and the new global order Reading 10 (for today): Dana Thomas, "Crashing The New Wave"; Amy Siciliano, "La Haine: Framing the ‘Urban Outcasts’"
5/5 Wed	Screening: Hollywood, Bollywood (2002, 105 mins)
5/6 Th	Seminar: The Hindi film industry; transnational film Reading 11(for today): Toby Miller et al., Global Hollywood, pp.34-82; Gary Xu, "Remaking East Asia, Outsourcing Hollywood."
week 7
5/10 Mon	Screening: Lars Von Trier, Breaking the Waves (1996) (153 mins) (PART 1)
5/11 Tue	Screening: Lars Von Trier, Breaking the Waves (1996) (153 mins) (PART 1)
5/12 Wed	Meeting with SIFF programmers Reading 12 (for today): Kenneth Turan, Sundance to Sarajevo, 13-48; Jonathan Rosenbaum, Movie Wars, "Trafficking in Movies," 143-162. Reading 4 (also for today!): Film Festival Yearbook 1 (selection)
5/13 Th	Seminar: Dogme 95 and minor cinemas Reading 13 (for today): Mette Hjort, "Dogma 95: A Small Nation's Response to Globalisation"; "The Globalisation of Dogma: The Dynamics of Metaculture and Counter-Publicity"
week 8
5/17 Mon	Screening: Abbas Kiarostami, Ten (2002) (94 mins)
5/18 Tu	Seminar Reading 14 (for today): Hamid Naficy, "Islamisizing Film Culture in Iran: A Post-Khatami Update"; Azadeh Farahmand, "Perspectives on Recent (International Acclaim for) Iranian Cinema"
5/19 Wed	Screening: Elia Suleiman, Divine Intervention (2002) (92 mins)
5/20 Th	Seminar: Reading 15 (for today): "Between Exile and Homeland: The Films of Elia Suleiman," in Gertz and Khleifi, Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, Trauma, and Memory SIFF BEGINS
week 9	SIFF - no class meetings
	Paper #2 due Wednesday, May 27.
week 10	SIFF - no class meetings
Exam week:	Assignments: All remaining film reports and SIFF report due June 7 (directly by email to Yomi).